With the Hurricanes' home opener set for Friday at the
$154M Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena, Chip Alexander
of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER began a special week-long
profile of the team's entry in the Raleigh area by wondering
if the team will be able to sell hockey "in a sports
landscape long dominated by ACC basketball." The team has
sold 6,000 season tickets, compared to 13,000 for the NC
State Univ. men's basketball team. Alexander, on the ticket
sales at NC State: "That's a lot of entertainment dollars
consumed. It also says a lot about allegiances." However,
Hurricanes Owner Peter Karmanos said, "Raleigh is a big
sports market. We don't have any doubt that it'll be a
fine, fine hockey market." NC State Univ. AD Les Robinson:
"The Hurricanes don't have the [fan] base ACC basketball
does. ... In time, I think [the Hurricanes] will do very
well. We're going after two different clientele. I don't
think we'll overlap." Dean Jordan, President & CEO of Gale
Force Holdings, the Hurricanes parent company, on the
overlapping seasons: "I think we'll complement each other,
not compete against each other. ... We just don't believe
the level of our success or our attendance will be dictated
by ACC basketball." In other news, the Hurricanes have
leased 56 of 58 luxury suites and the team has sold 36% of
its season ticket sales via its newly designed Web site, but
it has "found it difficult to make similar progress with
media outlets." The team's 13-station radio network still
does not include Charlotte (NEWS & OBSERVER, 10/24).
