No. 1 Pick Already Making Box Office Dent For Trail Blazers

Trail Blazers Take In $2.5M In Ticket Revenue In 24 Hours Following NBA Draft Lottery

The Trail Blazers “generated $1[M] in ticket revenue Tuesday night alone, and in the 24 hours that followed” the team receiving the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, “they netted $2.5[M] — the largest revenue-producing day in franchise history,” according to Joe Freeman of the Portland OREGONIAN. League sources yesterday afternoon said that the team had sold nearly 2,000 new season tickets since the lottery, and Blazers Exec VP/Business Operations Mike Golub said that the team “already had sold 25[%] more season tickets than all of last year.” The team’s Web site, which crashed at least twice on Tuesday night, drew more than 100,000 unique visitors and more than 300,000 page views — its highest daily totals ever. Golub: “It’s a rush that we’ve never seen” (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/24).

SONICS: The Sonics, after receiving the No. 2 pick, sold 50 full-season tickets in the first 12 hours after the announcement. Sonics Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Brian Byrnes: “The call volume has been very steady. It’s unprecedented to have this type of volume in May. If we’re going to get the fan base to rally around the team, (this) might be the spark we needed” (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 5/24). In Tacoma, Dave Boling writes some fans “hope the Sonics’ landing of the second pick in the NBA draft will be the luck that anchors the team to Seattle. Some suspect it will make the franchise only more attractive to poachers.” But does the possibility of drafting F Kevin Durant “mean anything to the lawmakers who could decide to earmark funds for the new arena?” Boling: “I somehow don’t picture legislators running around, going, ... ‘we’ve got to dig up $300[M] for a new arena’” (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 5/24).

MARKETING: In Portland, Jason Quick reports “long before the draft lottery results were announced,” C Greg Oden, the projected top pick, “had agreed to fly to Portland to spend two days meeting with Nike representatives about a possible shoe contract.” adidas’ Jim Gatto also plans to meet with him, but said that Nike and adidas “are more intent on signing Durant to a shoe deal than Oden, simply because the research has shown that big men are less marketable than high-flying players such as Durant” (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/24). Durant will appear on the cover of EA Sports’ “March Madness 2008” and is spending two days in Canada while programmers “recreate his game” (SEATTLE TIMES, 5/24).

Sonics Official Hopes Durant Will Help Hook Fans In Seattle

GEOGRAPHY LESSON: With the top two picks in the draft going to the Pacific Northwest, ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard said, “You cannot accuse the NBA of any conspiracy theories whatsoever because this was one of the worst scenarios they could have had from a marketing standpoint” (“Outside The Lines,” ESPN, 5/23). Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti said, “You want these players on the East Coast, as close to the networks, as close to Madison Avenue, as close to everything. ... Big-time players tend to go out West and get lost and I’m afraid these two guys will as well.” But L.A. Times columnist J.A. Adande said, “It’s not about leagues and marketing. It’s about the shoe companies. What’s in ... Beaverton, Oregon? Nike. What’s also out there? The ad firm of Wieden & Kennedy. ... They can make a star out of anybody anywhere. ... These guys will be stars wherever they play” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 5/23). ESPN’s Michael Wilbon: “The NBA had better figure out a way with its television partners ... to get these kids on television in some time slot other than 10:30 Eastern” (“PTI,” ESPN, 5/23).

THE FLIP SIDE: After the Grizzlies fell to No. 4 in the draft despite having the NBA’s worst record last season, VP/Ticket Sales & Service Dennis O’Connor said, “It’s going to be a little harder to sell tickets.” But in Memphis, David Williams reports new season-ticket sales are up over last year, and “there seems to be strong optimism” that season-ticket equivalents will reach or exceed last year’s total of 9,000. The “major challenge remains to get current season ticket holders — who just suffered through a 22-60 season — to renew” (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 5/24).