Franchise Notes

Rangers Offering Ticket Discounts Of Up To 75% For Weekday Games

The MLB Rangers are offering ticket discounts of up to 75%, "depending on the seats," for weekday games in August and September. The offer, a promotion with team sponsor Southwest Airlines, applies to all Monday-Thursday home games beginning with the Twins series August 17-20 and continuing with series against the Blue Jays and A's (AP, 8/4). The discounts allow fans to buy tickets for $5-10 for Monday-Thursday games through September 16. Rangers Exec VP/Sales Andrew Silverman said, "Those games before the last homestand, they're tough." Silverman projected that the team's attendance after the next homestand will be up about 11% over '08, "among the best increases" in MLB (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/5).

SAFE AT HOME: In L.A., Chris Erskine writes from a "fan's standpoint, Dodgers games are dramatically better this year." The security at Dodger Stadium is "tighter, the gangy vibe of the last few years on the mend," families are "back, and the entire atmosphere, from field level to the top deck, is vastly improved." The security crew's "pregame patrols of the parking lot have weeded out the knuckleheads who used to tank up before entering the stadium." The ballpark "still isn't exactly a day care center," but it has "become a good, safe, family-friendly place to watch a game again" (L.A. TIMES, 8/5).

NOTES: The Cowboys have sold more than 20,000 Party Pass tickets for the September 20 game against the Giants, the first regular-season NFL game in the new Cowboys Stadium (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/5)....Israel's Maccabi Haifa basketball club will drop the nickname Heat for the upcoming season. While the NBA did not formally request the name change, team Owner Jeffrey Rosen in a statement said "some private discussions with NBA officials concerned possible confusion in the marketplace, since the NBA markets internationally" (THE DAILY).