Jazz Owner, CEO Personally Greet Fans Before Home Opener

Jazz Owner, CEO Greet Fans Before Home Opener

Jazz Owner Gail Miller and CEO Greg Miller "personally welcomed fans to EnergySolutions Arena" for Friday's home opener against the Clippers, and Greg Miller said that the move was a "gesture of appreciation from the franchise to the fans," according to Stuart & Genessy of the DESERET NEWS. Miller: "These fans are the engine of the Utah Jazz. We just want to thank them." The team claimed that the meet-and-greet was not "an attempt to drum up ticket sales," though Jazz Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Jim Olson admitted that season-ticket sales "have slumped compared to last year." Stuart & Genessy noted the Jazz are not "counting on matching" the 14,900 season-ticket sales and 90% renewal rate it achieved for the '08-09 season. Olson: "That was the strongest year we ever had. We knew with the economy that it would soften just a little bit, which it has, but it's just been still minor." Meanwhile, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir "opened the game with a goose-bump-inducing version of the national anthem, sang to memorialize" late Jazz Owner Larry Miller (DESERET NEWS, 10/31).

NOT BUYING THEIR PITCH: In Salt Lake City, Gordon Monson wrote the Jazz "tried to sell customers on the idea that, after they sat on their hands all summer, pulling off not a single significant deal," the team "would somehow transform itself this year." But fans "met that notion with skepticism that was evident Friday night," as EnergySolutions Arena "wasn't full, even though the club claimed a sellout, knocking ticket prices in half for some seats, giving away free hot dogs, and bringing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to sing the national anthem." Monson wrote Greg Miller before the game also "gave fans a pep talk that sounded a lot like a threat, uttering something about the club never leaving this market as long as support was strong" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 10/31).