Bobcats To Raise Some Ticket Prices For '11-12 Season, Lower Others

The Bobcats are "raising some ticket prices and adding perks next season after spending recent years making dramatic cuts to spur attendance," according to Erik Spanberg of the CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL. The team last week "began issuing season-ticket renewal letters outlining the new pricing and other additions." Prices will increase 10-15% "on 2,500 seats in the lower level at Time Warner Cable Arena." But prices for "all tickets in the upper bowl -- nearly 9,000 seats -- will be reduced" 13-20% for the '11-12 season. Prices for the rest of the arena "will stay the same next season." Team officials said that the "overall impact of the increases and decreases in price will make costs flat for next season." To "offset some of the higher costs, the Bobcats will offer fans in the affected areas $10 per game concession credits and upgraded parking if they renew early." The changes come after the team "made price cuts of 15% or more for three straight years." The Bobcats last season averaged 15,824 fans per game, "an increase of 10% over the previous year." Attendance through 21 games this season is "flat compared with 2009-10" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 1/14).

ENERGY BILL: The Bobcats on Saturday announced a deal with Duke Energy that provides the company with in-arena and courtside rotational signage, a customized concourse window box, scoreboard video vignettes, a digital presence at bobcats.com, and a drive-to-website promotion and contest (Bobcats). The CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL's Spanberg reports it is a three-year deal worth an "estimated $500,000 annually." Bobcats Owner Michael Jordan helped land the company by hosting Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers and President Brett Carter "last summer in his executive office." Carter said that other possibilities for his company's relationship with the Bobcats include "installing solar panels on the roof" of Time Warner Cable Arena (CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/14 issue).