Franchise Notes

MLS Crew GM Mark McCullers said that the team’s "Dare to be Massive" sales and marketing campaign has been a "hit with soccer fans, and the next step is getting more buy-in from the business community." In Columbus, Jeff Bell reported with "discounts as deep as 33 percent compared with this season’s prices, sales of new ticket packages and renewals for the 2012 season are up 30 percent." McCullers said that about half of the growth "has come from fans upgrading their five- and 10-game packages to full-season deals while the rest are new customers." The club is trying to boost its season-ticket base to 10,000, "which reportedly would be about twice as many season-ticket holders as it had this season." Corporate sales "account for about 10 percent of the Crew's season tickets." McCullers said that the team "has beefed up its corporate sales staff and is working with the Columbus Partnership to get the business community more engaged" (COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST, 10/14 issue).

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN': Warriors President & CEO Rick Welts said of being hired shortly after leaving the Suns, "It was really a fortuitous opportunity, and for me it was the perfect intersection of what I was hoping to do. I was hoping to be back in the NBA or at least in sports. It was a very lucky chain of events for me." Welts added, "For me, it was more about being in the Northern California area that allowed me to get my personal life and professional life aligned. I know people have talked about (being a role model) but I really hadn’t thought of it that way. It was the perfect storm for me." Welts said, "Everyone in the NBA has always viewed this franchise as a real sleeping giant. It has every element that could result in being one of the most successful franchises in the league" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/17).

PUCKS & BUCKS: THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell noted after "drawing an 'announced' crowd of 15,285 for its home opener, the Dallas Stars had gatherings of 6,306, 7,949 and 8,305 for their next three games, which were all wins." That total of 22,560 is "about 1,000 more than the Montreal Canadiens get for one game." Campbell wrote, "Baseball playoffs or no baseball playoffs, that is pathetic" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 10/17). Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Frank Seravalli notes season-ticket holders "wishing to purchase Winter Classic tickets must also buy tickets to the Dec. 31 Flyers-Rangers alumni game and the Jan. 6" AHL Phantoms game (PHILLY.com, 10/18).