76ers CEO Adam Aron said the team's ownership group "has caught the fever" with this season's success on the court and at the gate, according to Bob Cooney of the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS. Aron said, "We have the disease. The disease is called we want to win and we want to win, bad. We so much want to deliver a winning team to Philadelphia, a contending team, an elite team. We know that that's going to take a lot of work, it's going to take some money, it's going to take some skill and probably a little luck, too. The ownership group is smart, dedicated, committed, deep-pocketed and we will do what it takes to give Philadelphia the winning team that it wants.” The 76ers before last night’s regular-season home finale against the Pacers had an average home attendance of 17,457, which ranked 15th in the league and marked the highest per-game average for the club since ‘04-05. The 76ers in ’04-05 averaged 17,870 fans, which was 10th in the league. Last season the team ranked 25th in the league, averaging 14,751 fans. Aron said, "We wanted to make 76er basketball relevant to the Philadelphia sports fans, we wanted to put an exciting winning team on the floor and we wanted to fill the house.” He added, "We didn't know how long it would take. We came in with sober eyes and we thought it might take 2, 3 or 4 years to get the Sixers front and center again in Philadelphia." Aron: "Since Feb. 1, we've averaged between 19,000 and 20,000 a game. So essentially we've played to full houses in February, March and April. That's good for everybody in the building, it's good for the fans, it's great for our players, it gives them a homecourt advantage. I think we've made great progress there” (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 4/18).
NOT SO FAST: In Philadelphia, John Smallwood notes home attendance for this season was up 19%, the highest jump in the NBA. In 20 games at the Wells Fargo Center since Jan. 30, "the Sixers have had just one crowd of fewer than 18,000.” A lot of the tickets that were part of their big crowds were “purchased when the Sixers were battling for the Atlantic Division championship and not struggling just to hold on to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference as they now are.” They are a franchise that “provides little incentive for those fans who took a leap of faith this season to do the same thing again next season.” Aron said that they “already have sold 5,300 season tickets 6 months before the start of next season, compared to 3,294 for this one.” But while it “represents an improvement, 5,300 season tickets don't seem like that many for a 20,000-seat arena.” Performance has “always been the biggest determining factor in Sixers' attendance,” and the club's fans will “always talk about the team, but most won't lay down their cash until they believe the team has a legitimate chance to compete for a title” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/18).
