Pacers Senior VP and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Todd Taylor said that the “season-ticket renewal rate for next season” is around 93%, and season-ticket sales are 15% “ahead of last season,” according to Anthony Schoettle of the INDIANAPOLIS BUSINESS JOURNAL. The first seven rows of the lower bowl at Bankers Life Fieldhouse are already filled with full- and half-season ticket holders for the “first time in a decade” and Taylor expects only a “limited number of 11-game lower-bowl ticket packages to be available behind the basket and in the corners.” Meanwhile, the Pacers saw a 10% “gain in sponsorship sales” last season and Taylor “expects a gain of at least that much” for next season. He said that overall merchandise sales during ’13-14 were up 52% "compared to the previous year.” Top-selling items were “player name and numbered T-shirts and headwear.” The team’s “up-and-down playoff performance seems to have done little to dampen surging ticket demand.” To “bolster the effort,” the team launched an ad campaign June 16 featuring President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird “touting the accomplishments of this season and promising to do better next year.” Taylor “isn’t concerned about some of the complaints about the team’s spotty play on the court late in the season.” Taylor: “The fans are showing they’re engaged, and they care. That’s a huge change from where it was five to 10 years ago” (IBJ.com, 6/21).
