Pacers Using New Marketing Strategies To Attract More Fans
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In Recent Polling, 67% Of 600 Respondents
Have A "Favorable Opinion" Of Pacers |
The Pacers this season are "working with a new business strategy aimed at winning back fans," according to Daniel Lee of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. There are "bold blue and gold decals splashed" on downtown Indianapolis sidewalks and discounted ticket packages are "gaining popularity." Ads "emphasize the character and determination of team members, and managers are emphasizing zero tolerance for embarrassing misbehavior." The team also is offering a "new atmosphere for fans at Conseco Fieldhouse -- one that harkens back to Indiana's high school basketball glory days." A new Pacer pep band was unveiled at Saturday night's home opener against the Celtics, where "organ music replaced some of the blaring rock music." Pacers Sports & Entertainment President Jim Morris said, "Our fans want to see a basketball game. They don't come because they want to see Vegas entertainment. People want to hear the squeak of the sneaker." Lee noted Pacers execs "have been busy consulting with NBA marketing brass, pollster Frank Luntz, the Portland Trailblazers -- another team that faces an image makeover -- and the team's own fans." A Luntz poll of 600 Pacers ticket holders conducted last month indicated that fans are "starting to like what they see from Pacers management, head coach Jim O'Brien and the players." Of the 600 fans polled, 67% said that they had a "favorable opinion of the team," up from 43% a year ago. Meanwhile, this year's full-season ticket sales -- "a key gauge of fan loyalty -- are down slightly from last season." But the team indicated that sales of mini-season ticket packages, where fans get 11 games for the price of eight, "already have exceeded last year's sales." Group sales also are "ahead of last season's pace" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 11/2).
LEASE OF THEIR WORRIES: In Indianapolis, John Ketzenberger wrote there are a lot of reasons why the Pacers are "spending millions to win back fans, but the most important isn't known." During the next year, the Pacers and the Capital Improvement Board "will reconsider the team's Conseco Fieldhouse lease." It is the "first chance the money-losing Pacers have to wring more revenue out of the deal." A "lousy team that fans hate means the Pacers would have no leverage in the negotiations," and that is why Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird "cleaned house this summer." The Pacers hired Luntz "more than a year ago to help them understand the depth of their problems." But the team "got more than just numbers from Luntz." They got his "extrapolations, too, which he shared in a series of Conseco Fieldhouse breakfast meetings with the city's movers and shakers" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 11/2).
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