Blazers officials announced that all ticket prices will
be "frozen or lowered" for the '98-99 season, and that
"about" 1,500 seats will be removed from the arena to allow
easier access and comply with the ADA, according to Rachel
Bachman of the Portland OREGONIAN. Blazers Senior
VP/Marketing Harry Hutt said that in addition to the seats
removed to comply with the ADA, about 300 additional seats
will be removed to create a concourse at the top of the Rose
Garden. Ticket prices will drop to an average of $34.71,
down from an NBA high of $51.89 for single-game prices. The
NBA average is $36.32. A seat in the upper corners of the
Rose Garden will be lowered to $15, from $27.95 last season,
while seats in the last row behind the end zones will be
$10, "one of the cheapest tickets in the NBA." The team has
also eliminated the 7.5% increase called for in the
"Guaranteed Savings Plan" contract on upper and lower level
seats. The Blazers, who averaged 20,577 fans last season,
will have a capacity of about 19,980 (OREGONIAN, 8/19).
