Organizers of the World Basketball Championships are hoping a late advertising blitz will spur ticket sales for the international event.
So far, about 125,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament, still far short of the goal of 214,000. The 52-year-old event is being held Aug. 29 through Sept. 8 in Indianapolis. It will be the first time for the United States to play host to the event.
The World Basketball Championships, sanctioned by the International Basketball Federation, are held every four years and include teams from 16 countries.
This year's U.S. team is made up of top NBA players, and many international team rosters are stocked with foreign-born NBA players such as Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki, who is expected to play for the German national team.
The star power has yet to drive tickets sales, however, though organizers said they expect to reach the sales goal when the tournament final is held at 18,000-seat Conseco Fieldhouse on Sept. 8. Other games are being played at the RCA Dome. The 11-day, 62-game tournament is considered one of basketball's biggest events on an international level.
"This is the first time it's been in the U.S., and we know that it isn't at the top of the minds of people's awareness, and that's an issue," said Brad Carlson, vice president of marketing for the nonprofit Indiana Sports Corp., which brought the event to Indianapolis. "But we're confident that we will hit our goal."
Indiana Sports Corp. officials would not disclose any financial impact from ticket sales, but organizers want to leverage marketing a successful tournament like the World Championships to help bring in other high-profile sports events.
To raise the tournament's profile, USA Basketball, the sport's governing body in the United States, joined the Indiana Sports Corp. and a local advertising agency in developing a marketing effort based on the "One Planet, One Title" theme that began nearly three years ago when Indianapolis was awarded the event. The NBA has also helped with the marketing by promoting the tournament with courtside advertising during the playoffs and NBA Finals. Sponsorships for the event are controlled by the International Basketball Federation.
With about two weeks remaining before the tip-off, organizers are banking that their $500,000 regional advertising effort will boost sales of tickets, which are priced between $10 and $190, and three-game packages priced between $66 and $148.
"The strategy was to drive a lot on interest in the yearlong campaign, and now we are ramping up the effort," said Kirk Stahl, executive vice president of ad agency Caldwell VanRiper/Marc, which is donating its creative services to the Indiana Sports Corp.
