Earlier this month, on the same night the Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in front of the Bobcats’ smallest home crowd of the season, Charlotte owner Robert Johnson unveiled a sweeping reassessment of his NBA franchise, including the possibility of lower ticket prices next season.
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Owner Robert Johnson (above) wants an
overall review of his franchise’s operations.
“I see all kinds of opportunity,” he said. |
Though Johnson and other team executives declined comment on whether prices will be cut, they wouldn’t rule out such an adjustment.
Within the next month, the Bobcats will begin soliciting season-ticket renewals, likely offering the answer on price changes. As the team approaches the midpoint of its first season in its new, $265 million home, and its second season in Charlotte, Johnson made it clear he intends to take a closer look — along with the rest of the Bobcats’ ownership group — at every aspect of operations.
“Maybe some people think there’s a little bit of a pricing issue, so we said that’s something on the table,” he said. “Maybe there’s a little bit of messaging in terms of what goes on in the arena and how it’s presented to the fans. All of these things became things that are part of the overall review of the franchise. Looking ahead, you’re going to see some of the fruit of those discussions.”
Since the ugly divorce between the city and its former NBA club, the Hornets, culminated in that franchise’s move to New Orleans in 2002, Charlotte fans have been reluctant to embrace pro basketball. Even after Johnson won a new franchise in 2003, fans were slow to respond. The Bobcats compounded the sluggish fan response by launching a little-watched (and since-shuttered) digital cable network, C-SET, to air most of the team’s games.
This season, ticket prices increased by 25 percent to 100 percent, on average, an increase fueled by the team’s move from old, outlying Charlotte Coliseum to a publicly funded, downtown arena, but still criticized by some as overaggressive pricing for a team unlikely to be competitive.
Attendance through 27 home dates for the last-place club this season was averaging 16,286 per game, up 10 percent from last year’s mark but still below the league average this season of more than 17,300.
Johnson is a longtime Washingtonian and still maintains his full-time residence there, though he owns a condominium in downtown Charlotte and has made frequent appearances at Bobcats home games this season. He also has encouraged Bobcats President Ed Tapscott and other team executives to take an aggressive approach to community involvement. Johnson, too, has played a role, contributing $1 million to a local YMCA in 2003.
“Are there issues that we don’t know about?” Johnson asks. “I’m not from Charlotte, Eddie (Tapscott) is not from Charlotte. That’s what you really want a local owner to do.”
In recent months, under Johnson’s direction, the team has enlisted as a consultant Mac Everett, a retired bank executive and current tournament director of Charlotte’s PGA Tour stop, the Wachovia Championship. Everett is charged with cultivating strategic planning sessions among Johnson and the Bobcats’ minority owners.
“It’s a natural evolution for any business,” Everett said. “Once you get things up and running, you need to step back and assess what you’re doing and make any midcourse adjustments necessary.”
Johnson said the careful examination of team operations should not be interpreted as a lack of confidence in what has been done to date.
“I see all kinds of opportunity,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to make sure we don’t leave any stone unturned. ... That’s what this is all about.”
Erik Spanberg writes for the Charlotte Business Journal, an affiliated publication.
