The number of full-season tickets sold by NBA teams continues to reach new heights, with the league projecting a record 295,000 being sold for the coming season.
That sum would surpass last year’s record total of 285,000 and continue a run seen by the league in recent seasons.
The NBA also projects that the number of new full-season tickets sold for this year will reach at least 50,000, about the same as last season.
The regular season begins Tuesday.
Amy Brooks, executive vice president of the NBA’s team marketing and business operations division, said the league tips off with an 85 percent season-ticket renewal rate this year, up a few percentage points from last year. It’s the sixth consecutive season with a renewal rate of at least 80 percent.
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The Pelicans added 4,000 full-season tickets in the offseason.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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In addition, for the first time, the NBA will have at least 15 teams at or above the league’s benchmark of 10,000 full-season tickets sold. Last year, the NBA counted 13 teams at or above that targeted threshold. League executives declined to identify the teams above that mark.
According to the NBA, the leaguewide sales total has grown from 255,000 for the 2011-12 season to 269,000 and 273,000 for the next two seasons. That growth was followed by the 285,000 sold last year and the projected 295,000 for this season.
The increase comes as some teams — Cleveland, Toronto and Golden State, among them — have capped their season-ticket sales. That curbs the total number of full-season tickets sold across the league.
“There comes a time when it doesn’t make sense to sell another season ticket,” Brooks said of those teams that cap season-ticket sales. “You want a mix of different buyers to grow your customer base. You want to harness that demand and get as many in the building as you can.”
According to industry consultant Bill Sutton, the NBA has stoked its full-season-ticket sales by limiting the number of partial plans for sale in the offseason, or waiting until very late in the selling season to offer partial plans.
“Some are holding back on partial plans,” said Sutton, principal of Bill Sutton & Associates, which lists the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and New York Knicks as clients. “They will wait until they have fully eaten the full-season market and there is nobody else to buy fulls.”
Brooks named New Orleans, Atlanta, Toronto, Charlotte and Houston as teams that have seen significant increases in full-season-ticket sales this year. Each of those teams, with the exception of Charlotte, played in the postseason last year, but the Hornets continue to benefit from last year’s franchise rebranding efforts.
The Pelicans rank among the top NBA teams for offseason tickets sales, according to the team, having added some 4,000 new full-season tickets, bringing their total season-ticket base to about 12,500 while also selling out the floor level at Smoothie King Arena, which this year will have a new scoreboard and new LED signage throughout the building.
“We had never sold out the floor in the history of our franchise,” said Mike Stanfield, senior vice president of sales for the Pelicans. “We repriced the entire floor, going from four categories to 12 seating categories.”
But don’t look for the Pelicans to cap season-ticket sales any time soon.
“We won’t cap it,” Stanfield said. “We want to sell it out.”
