A New Orleans take on OKC Tickets
Thought I’d share a quick blog post from a New Orleans Times Picayune blogger who weighs in on the stalemate between OKC and the Hornets.
As most of you know by now, the Hornets did not release information on former Hornets season ticket holders in OKC so the city’s new team could give those ticket buyers first priority this time around. As a result, many of those same fans who were instrumental in helping this city catch the eye of the NBA and secure a permanent team will be thanked by being the last people to select their seats in some cases.
Although the writer doesn’t shed any more light on the situation from the Hornets’ perspective than Mike Baldwin did in his Sunday package, he calls the disagreement a “shame” that the OKC fans who supported the Hornets won’t be rewarded by the new team.
“What matters is that, in effect, the New Orleans Hornets and new Oklahoma team have teamed together to (unintentionally) screw the fans in Oklahoma City over,” the blogger writes.
-DM-
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Comments
Hey DM…..why no mention of the latest court rulings in Seattle? Schultz’s suit took a major hit with the most recent rulings……not that it ever had much of a chance, anyway.
Good grief, I read the responses on the Bayou blog. Those guys are still jealous of us Okies. Shinn doesn’t need us anymore. That is the reason they are not cooperating.
I can say that I personally supported the team by purchasing 6 expensive lower level tickets for both seasons.
Then, when the Ford Center vote came around, I had a “your views” piece published in the Oklahoman, which pointed out the reasons why our City should vote for the Ford Center improvements.
Then, I called in the first day the phone numbers were released to get on the OKC/NBAs ticket list.
Then Mr. Bennett announces the only fair way to distribute tickets is a random drawing.
I get selected to come in on day four. My sales rep has already called me to confirm this. He told me they hoped to run approx 200 people per hour through the Ford Center each day. That means there will be approx 6,000 fans select tickets before me.
Yeah, seats will still be available but not the seats I had before and want now.
I would probably cater to fans like myself. Right now a lot of people are jumping on the NBA bandwagon. They will jump right back off the wagon after a couple of losing seasons. My rep told me I could try to “upgrade” over the next few seasons.
Without Shinns list, the appropriate thing to do would have been to have a day or two when fans could bring in proof of their former seat status and the opportunity to purchase them again at the current rate. I have American Express charges and receipts to prove where I sat.
Just a day or two of extra effort would have went a long way toward reconciling this issue.
I completely agree with Craig…..The new ownership BLEW this opportunity by alienating a proven customer base in Hornets Season ticket holders.
No excuse (other than lack of effort).
I originally thought the NBA in OKC was going to be successful….Now I think it will be a flop…..for a multitude of reasons. The main reason being that the organization is not doing a good job.
For instance, why did the Sonics wait two months to sell tickets (and lose all that momentum)?
Why wait until after school is back in session?
Why wait until after OU football starts?
People are now busy with other things.
Why did Clay Bennett in essence promise the Hornets ticket holders priority at the press conference if he wasnt going to deliver? I don’t buy these excuses.
Ticket prices are high. Fine, ticket prices are high but don’t alienate people at the same time. Big mistake.
OKCHornetsFan:
While only time will tell whether or not the NBA in OKC will succeed or fail, stating that you think the team will now fail because you feel scorned by not getting to be first in line for tickets is fairly shallow. The franchise attempted to obtain the list from Shinn, but being the greedy businessman that he is, I’m sure he set a ridiculously high price for the list, and rather then being ripped off, Bennett chose the random method. Life goes on. While I consider this to be the “honeymoon” phase, the demand for tickets will easily top the supply for at least the first couple of years and we will see what happens after that. If Presti makes the right moves and this team improves then the sky is the limit.
First Major Blunder by The Thunder!
New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets season ticket holders get no preference in ticket lottery! What a mistake!
The first season the Hornets were in OKC my family bought season tickets for our immediate family (4). That season we also had two birthday parties with 20-30 people at Hornets games. Near the end of the season we bought “group tickets” to one game (30) and distributed them to extended family and friends, some of which bought season tickets in year two.
The second Hornets season in OKC we again bought four upper level season tickets for the kids (ages 17-25) and 2 club-level seats for my wife and myself, as well as 25 of the 12 or 15 (I don’t remember exactly what they were) game mini-plans and sold those tickets to extended family and friends so we could all attend games together. We also again bought two birthday party packages the second season.
When the Ford Center tax vote came around we were very vocal in our support for the tax. My entire family was very, very excited about the NBA coming permanently to OKC. But not anymore, we have been left out. Because our select-a-seat appointment is not until Monday September 15th it is obvious that we will not have any opportunity to buy even 1 season ticket. In my opinion, families like ours that packed the Ford Center every night for 2 years had as much to do with bringing the NBA here permanently as did Clay Bennett and PBC.
The Thunder are blaming the Hornets for not sharing their ticket information, however I called my Hornets ticket rep. in New Orleans and he claims he is receiving 20-30 calls a day from his OKC customers wanting to know why the Hornets would do this to the fans that supported them so faithfully for 2 years. He says that the Thunders claims are completely untrue, that the Hornets offered the information to the Thunder and that the Thunder “never even got back to us”.
Needless to say we are heartbroken. I am a life-long resident of Oklahoma City and I would never wish anything bad on the Thunder for that reason, but they have lost what would have been a very loyal family of fans. I will not root against them, but also will not root for them. As far as I’m concerned they don’t exist. How could this lottery have been fair when already, days before our select-a-seat appointment the “ticket brokers” (crooks) are advertising hundreds of tickets at 3-5 times the face value.
Thanks a lot Thunder, so nice of you to take care of the fans that got you here in the first place. I have already made preliminary arrangements for our family to travel to Dallas to see our HORNETS.
Another reason we didn’t get our seats? The corporations were allowed to purchase all the close up seats to the tune of approximately 4000 seats before anyone even had a chance to buy one ticket. I was fortunate to have a first day lottery ticket and there wasn’t a seat to be had closer than 35 rows to the arena. I had 3 row seats with the Hornets in OKC and 1st row in New Orleans last year. My voice is now retired.
Well, it wasn’t the ‘new Oklahoma team’s’ fault. Clay has every intention to reward Hornets ticket holders – but how can he without the lislt?
Could he trust people to be honest where their tix were?
I have an idea, how about if people saved their ticket stubbs – and they consistently say seat / section whatever – then those people could/should get first pic.
DM, can you run with this idea to Clay? See what he thinks, I think it would be at least a good move – he tried and it is substantial esp if people kept a few of their Hornets season ticket stubs.
(HR, I have no doubt the team considered every reasonable possibility. In the end, they had to make a decision and stick with it and that’s what they’ve done. Having said that, now that the team has called and e-mailed interested ticket buyers and scheduled them for select-a-seat dates there is no way the organization is going to shift gears at this point. -DM-)