NBA already blew it with 2011-12 schedule
Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant had 44 points on Christmas Day in a 114-106 victory last year over the Denver Nuggets inside the Ford Center. (Photo by Steve Sisney)
The 66-game regular-season schedule presumably is still on the drawing board, but already the NBA has made a huge mistake.
Opening day for the abbreviated 2011-12 season will be Dec. 25. The league got this part right. Christmas Day was a wise decision and an obvious choice. It’s important to get off on the right foot following a 149-day lockout which, based on the tentative agreement, appears as though it could have easily been settled in 49 days.
Where the league got it wrong was scheduling only three games on opening day — the Celtics at the Knicks; the Heat at the Mavericks; the Bulls at the Lakers.
Rather than cater solely to the major markets, the league should have included everybody. Why in the name of David Stern weren’t 15 games slated for Christmas Day? Schedule these games in the right arenas and there might have been nothing but sellouts on opening day.
Including all 30 teams would have been the proper sign of goodwill in celebration of the new collective bargaining agreement. Show fans every team is created equal (even though they aren’t). Allow every team to share the stage. Small-market teams like the Thunder certainly would have appreciated the gesture.
Stern and Co. are a sharp bunch, but they whiffed on this one.
I have no idea when the revised schedule will be determined. Maybe it’s already complete. If not, then make the change and schedule 15 games. Make it a Merry Christmas for every team and its fans, not just the Big Six.
Your Shot To See Kobe And LeBron
Want to see Kobe Bryant and LeBron James?
The Thunder and the Thunder-owned Tulsa 66ers have announced a special joint ticket package that will allow fans an opportunity to catch James and the Miami Heat and Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in Oklahoma City this season. Both teams are coming to the (arena formerly known as the) Ford Center only once this season, and there are only a few ways for fans to get their hands on tickets.
One way to secure a seat to see the Lakers or Heat is by purchasing a “Turnpike Package.” The package includes 10 single-game tickets to select 66ers home games between late November and early April and one seat to either the Lakers or Heat contest depending on which of the two packages fans select. Pricing for the plans start at $127 for the “Loud City Pack,’ run $181 for the “Baseline Pack” and cost $336 for the “High Post Pack.”
For Tulsa area residents, the “Turnpike Package” could work extremely well. Those fans would only have to travel to Oklahoma City once, or twice if they purchase both packages. But the plan even seems like a reasonable option for Oklahoma City area fans. The 10 66ers games included in each package are sprinkled in throughout every two weeks or so, which would keep fans from driving some three hours round trip multiple times a week.
And if you really want to see the Heat or the Lakers, this might be one of the last chances to guarantee a seat. Tickets for both games will certainly be hard to come by from this point on.
The Thunder already has sold more than 12,500 full season ticket packages, and the team’s allotment of partial packages were expected to go fast as well. Single-game tickets are on sale only through Jan. 13. But by the time individual tickets go on sale for the season’s second half, which includes both the Lakers and Heat games, it might be nearly impossible to secure a seat.
The Heat game, an afternoon tilt scheduled to be televised on ABC on Sunday, Jan. 30, is not even included in the team’s 20-game half-season packages. Fans must purchase that game as an add-on. The Lakers game, which also is scheduled for ABC on Sunday, Feb. 27, is included in one of the two half-season packages and only one of the four eight-game packages.
In each of the past two seasons, the Thunder held back 50 tickets to give away before each game as part of the “Ford F-150 Drive to a Sellout.” But that promotion could now be a thing of the past with the team and the Ford dealers failing to reach an agreement on a new naming rights contract.
So if you want to see Kobe and LeBron up close this season, Thunder heads, you’ll have to buy a season ticket, purchase a half-season plan for the Lakers and pony up for the Heat add-on, secure an eight-game “Thunder Pride” package for the Lakers or get ready to commit to watching a good amount of D-League ball.
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