If you've ever paid for tickets to an NBA game, you are well aware how expensive a night out for some hoops can be. One floundering franchise has chosen to embrace a common marketing strategy used most notably this year by national sandwich chain Subway for its season ticket sales.
Surely you've heard of the "buy one, get one free" technique. It doesn't normally apply to professional basketball tickets. Until now.
"Buy this season, get next season free!," that's the sales pitch from the Charlotte Bobcats regarding their season ticket packages.
Granted they barely qualify as professionals.
A 7-59 record in 2012 with the lowest winning percentage (.106) in your sport's history certainly qualifies as a desperate situation.
The doormats of the NBA are offering to give away an entire season's worth of tickets just to convince a few people to buy tickets this season. For $537.50 you can get tickets to 43 Bobcats home games (41 regular season, 2 exhibitions) during the 2012-13 season, with the 2013-14 schedule of games at the Times Warner Cable Arena absolutely free.
When you include both seasons, Charlotte pro basketball consumers will be paying an average of $6.25 per game over 86 games.
That sounds like a good deal, until you consider that some Bobcats fans will be paying just $2.00 per game, or $86 to watch the rubbish called Charlotte basketball next season, following a gimmick price plan tied into where the franchise would land in the draft lottery.
Keep in mind the Bobcats finished 25th in home attendance with an average of 14,757 per 2012 home date. Milwaukee, Sacramento, Detroit, Indiana and New Jersey were the only cities with a lower average home attendance in the NBA.
All things considered, owner Michael Jordan is running the closest thing the NBA has to a discount store.
-- Follow Ben Maller on Twitter @BenMaller.
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