Author Topic: How many people have to go to Red Claws games to make this a long term venture?  (Read 5740 times)

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Offline nickagneta

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I know professional basketball in Maine has failed before and shut doors pretty quickly so I was wondering how many people are the Red Claws going to have to average in attendance each night to make this a worthwhile, long term venture?

They got 3100+ people to see them play an exhibition game in Augusta, which I guess is pretty impressive, given that Augusta is about a third of the size in population of Everett, the city I live in.

How many people does the Portland Expo Center seat and what do you think they are going to have to draw in order for the NBA, the Celtics and the Bobcats to support them long term?

Offline Chris

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To go along with this, how expensive are tickets (and as an extension, things like snacks at the game)?  Are they innexpensive enough for it to be a casual night out, replacing say, a trip to the movies, or does it have to be a bit of an event like going to a Celtics game often is?

Offline lon3lytoaster

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Well Maine doesn't really have any "Big" cities, I live in the third biggest in the state and we've got under 30,000 people I believe.

However, Jon Jennings said they were doing the best in the league in merch sales and ticket sales. I think they're doing alright. If they become a legit team, I could see this team sticking around.

I didn't know how it would turn it, but things are looking good now.

Offline Roy Hobbs

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To go along with this, how expensive are tickets (and as an extension, things like snacks at the game)?  Are they innexpensive enough for it to be a casual night out, replacing say, a trip to the movies, or does it have to be a bit of an event like going to a Celtics game often is?

If prices are in line with Pirates and Sea Dogs games, they're going to be very affordable.

I think this venture will be successful, if only because Portland is a great minor league town.  They've supported the Sea Dogs and Pirates since their inception, and I think this franchise will be as successful as the D-League / NBA allows them to be.

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Offline nickagneta

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To go along with this, how expensive are tickets (and as an extension, things like snacks at the game)?  Are they innexpensive enough for it to be a casual night out, replacing say, a trip to the movies, or does it have to be a bit of an event like going to a Celtics game often is?
Here's their ticket brochure:

http://www.nba.com/dleague/maine/media/Season_Group_Flyer.pdf

Apparently all courtside stuff is sold out and the walk up prices are:

$30 - center court loge
$25 - side center loge
$10 - corner court loge

End zone seating it looks like is being saved for group ticket sales at $5 per seat.

Really reasonable pricing but then again it's Maine and I have no idea what the economy has done to the expendable cash budget of the average Maine resident.

 

Offline JFoss

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They have set season ticket sales records for the D-League already; about half of the 3,000ish seats in the Expo are owned by season ticket holders. They're doing very well with their marketing and merchandise sales.

Those earlier teams were of a much lower quality (more like "independent" minor-league basketball), and the Red Claws will benefit hugely from their association with the Celtics. A principal owner is Bill Ryan Jr, who also owns the very successful Oxford Plains Speedway and is one of the savviest businessmen in the state. His father runs TD Bank.

They are already doing very well, and given Maine's basketball fanaticism and their Celtics association, that should continue.

Offline nickagneta

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They have set season ticket sales records for the D-League already; about half of the 3,000ish seats in the Expo are owned by season ticket holders. They're doing very well with their marketing and merchandise sales.

Those earlier teams were of a much lower quality (more like "independent" minor-league basketball), and the Red Claws will benefit hugely from their association with the Celtics. A principal owner is Bill Ryan Jr, who also owns the very successful Oxford Plains Speedway and is one of the savviest businessmen in the state. His father runs TD Bank.

They are already doing very well, and given Maine's basketball fanaticism and their Celtics association, that should continue.
Good to hear. TP for the info.

Offline MaineBleedsGreen

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They have set season ticket sales records for the D-League already; about half of the 3,000ish seats in the Expo are owned by season ticket holders. They're doing very well with their marketing and merchandise sales.

Those earlier teams were of a much lower quality (more like "independent" minor-league basketball), and the Red Claws will benefit hugely from their association with the Celtics. A principal owner is Bill Ryan Jr, who also owns the very successful Oxford Plains Speedway and is one of the savviest businessmen in the state. His father runs TD Bank.

They are already doing very well, and given Maine's basketball fanaticism and their Celtics association, that should continue.

I definitely agree. Professional basketball in Maine has never been on this level before. With the affiliation to the Celtics, both player and management wise, and the business team behind the venture I think the Red Claws are going to be very successful in the mold of Portlands other two minor-league teams.

I would be interested to know what their bottom line is though. I don't know all that much about the NBDL. How many games are in a season? Do they split revenue on home games? Do the Celtics "sponsor" them or "buy in" to the affiliation? For how much? What's the salary cap in the NBDL?

All in all, clearly I have more questions then answers, but I get a really good feeling that this team is set up for long term success.

Offline nickagneta

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They have set season ticket sales records for the D-League already; about half of the 3,000ish seats in the Expo are owned by season ticket holders. They're doing very well with their marketing and merchandise sales.

Those earlier teams were of a much lower quality (more like "independent" minor-league basketball), and the Red Claws will benefit hugely from their association with the Celtics. A principal owner is Bill Ryan Jr, who also owns the very successful Oxford Plains Speedway and is one of the savviest businessmen in the state. His father runs TD Bank.

They are already doing very well, and given Maine's basketball fanaticism and their Celtics association, that should continue.

I definitely agree. Professional basketball in Maine has never been on this level before. With the affiliation to the Celtics, both player and management wise, and the business team behind the venture I think the Red Claws are going to be very successful in the mold of Portlands other two minor-league teams.

I would be interested to know what their bottom line is though. I don't know all that much about the NBDL. How many games are in a season? Do they split revenue on home games? Do the Celtics "sponsor" them or "buy in" to the affiliation? For how much? What's the salary cap in the NBDL?

All in all, clearly I have more questions then answers, but I get a really good feeling that this team is set up for long term success.
I get a funny feeling that the NBA is going to subsidize any team that falls into the red, profitably speaking. Like the WNBA, the NBADL serves a specific purposes and like all businesses, it sometimes makes sense to take losses in some areas for the over good of the entire business.

I think the WNBA is a very unprofitable venture but it generates interest in females and fathers of female basketball players. Without it the NBA would probably find it more difficult to grow the female market.

I think the NBADL, is now a useful tool for creating more jobs for NBA fringe players, keeping young players in the 13-15 area of the depth chart playing and growing, and is an excellent tool for negotiating with the NBAPA in keeping demands lower as it shows that the NBA is trying to keep as many of the membership employed and playing as they possibly can.

So as long as each team can show respectable revenue generation, whether they are profitable or not probably won't matter as I think the NBA will eventually take care of them. It's in their best interest to do so.