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View Full Version : OKC Thunder: Sold-Out after Five Days?



NightTrainLayne
09-12-2008, 01:47 PM
Season tickets just went on sale this Monday. It appears that by the end of the day today they will be sold out. The team is having to reserve some tickets to have available for mini-season-packages and some walk-ups.

http://newsok.com/okc-thunder-down-to-final-1000-season-tickets/article/3296640/?tm=1221228560


OKC Thunder down to final 1,000 season tickets

"We are down to a precious few remaining seats,” said team spokesman Dan Mahoney. "We will be open and encourage fans to keep their Friday appointments. By purchasing them, you become a Thunder season ticket member and enjoy all the benefits that brings, including securing your opportunity for future upgrades.

"And you won't have to be placed on a waiting list.”

Once all season tickets have been sold, remaining select-a-seat appointments will be canceled. Those fans will be placed on a waiting list for future season tickets. They also will be placed on a list for eight-game mini packages, in all price ranges, that will go on sale in approximately two weeks.

With around 1,000 tickets left, the Thunder is all but assured of joining the Celtics, Lakers and Suns as the only NBA franchises with a season ticket waiting list.

"It's nice to validate the NBA's confidence in Oklahoma City,” said Mayor Mick Cornett. "Back in November '05, when commissioner (David) Stern said Oklahoma City was at the top of the NBA's relocation list, some people said, ‘Huh?' This shows Oklahoma City is not only a legitimate market but one of the league's strongest markets.”

Similar to the select-a-seat format for season tickets, eight-game mini packages (maximum four per account) will be offered based on an applicant's original scheduled appointment time. Fans received an unexpected surprise Thursday afternoon when Thunder players Jeff Green, D.J. White and Kyle Weaver showed up at the Ford Center.

For the third consecutive day, the Thunder sold around 2,000 tickets. The team has sold approximately 12,000 season tickets the first four days, halfway through what was originally scheduled to be an eight-day process.

The Ford Center seats 19,100 for NBA games. Approximately 2,500 corporate seats were sold before the process began Monday. Thunder officials also are holding back 4,000 seats for mini packages, group sales, individual tickets and other team needs for the league and media.

A computer randomly selected appointment times for fans to select seats. Since Thunder officials probably could have sold at least 20,000 season tickets, there weren't enough tickets to satisfy every customer. Weekend applicants are expected to have their appointments canceled.

"It was unavoidable,” Cornett said. "The reason I started talking about it last week was I could see this coming. I wanted people to be prepared. Usually, supply and demand resolves itself. But the team would have had to really raise ticket prices to meet supply simply because the demand was so high.”

The most disappointed fans are former Hornet season-ticket holders with weekend appointments, fans who feel they played a key role in Oklahoma City landing a permanent NBA franchise.

"My guess is most of the Hornet season-ticket holders will still be in the arena,” Cornett said. "They either got tickets or will get tickets. They may be part of a corporate structure that bought tickets that haven't been distributed yet. Or they'll find someone who has extra tickets.”

This should settle any questions of whether or not OKC was capable of supporting an NBA team. Only two other NBA franchises have a waiting list for season tickets, and that's LA and Boston. OKC will soon join them.

BigDaddyBronco
09-12-2008, 01:51 PM
So did you get us some tickets NTL?

NightTrainLayne
09-12-2008, 01:54 PM
So did you get us some tickets NTL?

I couldn't afford the good ones, so I decided to wait a year or two. The prices were almost double what they had been charging for the Hornets, and yet they're still sold out.

I am still thinking about a mini-package, but the way the season tickets are going, they're going to price them pretty aggressively as well. Good for the team and the city, but not good for a casual fan like myself who can't justify $4,000 for a couple of seats, mid-way up on the end of the court.

DallasChief
09-12-2008, 01:56 PM
It's the first season in a city that has no other professional sports teams. If they didn't sell out this year, they never would.

BroncoJoe
09-12-2008, 01:57 PM
If they put a winning team on the floor, it should last.

If not... well...

Not too unusual for an established franchise that moves to have their first season sellout.

NightTrainLayne
09-12-2008, 01:59 PM
It's the first season in a city that has no other professional sports teams. If they didn't sell out this year, they never would.


If they put a winning team on the floor, it should last.

If not... well...

Not too unusual for an established franchise that moves to have their first season sellout.

In 5 days though? I agree with what you guys are saying to some extent, but they sold something like 10,000 season tickets on the first day!

And they had structured it with appointment times for all the fans who had interest. The appointments are scheduled through next week, but the tickets are already gone. I.E., interest in the tickets was through the roof.

BroncoJoe
09-12-2008, 02:01 PM
That's great for OKC.

edit: sounds sarcastic - not meant that way at all.

studbucket
09-12-2008, 03:23 PM
The franchise sold out long before it got to OKC; Hardy har har.

Good for OKC and the fans though, glad to see it's successful.

NightTrainLayne
09-12-2008, 03:27 PM
The franchise sold out long before it got to OKC; Hardy har har.

Good for OKC and the fans though, glad to see it's successful.

Ouch. When I hear things like that it makes it really hard for me to hold back from saying something like, "well, at least the team has a community that supports it now."

Oops, I said it. :D

broncos9697
09-12-2008, 03:33 PM
I got mine......1,222$$

studbucket
09-12-2008, 03:41 PM
Ouch. When I hear things like that it makes it really hard for me to hold back from saying something like, "well, at least the team has a community that supports it now."

Oops, I said it. :D

Yeah, I was in Seattle for the summer but I didn't get a good feel for the sports fans out there. I have no clue how many people felt about it, but nobody seemed to be too passionate about any of the teams. I didn't see any of the 'Save Our Sonics' stuff I thought I would. However, it was summer and the Mariners were absolutely horrible. Things might be different when I'm there during football season next year.

I just hope we don't have to worry about this happening to the Broncos. Move the Brewers, Bucks, or any other teams I like, I don't care, but not the Broncos.

NightTrainLayne
09-12-2008, 03:45 PM
Yeah, I was in Seattle for the summer but I didn't get a good feel for the sports fans out there. I have no clue how many people felt about it, but nobody seemed to be too passionate about any of the teams. I didn't see any of the 'Save Our Sonics' stuff I thought I would. However, it was summer and the Mariners were absolutely horrible. Things might be different when I'm there during football season next year.

I just hope we don't have to worry about this happening to the Broncos. Move the Brewers, Bucks, or any other teams I like, I don't care, but not the Broncos.

Yeah. It sucks for the fans. I know that there was a core of really good fans, but that support didn't permeate throughout the entire community as evidenced by the lack of financial support for the infrastructure which caused the team to be sold in the first place.

The fan's that supported the team did a great job, and fought hard for it. The problem is that there just weren't enough of them.

tubby
09-12-2008, 05:23 PM
Thunder?

I thought they decided on CousinKissers....

NightTrainLayne
09-12-2008, 08:50 PM
Thunder?

I thought they decided on CousinKissers....

They ran into trademark issues with the SW Arkansas State University over that and switched it at the last minute.