July 22, 200422 yr Posted on Thu, Jul. 22, 2004 HEAT O'Neal a big selling point in tickets Michael Jordan's return to the court in 2001 brought two seasons of sellouts for the Wizards. Shaquille O'Neal's arrival may do the same in Miami. BY STEPHEN F. HOLDER sholder@herald.com Shaquille O'Neal is making an impact on ticket sales not seen in the NBA since Michael Jordan returned to the court in 2001. A week after O'Neal was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers, several calls to the Heat ticket office revealed that seats in the lower bowl in AmericanAirlines Arena are unavailable, and there might be just 300 single-game tickets per home game available for the coming season. The Heat can relate to what the Washington Wizards experienced. In September 2001, news of Jordan's much-anticipated return to the court from the Wizards front office spread quickly, with a news flash even running across the bottom of the screen during a Monday Night Football telecast. Soon after, the Wizards ticket office was deluged by callers hoping to secure suddenly-hard-to-come-by tickets. ''The phones just lit up right away like a Christmas tree,'' team spokesman Matt Williams said. ``The sales department came in right away and started fielding calls, and they stayed there until 2:30 in the morning.'' HEAT SEATS GOING FAST Heat officials, citing a club policy, would not release specific numbers, but it seems ticket sales are intensifying. Just a limited number of seats remains in the upper level of the 16,500-seat arena. If the Heat opens the seldom-used balcony seats, that would make available an additional 3,100 seats. One ticket agent said there were approximately 700 upper-deck season tickets left, starting at $738 per seat. Another predicted a sellout of season tickets by the end of the week. Single-game tickets cannot be purchased yet because the NBA hasn't released team schedules, which are expected by early August. However, teams may sell season tickets with abandon before the release of the schedule, provided they set aside at least 300 per game for single-game purchases, said the Heat's president of business operations, Eric Woolworth. The Heat might be approaching that number soon. The ticket office was so swamped in the initial days after the trade became public that it was staffed 24 hours a day. That is a far cry from where the team has been the past few summers, when a combination of Alonzo Mourning's kidney illness and two straight non-playoff seasons dampened enthusiasm. ''After our superstar player was struck by tragedy, the team took a step back. We really struggled with our attendance,'' Woolworth said. TARGETING SELLOUTS Miami had 11 sellouts last season, most coming late in the year when the team made its thrilling playoff push. Look for that number to increase significantly, as it did in other cities after the acquisition of players of similar star power. Jordan's return allowed the Wizards to record sellouts in all 41 games during both of his seasons on the court. Last season, the first since Jordan's retirement, Washington had just 10 sellouts. In Cleveland, where the addition of LeBron James was met with nearly as much fanfare as O'Neal in Miami, the Cavaliers enjoyed 16 sellouts last season after two the season before. And the figure is a little misleading because Gund Arena has the third-largest capacity in the league (20,562). The jump in season-ticket sales was tremendous: Cleveland reportedly saw an increase of approximately 7,000. But when it comes to O'Neal, there might be no real precedent to measure what his arrival could mean. Asked recently how big this news was from a sales standpoint on a scale of 1 to 10, Woolworth responded flatly, ``A 12.'' Forget about us "Real" Heat fans even getting a chance to go to many games at all this season. Arison is going to rake in plenty of dough this year he should be willing to go over the cap a bit. As long as he stays beneath the tax threshold hes fine and doesnt have to pay anything extra. Article
July 22, 200422 yr it's gonna be bandwagon central up in that place! the only chance we have left is those 300 individual game tickets they have to hold back accoring to league rules but those will go fast when single game tix go on sale. i really gotta start saving up my money.
July 22, 200422 yr Bah, I never go to games anyway. This is great news as far as I'm concerned. You think every fan in New York is "real"?
July 22, 200422 yr of course it's great news from a market and revenue standpoint plus everygame will be the hottest ticket in town, not just some blah monday night game. but from a personal standpoint, it sucks for us poor people who can't afford season tix and aren't able to drive down there almost every other night. the energy at sellout games is amazing (playoff games last season) so heat games are gonna be a blast but i wanna be part of it
July 22, 200422 yr of course it's great news from a market and revenue standpoint plus everygame will be the hottest ticket in town, not just some blah monday night game. but from a personal standpoint, it sucks for us poor people who can't afford season tix and aren't able to drive down there almost every other night. the energy at sellout games is amazing (playoff games last season) so heat games are gonna be a blast but i wanna be part of it 471048[/snapback] I do too, but it's way too far even if I wanted to go. I've been to AAA once and that was to get EJ autograph when we drafted Caron. I drove to Kendall, took the train, took the little trolley, and walked to AAA. That was annoying and I would never do it again. Sucks to be you though. @_@
July 23, 200422 yr where do you live? I live about 45 minutes away, depending mostly on traffic, but it's not too bad. I try to make it to as many games I can. You should really try to make it to a game (ha, like that'll be easy). They're a lot of fun.
July 23, 200422 yr Author do hotcakes really sell all that well? 471245[/snapback] downtown, arepas sell like hotcakes 471253[/snapback] :lol In my neck of the woods they do.... :hayseed
July 23, 200422 yr Yea this sucks. Oh well, the day they release the schedules, I'm going to buy tickets, probably have to be 10 dollar ticks though Damn bandwagoners is right, and also no more sneaking down
July 23, 200422 yr where do you live? I live about 45 minutes away, depending mostly on traffic, but it's not too bad. I try to make it to as many games I can. You should really try to make it to a game (ha, like that'll be easy). They're a lot of fun. 471243[/snapback] Homestead. Which really isn't THAT far but it's not like I can go whenever I want.
July 23, 200422 yr Author When do regular single game tickets go on sale? 471679[/snapback] Sometime in early August.
July 23, 200422 yr Dolphins games selling out.. Heat games selling out.. Marlins attendance rising.. What the heck?
July 23, 200422 yr Dolphins games selling out.. Heat games selling out.. Marlins attendance rising.. What the heck? 472096[/snapback] Dolphins game selling out? shouldn't be a surprise. Heat actually stealing spotlight from the Dolphins is a refreshing surprise.
July 24, 200422 yr does anyone know the date single game tix go on sale? and when does the sked come out?
July 25, 200422 yr I bought season tickets at the $9 level in section 309 and i am selling about 20 games as a mini-plan. I will include some good games (Lebron James app, etc.). I am selling the package for $10 per game and 2 seats per game so it comes out to $400 for both seats. If anyone is interested, please post a message here w/ your e-mail.
July 25, 200422 yr Its not scalping. By Florida Law, Im allowed to sell the tickets for $1 over face value.
July 26, 200422 yr Its not scalping. By Florida Law, Im allowed to sell the tickets for $1 over face value. 475596[/snapback] That may be Florida law, however it is again the Heat's policy for season ticket holders to resell their tickets. I believe they can nullify your season ticket account without a refund and also cancel/nullify all remaining tickets that you have if they find out you're doing this. It's seriously not worth the risk, especially considering they're only 9 dollar seats or whatever and there is very little money to be made back. You can give away tickets you have as gifts or something, but you cannot resell your tickets.
July 26, 200422 yr I'm a little disappointed as well. I went to 15 or so Heat games last year but I don't expect to see myself sitting upper deck too much next year.
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