Wednesday, November 19

A Transcript

The transcript from the inevitable David Stern press conference to discuss putrid NBA attendance:

DAVID STERN: While we’re certainly concerned with flagging attendance levels, I’d like to remind you that the season is still very early. I know the press likes to make a big story out of this, but if you review our attendance figures from years past, you’ll notice that our attendance levels tend to increase as the year progresses and fan interest improves.

REPORTER: While that may be true, the early levels have never been this low. Shouldn’t the creation of all these new buildings be a buffer against the current economic downturn?

DS: Well, just look at the numbers in Portland, in Atlanta, in Toronto, or in Cleveland, where you have teams playing before near sell-outs every night. I think that’s a testament to what happens when our superior marketing and innovativeness are given an opportunity to grow and prosper.

REPORTER: But what about Sacramento, where your team is barely beating Arena League numbers? Doesn’t that concern you?

DS: Well, with a new mayor in Sacramento committed to keeping the team in that city, I think you’ll see an improvement in the team’s fortunes in the near future.

REPORTER: You mean, when they get a new building?

DS: Yes, that’s correct.

REPORTER: You mean, like the new building in Memphis, where they average 11,706 fans a night?

DS: Well, Memphis is a unique situation …

REPORTER: Or in Philadelphia, where they attract only 62% of capacity with a playoff-caliber team in a sports-mad city?

DS: Now you’re just picking out random cities out to augment your point, but I think if …

REPORTER: Or in Charlotte, where a brand-new stadium and a brand-new team with a Hall of Fame coach and world-famous general manager have lead to less than 70% capacity? Or in Indiana? New Jersey? Minnesota? Miami?

DS: I think that if you look closely, you’ll see that nearly all of those situations involve teams which are struggling on the court, and that in almost all situations involving teams which are successful, the fans inevitably flock to the games. You can almost guarantee it.

REPORTER: So what you’re saying is that the buildings you extort cities to build while their police departments, educational systems, and infrastructure erode have less impact on attendance than the on-court product? That on-court success is more important than $300 million arenas? That a winning Sonic team in Seattle in an “old” building would draw more than a losing Grizzlies’ team in Memphis with a “new” building?

DS: Now you’re just putting words in my mouth.

REPORTER: That’s not the only thing I’d like to put in there.

5 comments:

  1. More controlled than I expected but well done-a gain. The guerrilla war continues.

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  2. Alright, I am gonna tell you guys what I really think. It's a shame you guys are acting in this way. Real NBA fans would support their favorite league. You, instead, are basically bashing the NBA and you sure sound happy about the NHL having a slighty better average attendance than the NBA (btw, I find it funny how you guys don't mention the fact that the NBA is killing the NHL when it comes to tv ratings and even got bigger ratings than baseball last season, both during the regular season and world series..but I disgress). Isn't this a basketball blog? It seems more like a hockey blog and you sound like those obnoxious hockey fans who say that hockey is the best sport ever and everything else is worthless. As a diehard NBA fan this makes me sick. Last season was one of the best in NBA history and I think you guys should remember about the wildest playoffs race in western conference history. This season the eastern conference got much better and you could make the case, looking at the standings, that the eastern conference is even better than the western conference. Plus, there are so many great young stars who are going to be the future of the League (no need to mention who those stars are..any serious hoopshead knows what I'm talking about)and it's such a pleasure watching them playing. If you disagree then you either aren't paying attention or you don't like basketball. So this season looks to be a great season, even better than last year. So I would expect to see people talking about that, not trashing the NBA, especially on a basketball blog. If that's your attitude, then I sure hope Seattle will never get another NBA team. And let's be honest here, you guys are not smart at all. If you were, you wouldn't act in this way and you wouldn't trash the NBA all the times. Cuz that's not the way to convince the league to give you another team. If you guys really want another NBA team, then show it by showing appreciation for the game instead of acting like basketball haters.

    Anyways, I read this fake interview you guys posted and I have to say that David Stern would be exactly right about the attendance thing. Yep, it's true that teams having attendance woes are bad teams (check the standings for God's sake) and, as far as the Sixers, they are playing pretty bad so it's understandable the fact they aren't drawing well, at least yet. All the other teams with a positive record are drawing good crowds and there are several teams who sellout most of their games. And tv ratings, both locally and nationally, are way up (I posted a link about it in the NBA/NHL attendance thread) and several markets are getting extraordinary tv ratings. So yeah, you guys can't stop acting like the NBA is dying (which it isn't).

    PS: The ones who are acting in an arrogant way are you, not David Stern for defending his own league

    PS2: no, I don't work for the NBA. I just found the link to this post on True Hoop, a blog for NBA die-hard fans. So you guessed it, I'm just defending my favorite sport league, the only league that really put me on the edge of my seat.


    Now, go ahead and trash me for defending my favorite sport and speaking my mind about this topic. I really don't care.

    -Andy

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  3. Aye andy stfu nobody cares let's see how you react with the way sports are here in Seattle let's see you how you react when your favorite team is taken from you regardless what sport

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  4. Andy, the point is not so much that the NBAs attendance is flagging - which it is, but that what motivates people to come see games is not a fancy new arena but a talented team playing in said arena. The main point that Mr. Bennet used to move MY team from MY city is that our arena wasn't new and modern enoug (despite its really only being about a decade old), and that this lack of madernism would detract from attendance. The ironic point that Nuss is trying to make is that this was a completely fallacious argument - that our team was taken away because the arena wasn't new enough and so we wouldn't sell as many tickets, when the evidence suggests (heavily) that that doesn't really hold any bearing on attendance - that it is the quality of play on the court that determines such.

    And in terms of us being sour and not supporting the league that we are supposed to love I ask you this: have you ever been in a relationship that ended very very poorly (like him/her lying/cheating/abusive/what-have-you)? There is typically a period of time shortly thereafter wherein one is bitter and wants nothing to do with that person, their friends, or even often their very gender. It's a natural part of human reaction to loss. A lot of people were hurt and feel offended and betrayed. If you dislike our little blog so much then just let it be.

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  5. Wow, Loser, thanks for having my back. Glad to see someone could see my point.

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