New Orleans Hornets staying focused on season-ticket push

Though the NBA announced Friday that 43 preseason games have been canceled because of the current lockout, New Orleans Hornets President Hugh Weber said their push to secure 10,000 season ticket holders has not changed. With negotiations for a new collective bargaining at an impasse, the league said training camps for the Hornets and the league’s other 29 teams were postponed indefinitely.

The Hornets were scheduled to open training camp Oct. 4.
“Even with the information coming today, our focus is still on doing what we have to in terms of getting to 10,000 season tickets,’’ Weber said. “We’re more consumed with that and how we get there, and that’s what we can control. My responsibility is to make sure as an organization we can meet that objective.’’
The Hornets announced last week they had sold an NBA-best 1,000-plus full season-ticket packages in the past 100 days despite the league being in a lockout since July 1. Going into last week, the Hornets had sold 9,003 season tickets after having sold 6,300 last season.
Despite the push, the regular season remains in jeopardy of not starting on time, though the league and the players hope that it will on Nov. 1. Hornets’ preseason games canceled include their Oct. 9 opener at San Antonio, their Oct. 15 game at Cleveland and their Oct. 17 game against Oklahoma City that was scheduled to be played in Wichita, Kan.
However, the Hornets’ preseason home opener against Orlando hasn’t been canceled, yet.
The move to cancel preseason games was inevitable after the latest meeting between owners and players Thursday ended without a collective bargaining agreement. Both sides are hoping to meet again some time next week, but no specific date was set. The league is in its first work stoppage since the 1998-99 season.
The NBA wants to implement a revenue-sharing plan designed to help small-market franchises, such as the Hornets, and cut player payroll by about 40 percent or $800 million with a hard salary cap, which the player association opposes.
“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We will make further decisions as warranted.”

 

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