Normally every NBA team hosts about 41 home games during a regular season. Needless to say, that is a lot of games and managing an acceptable attendance is a daunting task for any team's management (unless you have loyal Boston fans). Recently several teams have been hosting heritage nights as part of the game in order to boost the ticket sales. Among some of the most popular nights this season have been Turkish, Israeli, Filipino, and Latino. Among the participating teams are LA Clippers, Sacramento Kings, and Toronto Raptors. Notice, these teams currently have some of the worst W/L records in the NBA and are especially struggling when it comes to ticket sales.
The results have been tremendous, with some of the teams reporting an increased attendance of 2,000 fans per game. Reading this article has reminded me of the Profit Pools strategy concept that we have covered in class and the importance of finding the right set of activities to exploit the previously unexplored pools of profit. What the management of these teams has been able to do is attract the customer segments that previously have not been considered as potential consumers of NBA entertainment. This new approach has been made possible through the increased number of international players in the league.
Further the management creates a heritage event by arranging the appropriate set of business activities in their venue: ethnic performers during the half time show, selling ethic food and merchandise, and providing the customers with an opportunity to meet the international players before and after the game. Further these events have been promoted with discounted tickets and special offers for future events. It is important to recognize that the profit pools in this and any other industry are constantly changing, and with this latest initiative team management has been able to successfully adapt to the changing environment.
I thought that this was an excellent strategic approach that has allowed the NBA as a whole to further expand their customer and fan base, as well as recover some of the fixed costs that have already been committed as part of the regular season production.
The following is the link where the original article was found:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703889204576078131537254372.html?mod=ITP_AHED
No comments:
Post a Comment