Thunder sell remaining season tickets, will have waiting list
The Oklahoma City Thunder will have a season ticket waiting list. Team officials sold the remaining 1,000 tickets on Friday.
“It's one thing to feel the support and believe the support is there,”
said Thunder chairman Clay Bennett. “But to write a check is the ultimate test. I am pleased we were able to offer a reasonable amount of affordable seats. That's important. To have this kind of velocity in sales is remarkable.”
So remarkable the Celtics, Lakers, Suns and Thunder are the only four NBA franchises with a season ticket waiting list.
“That's overwhelming,”
Bennett said. “To actually see it happen, we're thrilled. We're tremendously gratified by the response.”
Select-a-seat appointments for today, Sunday and Monday 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.
It was scheduled to be an eight-day process but ended on the fifth day when the team ran out of seats Friday night. In five days, the Thunder sold nearly 13,000 season tickets, around 15,000 if you include corporate seats.
The most disappointed fans might be former Hornet season ticket holders with weekend appointments, fans who felt they played a key role in Oklahoma City landing a permanent NBA franchise.
Despite making several requests to Hornets owner George Shinn, Thunder officials failed to obtain a Hornet season ticket seating chart. Team officials felt the only fair way to distribute tickets was by using a computer random- lottery-like system.
“There is a limit to the amount of seats that are available,”
Bennett said. “Through the years there will be changes in accounts. And we're offering eight-game packages and individual and group sales. We're trying to get as many people in the building as possible. We're just limited.”
Similar to the select-a-seat process for season tickets, eight-game mini packages (maximum four per account) will be offered based on an applicant's original scheduled appointment time.
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, visiting team needs, the media and the league.
“It's not just a question of us having enough seats in the arena,”
said Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. “One of the highest demands are for seats around the floor, the most expensive seats. You can add seats, but you can't add any more closer to the floor. That's how high demand was.”
A handful of fans might still have a chance to purchase season tickets later this month. Several hundred club level seats were unavailable due to pre-existing Ford Center contracts.
“Those seats date back two, three, four, even five years and are still being negotiated,”
said Brian Byrnes, senior vice president of ticket sales and services. “They were sold by the Ford Center for first right of refusal for events at the Ford Center. Those contracts are now being managed by us, so we're still in the process of negotiating.”
Thunder officials won't know if any of those mid-court, club level seats might become available for a couple more weeks.
“There is a scenario where somebody owns a club account that will elect not to buy Thunder season tickets,”
Byrnes said. “If that happens that seat becomes available.”
