BRETT Yormark , the inventive CEO of the New Jersey Nets, will try anything to stir up interest in his struggling, sub-.500 team. His latest idea: You get to play. Not on the actual team, unfortunately, but in a March Madness-style 64-team tournament among current Nets’ partners and other local businesses.
The winner of the tourney’s championship game – to be played at the Izod Center after the Nets’ March 30 game against the Milwaukee Bucks – will win a free Nets sponsorship for the first two months of next season. That includes two months of free courtside, television-visible, in-game signage at the Izod Center, as well as advertising on the radio during Nets games and on the Nets site, njnets.com.
“Times are challenging now and I was looking for an exciting and fun way to build relationships, to get some face time with metro-area CEOs and build some trust and rapport,” said Yormark, who has seen positive results recently with his BBQ mixers with prospective season-ticket buyers and his job fairs.
Yormark, who plans to play on the Nets executive team in the tourney – no current or former NBA players are allowed – said every team entered will receive 25 complimentary tickets to a Nets game this season. Richard Wilner
Super economy
Home prices and the stock markets are tanking and unemployment has risen to more than 7 percent, but Steve Boudin is expecting a 20-percent jump in business this month. And no, he’s not in the home-foreclosure business.
Boudin is the CEO of Sportsinfo.com, a site that provides odds and picks for folks wanting to place a little action on a sporting event. You might have heard about a little football game today, the Super Bowl, which attracts $8 bil lion to $10 billion in bets, the single-largest gambling event.
“People might not fly to Las Vegas for the game be cause of the economy, and they might not go on a super vacation, but they are not going to cut back on a simple, low-cost treat that provides so much excitement,” Boudin said in a telephone interview.
“After all, the average online Super Bowl bet is $14,” said the oddsmaker, “and for that you can sit on your couch and have a great time.”
The news isn’t so good for Vegas hotels. Few in the gaming business think the record $94.5 million bet live in Vegas for the 2006 Super Bowl will be broken as folks stay closer to home.
business@nypost.com
