WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Before preseason opened, Knick president Isiah Thomas said his goal was to make the Knicks “a hot ticket” this season.
So far, the Knick brass can report the season-ticket base is up over last October, though the numbers weren’t released.
Last summer, after two straight non-playoff years amid the Scott Layden reign of error, the Knicks saw their greatest cancellation of season-ticket holders in years. The days of having a waiting list for season ticket holders were over. The season-ticket base dropped to between 12,000 and 13,000.
The presence of Isiah, the Coney Island Kid, Stephon Marbury and a playoff berth have reversed the slide. Anuche Browne-Sanders, senior VP of business operations, said last night before the Knicks opened their preseason against the Nets at Wachovia Arena here that season-ticket sales have risen over last year but wouldn’t say by how much.
“We’re extremely encouraged,” Sanders said. “We had a lot of momentum built on last year’s success. Isiah made some great in-season moves and offseason. People are generally excited about the team. People are excited about the team and it’s equated to ticket sales. We had strong season ticket sales. It’s up over last year.”
The Knicks raised ticket prices as much as 20 percent this summer, though 7,000 seats remained unchanged. The average price hike was 11 percent.
“We kept them flat at high areas of the arena,” Sanders said.
The Knicks were 29-25 following the appointment of Isiah Dec. 22. In copping the seventh seed, they sold out their last 16 games, 26 total for the season. No longer was the Garden a ghost town. Of course, the crowds still paled in comparison to their legendary league-leading sellout streak of 433 games that spanned nine years. It was snapped early in the 2002-2003 season.
The Knicks ranked fifth in attendance last season (19,164 average) and were 97 percent capacity. They will carry a 16-game sellout streak entering their home opener Nov. 6 against Boston.
“We still can get to that point,” Sanders said of a long streak. “It’s all related to the team’s performance. People are going to be jazzed about the team.”
The Knicks have picked up the slack in sales by offering more partial season-ticket plans that have been gobbled up. Brown said that seems the wave of the future, or at least until the economy picks back up.
The Knicks are still hoping eventually for a new Garden and have opposed the Nets’ future move to Brooklyn, with James Dolan feeling it will infringe on their ticket sales. However, this year’s deadbeat Nets figure to draw flies to the Meadowlands this season, so the Knicks could pick up disgruntled Jersey fans.
