"We Are Relevant" National Attention Creates Local Buzz Season Tickets at 13,000

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The Pelicans are slated to appear 13 times on the league’s prime ESPN and TNT slots this season, more than the past five years combined, thrusting the franchise into a level of visibility and viability it has rarely experienced since moving to New Orleans.

“We are relevant,” Pelicans President Dennis Lauscha said. “Our fans feel that we’re relevant. Those national games make a big difference because everyone wants to be part of a relevant organization. So they want to come to the game.”

...And the attention is making a difference at the box office. Even in mid-September, the Pelicans are setting sales records in a variety of areas.

Floor seats are sold out for the first time, a feat Lauscha said was made even more remarkable by the lopsided percentage of individuals, rather than corporations, who purchased the priciest spots in the Smoothie King Center.

Group sales are up 46.3 percent from this time last year, and season tickets are up nearly 21 percent. Michael Stanfield, the team’s senior vice president of sales, estimated 13,000 tickets have already been sold, and areas from the club section to the value-driven upper baseline season seats are finding an eager market.

“There’s a buzz,” Stanfield said. “A lot of times we judge games as far as the opponents. There’s weaker opponents and stronger opponents, but now it’s gotten to where people want to see us.

“We are the strong opponent. We are the draw. We go to Milwaukee, and they say ‘New Orleans is coming, that’s an ‘A’ game.’ That’s cool.”

...“We hear the buzz,” Davis said. “We hear everybody talking about us and what we are trying to do this season. We want to give the fans a show and want to give them product they can support and get them excited. We are trying to build on that buzz right now.”

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