Hornets pass season-ticket sales of '05-06

With exactly one month remaining before the Hornets open the 2006-07 regular season, the team has surpassed last year's total season-ticket sales in Oklahoma City, according to director of corporate communications Michael Thompson.

The Hornets have sold more than 12,000 total season tickets, including full and partial plans. The team sold approximately 11,500 total season tickets last year and finished the season ranked 11th in the 30-team league in average home attendance.

Thompson, who called the jump "remarkable," said the trend in professional sports is to have a dropoff at the ticket office in Year 2.

"We're not finding that here in Oklahoma City," Thompson said. "Like everything else in this market, it's bucking the trend."

Thompson added that the Hornets are on pace to exceed last year's revenue total in corporate support in Oklahoma City as well, despite losing Kerr-McGee as one of its primary sponsors. In addition, the team currently ranks No. 1 in the league in group ticket sales of 20 or more, Thompson said.

"We've been very blessed after going through the storm to have landed here in Oklahoma City," said Hornets owner George Shinn. "The way we have been embraced and supported has been historic. I don't think anybody in the league would have expected us to do this."

The boost in season ticket-sales perhaps shouldn't come as a shock. The Hornets sold about 10,000 tickets in just 10 days when Hurricane Katrina forced them to temporarily move here last year.

"This year, we've had obviously not only an entire season but an entire offseason," Thompson said. "I think people really responded to the quality of the entertainment that you find at a Hornets game. I think they were surprised at how much fun they had at an NBA game and they want more of it."

Hornets director of ticket operations Leslie Lefeve said the rate of ticket sales has the team already flirting with near sellouts for every game at the Ford Center this season.

"A lot of it depends on our group sales," Lefeve said. "And we're still selling partial plans. So depending on the success of those two programs, we'll probably have a similar sellout streak as we did last year."

The Hornets sold out 18 of 36 games at the Ford Center last season and exceeded the capacity of 19,163 nine times.

Hornets officials said ticket sales have remained steady throughout the offseason, and the team is close to selling out the entire lower bowl at the Ford Center. The Hornets made individual game tickets available Saturday.

Thompson said the Hornets received a good response on Saturday from fans looking to buy individual game tickets in both Oklahoma City and New Orleans, where the Hornets are scheduled to play six games this season. He added that only scattered single seats remain for the "marquee" games at the Ford Center — teams such as the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.

Thompson noted that the rate of ticket sales by Oklahoma City fans has continued to prove to the NBA and other pro leagues that professional sports belong in Oklahoma.

"They're monitoring it very closely," Thompson said of NBA officials. "And they understand and recognize Oklahoma City's value to the NBA and Oklahoma City's value as a major-league sports market."