Jazz lead surge in NBA season ticket sales

The excitement that a young Utah Jazz team brought to the court last season, even well before it made the run to the NBA Western Conference Finals, has translated so well at the box office that the Jazz are leading the league in new season tickets sold for the 2007-08 season with 5,300.

That number is second all-time in the NBA, eclipsed only by the 8,000-plus new full-season tickets purchased in Miami when Shaquille O'Neal left the Los Angeles Lakers for Florida, said NBA senior vice president for team marketing and business operations Scott O'Neil.

The Jazz are also in the NBA's top three with their 95 percent season-ticket renewal rate for next season, which begins Oct. 30 with Utah at Golden State. The first home game is Nov. 1 with Houston.

The EnergySolutions Arena lower bowl is essentially sold out for 2007-08, and about 15,000 season tickets have been purchased in all, leaving fewer than 5,000 available for single games in the 19,911-seat building.

Season tickets for 2007-08 went on sale March 1, and about 1,000 were sold on that first day, with sales holding steady from then through the playoffs despite a price increase in many seats, said Jim Olson, Jazz vice president for ticket sales. Sales are slower but still strong this summer.

"We actually have more season tickets sold now than we did in 1997-'98," Olson said, referring to the season that ended with the Jazz of John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek falling to the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals for the second consecutive season.

The Jazz's success — in a league seeing a 40 percent increase in new season ticket sales — will be featured Monday in a story in the national Sports Business Journal, said NBA director of communications Christopher Wallace.

The NBA expects to set an all-time attendance mark in 2007-08.

O'Neil said the usual NBA-wide increase in new season tickets over the past 10 yeas has been 5 to 10 percent. He calls the 40 percent "staggering" and added the Jazz "are leading the way."

Second in new ticket sales is Golden State, a playoff surprise like the Jazz, followed by fast-closing Boston, which recently acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. Toronto leads the NBA in renewals.

Olson attributes Utah's growth to product and availability. "The most powerful selling point has been the excitement and hope of where this young team can go," he said. Utah finished with a 51-31 record to win the Northwest Division and won two playoff series before falling to eventual-champion San Antonio in Game 5 of the conference finals.