http://s****ts.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-hornets-charitytickets&prov=ap&type
=lgns
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The New Orleans Hornets, playing before the smallest
crowds in the NBA, were able to inflate attendance figures by reselling
tickets originally bought at huge discounts for the owner's charity
account.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that hundreds of tickets
were charged to owner George ****nn's charity account on March 9 for $5
apiece, and those same tickets were resold at full price -- up to $41 --
for
the sold-out April 2 home game against Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami
Heat.
The Hornets' books did not reflect that those tickets were resold.
Rather, the transactions were recorded as purchases of previously unsold
tickets for different seats and for other games, thereby boosting paid
attendance numbers for games at which many seats were empty.
Hornets officials said reselling already purchased tickets for high-demand
games, then reflecting those purchases as something else to balance the
books, is common practice in the NBA.
``If we have fans who want to buy tickets to a game, we want to take care
of
them,'' Tim McDougall, the Hornets chief marketing officer, said Friday.
``That was our interest during the Heat game and we're always going to do
that. The people who sup****t us, that's the reason we're in business. So
if
that means we move the tickets from a charity account, then we're going to
do that.''
Sam Russo, the Hornets' executive vice president of business, said teams
do
similar bookkeeping when season ticket holders turn in tickets they cannot
use in exchange for tickets of equal value for a different game.
In some cases, the practice may boost the announced attendance for other
games, Russo said, ``But everything adds up and everything gets
reconciled.''
It was unclear whether the Hornets' resales violated any NBA policies. The
league issued a brief statement when questioned about the specifics of the
Hornets tickets that were resold for the Miami game.
``We do not publicly comment about the business affairs of one of our
owners,'' NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.
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