Oklahoma City Thunder will be sold out!

[Laramie]

The Daily Oklahoman

Thunder Tickets are in Great Demand!

By Mike Baldwin
Staff Writer

Rand Baker's day to select Thunder season tickets is Monday. There's one problem: It's the wrong Monday. September. 15.

Team officials said there is such a high demand for tickets Baker probably won't get the opportunity to walk into the Ford Center to select seats.

"It stinks to be at the back of a randomly assigned line, but such is the luck of the draw," Baker said. "It seemed the right way to approach it. At this point, all I can do is hope seats I'm interested in are still around."

Unfortunately for Baker, there probably won't be seats left. Demand is so great that Thunder officials project several seat-selection appointments will be cancelled.

"As we review the demand, we plan to institute a cap and expect to reach that limit before the week is finished," said team spokesman Dan Mahoney. "We will be in communication with fans on the list and inform them of the progress."

Applicants unable to purchase season tickets will be placed on a waiting list for future season tickets, team officials said. If your appointment is cancelled you also will be placed on a list for eight-game partial season-ticket packages that will go on sale at a later date.

How will it play out? What day will all tickets be gone? It's impossible to predict.

The select-a-seat extravaganza begins Monday.

"Full demand can't be accurately measured until the seating process is under way," Mahoney said. "We know it's high. As we continue to look at that demand, we realize we will have to cap the number of season tickets we sell. We also feel we will reach that limit before the week-long select-a-seat process is complete."

Thunder officials plan to hold back at least 3,000 seats, possibly more, for group sales, individual game sales and eight-game mini packages. That leaves around 15,000 to 16,000 seats for season tickets. Team officials declined to guess how many season tickets would be sold if there was an unlimited supply.

"Where the cap ends up has not yet been determined," Mahoney said. "With such high demand, we have taken steps to increase opportunities for fans to get tickets. We will limit season sales to six tickets per account. We also opted to offer eight-game partial packages instead of 10-game packages to offer more opportunities for fans to have an account."

Randomly selected applicants have appointment times from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. Similar to musical chairs, the process will continue until all 15,000 to 16,000 season tickets available have been purchased.

If your day to select seats is Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday you should be in good shape. Team officials expect seats to be available in most every section the first few days. But it will get dicey later in the week.

Brandon Smith, 26, of Oklahoma City, plans to buy four season tickets, primarily to be used by his small private corporation. His appointment is Friday. Now Smith is uncertain what strategy he might use.

"It will become a question of what seats can we get, at what price for your investment," Smith said. "If I get there and it doesn't seem like it warrants a $13,000 to $21,000 investment for the business to purchase four seats with what's left, then hopefully we can find two seats that are acceptable."

Susan Bible, of Yukon, is one of the lucky ones who selects on Monday.

"I lucked out," Bible said. "I hit the lottery. I'm totally excited. Even though I can only afford the upper seats, I'm still thrilled to be purchasing season tickets to our own Oklahoma NBA team."

Team projections are based on results from conversations via e-mails and phone calls with 16,000 season-ticket applicants. The list consolidated to approximately 14,000 due to multiple applications from husbands and wives or friends already on the list. Another 1,500 applicants didn't respond.

That still leaves more than 11,000 applicants who have accepted RSVP select-a-seat time slots. If each account averages just two tickets — and that doesn't include corporations buying hundreds of seats — late-week appointments are in jeopardy.

For those fortunate to have early week appointments, the team's matrix research revealed there is interest in all sections and all price ranges. It doesn't appear there will be "a land rush" on the best seats or the least expensive seats the first couple of days.

Some former Hornet season-ticket holders who played a role in Oklahoma City getting a permanent NBA franchise will be left empty handed. When Hornets officials declined to share season-ticket seating charts, Thunder officials decided the fair way to distribute season tickets was to randomly select days fans could select seats.

It's a good "problem" for team officials to have such high demand. But they also realize some fans will be disappointed. Among them: Rand Baker of Norman.

"I think it's important that anyone who wants to go to a game has an opportunity to do so...," Baker said. "I also think it's important that anyone who gets season tickets makes sure those seats are filled."