The one-week program opens Wednesday. Anyone can bring a working gun into a city police station and exchange it for a voucher good for a pair of tickets to an upcoming 76ers game, no questions asked.
"If we get one [gun], it's a successful program," said Billy King, the team's president. "If we get one, if we get a thousand, whatever we get that's going to be good enough."
If they get a thousand, who will want to sit in the stands?
In all seriousness, the NBA has long struggled with marketing to two very different demographics that are responsible for the bulk of ticket and merchandise sales: parents of young children and young, urban (largely black) males. The advent of cable TV has been a godsend for the league, as it allows them to create very different advertising images and messages for each audience. The problem this leaves, however, is how you create a in-game experience that is pleasing to both. Parents want less noise, more fun G-rated promotions and games for the kids, healthier food, and so on. Young men prefer a dance club style atmosphere, e.g. music, women and alcohol.
Is this new promotion an indication that the 76ers are giving up trying to straddle the fence and concentrating on the young male audience? Is it a sign that their marketing people don't know what they're doing? Or is it something else all together?
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