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March 25, 2010
Nets Win a Game, Try to Win PR Battle
Bag flap turns into promotional opportunity
NBC New York
by Josh Alper
Those circumstances are what make it hard to fall totally in love with Yormark. Learning that the bag-wearer was at the game using a free ticket provided by the team makes it easier to understand the CEO's torment -- he's not the first to react that way as Elaine Benes will tell you -- but it is still hard to justify the way he responded on a couple of levels.
Since the Nets give away as many tickets as anyone (NoLandGrab sat in $120 seats last season that our host had acquired for a $3.75 handling charge), Yormark should hardly be surprised. Nor should he be upset, since a fan could easily be disgruntled regardless of the price paid. Has he never heard of "opportunity cost?"
First is the fact that he did it so publicly and drew so much attention to something that would have totally escaped notice if not for Yormark's outburst. There aren't enough people actually at Nets games these days to make something that happens at one of those games turn out to be more than an urban legend unless it gets blown wildly out of proportion. A marketing brain like Yormark's surely knows that, which makes his response a bit surprising.
That's not the worst part, though. The worst part was Yormark's statement following the incident which was full of puffery about respect for the team and respect for the fans. It's hard to swallow that in the face of the way Yormark and his cronies have gutted the team and used it as a vessel for Bruce Ratner's real estate dreams while the basketball operations fell apart.
Posted by eric at March 25, 2010 10:24 PM