Will the Ping Pong Balls Make Sixer Fans Happy?

The day is finally here. The NBA Draft Lottery is tonight and it will be fun to see how the ping pong balls play out. The Bucks and Sixers have the best chance to get the number one overall pick at 25 and 19.9 percent, respectively. Followed by the Magic at 15.6 percent, Jazz at 10.4 percent and Celtics at 10.3 percent. Being a Sixers fan, I am praying they get the number one pick to take Andrew Wiggins. Although there have been some NBA executives who say they would rather have Jabari Parker over Wiggins, I believe it would be a HUGE mistake if Wiggins is not drafted number one. The Sixers definitely went all in on this years draft to rebuild their team. Trading all-star point guard Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for the rights to Nerlens Noel (who has sat out the entire season), and this years first round pick (top five protected) during the draft last year said it all. If everything falls to place here is what I want the Sixers to do.

Three + Philadelphia = The Answer

If you don't know... shame on you

This past Saturday, March 1, 2014, many former Philadelphia 76ers and a sell-out crowd gathered at the Wells Fargo Center for a celebration they'd never forget and a Sixer's game they might soon wish to forget.  One might ask, what could the Philadelphia 76ers possibly be celebrating in a season where they are 15-45 and second worst in the entire NBA.  Great question, but the celebration had nothing to do with anybody playing in the game that night.

Sixers and Devils are "All In"

In the world of sports, there are certain categories that can be controversial. Some of these include alcohol for college sports and tobacco companies for really any sports. Finally, gambling is always a debated topic when it comes to successful sponsorship deals. While some professional teams have partnerships in the gambling sector, no team had a partnership with an online gaming company, that is until earlier this month. In early January, the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils announced a partnership with Partypoker.com making it the first ever partnership in sports with an online gaming company.

Sixers Sales

As the Philadelphia 76ers continue through the NBA playoffs looking to survive the Boston Celtics for a chance to play in the Eastern Conference Championship, ownership hopes that the on-court success can translate off-court.  This summer will be a big offseason for the team because it will be the first full offseason for Adam Aron, Josh Harris, and the rest of the new 76ers ownership group.

This season saw the team earn the 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.  The 76ers capitalized on the playoff berth by beating the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the NBA playoffs to win its first playoff series since 2003.  The on-court accomplishments have been impressive, but the off-court accomplishments have been even better.

According the Terry Lefton in this week’s Sports Business Journal, the 76ers ticket sales were outstanding for the first season under the new ownership group.  Average attendance at the Wells Fargo Center jumped from 14,751 to 17,503 this season, which was good for moving up from 25 to 14 in NBA.  The statistic that I found most interesting was the fact that the 76ers sold more paid tickets in lockout shortened 66 game season than they did in the full 82 game season last year.  Season tickets have also seen improvement with a jump from 3,294 this season to 5,438 next season with CEO Adam Aron’s prediction that next season’s number will end somewhere around 6,500.

This summer will be the test for the marketing arm of the 76ers.  The team looks to use the momentum from the on-court performance and attendance increases to build stronger sponsorship deals.  Four of the bigger categories of 76ers sponsorship inventory are up for renewal this offseason including beer, healthcare, quick service restaurant, and wireless provider.

One element that may really be holding the organization back sponsorship wise is their lack of signature inventory.  A solution may be on its way because the team is moving its offices out of the Wells Fargo Center and into office space at the Navy Yard.  The biggest plus to this move is the 76ers’ plan to build a practice facility there.  I think this would be huge for the organization because it would provide them a unique sponsorship inventory item and give one of their top sponsors a chance to further brand themself in the Philadelphia sports marketplace. 

I think that the success of the 76ers this past year will help them greatly in the area of sponsorship.  Not that companies looking to partner with the team will automatically throw truckloads of money at them (ignore the impossibility of the physical strength needed), but it will offer a little bit of friendly competition that could push the price up a little bit.  Every little bit counts for a team under new owners, even for new owners like Adam Aron and Josh Harris who have seen great success already.

Agree?  Disagree?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!

Co-Op Confidential - Kevin Rossi

Name: Kevin Rossi
Year: Sophomore
Company: Comcast-Spectacor
Location: Philadelphia, PA

What does Comcast-Spectacor do?
Comcast-Spectacor, not to be confused with “Comcast”, is the company that owns the Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center.  Comcast-Spectacor also assists in some of the Philadelphia 76ers operations.  Also, Comcast-Spectacor has Global Spectrum, Ovations, New Era Tickets, Front Marketing, and others under their umbrella of companies.

What are your responsibilities?
I'm an intern in the Technology Solutions department; however, I usually just tell people that I work in the market research department because that sums up my job easier.  The game day interns during the season administered surveys at games and basically my job is to now clean up the surveys.  This requires a lot of time spent on Excel.  The ultimate goal is to get the information prepared for the end-of-season report that will be presented to the stakeholders.  After this big project is done, my job will be changing a lot.  Since there isn’t as much to do during the offseason, I will be jumping from department to department helping out where needed.  I’m actually looking forward to that because I’ll be able to meet some more people and get closer to figuring out what I want to do with my career.

Do you like it so far?
I have thoroughly enjoyed my co-op experience thus far.  I have connected with a bunch of people so far which will be extremely beneficial down the road.  Never too early to start building up a network!  Some of the information is interesting, but I am getting valuable experience in an extremely valuable field.  One of my projects required me to research into different customer relations management (CRM) systems.  On the surface it isn’t too exciting, but it is beneficial to get familiar with all of the different options out there.

Are there any downsides?
Sitting at a computer for most of the day is tough.  Anybody who knows me knows that I’m not very good at sitting still.  I’m more of the up-and-at-‘em type.

What are you looking forward to?
The biggest thing I’m looking forward to is jumping around from department to department.  When that time comes I will meet a lot more people and learn a lot more about the business.  Considering I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with my career, this experience and networking will be extremely valuable in trying to figure things out.  Plus, I love learning, so learning anything new is always a huge positive. 

Interested in sharing your co-op experience?  Contact DrexelSMTSU@gmail.com for details!