Empty Seats in a Cavernous Arena

By: katypolansky | Category: Seating

As noted in an earlier post I recently attended one of the Nets final home games. I was curious to see the fan experience being offered in the midst of one of the worst professional sports seasons on record. One of the greatest challenges for marketers in professional sports is keeping fans entertained and loyal when the on-court product is less than desirable. Another issue is dealing with empty seats in an arena. Anyone who has ever attended an event with low attendance realizes that empty seats in an arena magnify the losing feeling.  Often times if an event is slated for low attendance, arena managers will cover or block off sections of seats. The Nets did this but with a twist. They covered four sections in the upper level of the arena but placed both advertising and video screens on the cover. Surprisingly I have never seen video screens covering empty seats before. However, if you think about this, it makes a ton of sense. The permanent ads placed above and below the screen can provide some additional revenue. The screen on the seats can show either the same content as the main scoreboard (that’s what the Nets did) or additional rotating ads. Yet again the Nets marketing team has done a good job making the arena seem half full, as opposed to half empty.