Pels Distribute 16,000 Tickets for Open Practice

Roaming around the city today. A real buzz just about the first pre-season game and open practice is sold out. I can't make it but can hardly wait for the pictures and highlights.

Yeah, this really isn't a basketball town now is it. How many other franchises can duplicate this. Sure there is a lot of excitement about Zion, but Griff has lit a fire under this region like no other.

IT's been a big turnaround for the franchise and one I'm super excited to see. Obviously, I don't see it in person because of the whole ocean being in the way, but there seems to be a level of excitement surrounding the franchise that hasn't ever been seen during my time as a fan, at least. 12000+ season tickets sold is incredible, and while Zion is undoubtedly responsible for a huge part of that, I don't think he's the only factor involved. Like you said, Griffin pulled off the AD trade extremely well, and guys like Hart have done everything they can to appeal to the city.

The marketing campaign Griff has had running recently, I've seen some complain that it's maybe a bit too focused on the Lakers, and I can see that a little bit, but the fact is they played the whole Pelicans ad on The Jump the other day and that's not something that would have happened a year ago. People on Twitter seem to like it, and I think the whole re-brand with the Won't Bow Down slogan has gone well too, at least on this forum it has.

Like you said, open practice is going to be absolutely packed out. There will be more people at open practice this year than came to some REAL games last year. That's boggling to me, but is perfect.

Now, I don't watch the NFL, so I can't say this for sure, but I've heard that it's pretty much impossible for the Pelicans to ever be equal to the Saints in New Orleans. That's fair enough. But if they can be a legitimate rallying point for the city and the fanbase, then they don't need to equal or surpass the Saints, they can be their own thing. That's what building and fulfilling hype is about.

Looking forward to the next era of the Pelicans.

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Originally Posted by Pelicanidae

Now, I don't watch the NFL, so I can't say this for sure, but I've heard that it's pretty much impossible for the Pelicans to ever be equal to the Saints in New Orleans. That's fair enough. But if they can be a legitimate rallying point for the city and the fanbase, then they don't need to equal or surpass the Saints, they can be their own thing. That's what building and fulfilling hype is about.

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It's not impossible at all. There has always been and will always be a strong basketball undercurrent here. I wont go into details, but obviously its different demographics and I'll just leave it at that.

But I would love for the media to get more involved. There is lots of untapped potential on the basketball side to further this along. On the new Pelicans "flagship" ESPN station, 90% of the talk is still about LSU/Saints, and really heavy on LSU during the prime drive times. They talk to Rohan Davey and Marlon Favorite every week.

Why can't they have a daily basketball show with one of our local basketball minds? I'm sure PJ Brown is still around. Kerry Kittles is out there somewhere. David West is on to bigger and better things, but I would absolutely listen to that dude talk on any subject an hour a day. Mahmoud Abdul Rauf is another one that would be prime radio. Did David Wesley go back to Texas? What about Robert Pack?

People say this is a football town because they simply are forcing it to be one. And that didnt start until around 2006 really.

I just read that the capacity is 16,867...so a packed arena for an open practice. That's a little mind blowing to me, in a good way.

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Originally Posted by luckyman

It's not impossible at all. There has always been and will always be a strong basketball undercurrent here. I wont go into details, but obviously its different demographics and I'll just leave it at that.

But I would love for the media to get more involved. There is lots of untapped potential on the basketball side to further this along. On the new Pelicans "flagship" ESPN station, 90% of the talk is still about LSU/Saints, and really heavy on LSU during the prime drive times. They talk to Rohan Davey and Marlon Favorite every week.

Why can't they have a daily basketball show with one of our local basketball minds? I'm sure PJ Brown is still around. Kerry Kittles is out there somewhere. David West is on to bigger and better things, but I would absolutely listen to that dude talk on any subject an hour a day. Mahmoud Abdul Rauf is another one that would be prime radio. Did David Wesley go back to Texas? What about Robert Pack?

People say this is a football town because they simply are forcing it to be one. And that didnt start until around 2006 really.

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I don't look at it as either or. Frankly, the Pels coverage has been 3000% better since Griff got here. The fact that they even talk Pels in June, July and August - even September is an amazing thing. I love the Saints and Pels pretty much equally. The Pels have always been pretty standoffish in regards to the city itself. Sure, the Honey Bees/Dancing Birds and Hugo/Pierre show up area schools, but the players have never really embraced the city. Not fully, until this summer. It's not easy, but they've done a magnificent job. Having 16,000 show up at a practice is the payoff.

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Originally Posted by WildlifeAirGrp

I don't look at it as either or. Frankly, the Pels coverage has been 3000% better since Griff got here. The fact that they even talk Pels in June, July and August - even September is an amazing thing. I love the Saints and Pels pretty much equally. The Pels have always been pretty standoffish in regards to the city itself. Sure, the Honey Bees/Dancing Birds and Hugo/Pierre show up area schools, but the players have never really embraced the city. Not fully, until this summer. It's not easy, but they've done a magnificent job. Having 16,000 show up at a practice is the payoff.

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I did a quick Basketball Reference check, and apparently our average attendance last season was about 16000. So having numbers similar to an actual mid-season game for the open practice is pretty absurd.

This is my favourite Pelicans squad since I started supporting the team, in all honestly. I wasn't around for the prime D-West/CP3 years, so I have no idea how they were viewed by the city and the fanbase, but for me, I love the guys we have right now. Jrue is possibly my favourite player of all time, all 3 of our rookies are likable, funny, and are fully embracing the city, Hart has been the most vocal new-tradee ever. Favors and Melli seemed to both be funny and good interviews on media day and in the media availabilities, and even though they're much more quiet, even Lonzo and Ingram have been fairly pleasant personalities (if a little sleepy, looking at you BI).

Obviously the quality of the team is still up for debate, we haven't played any games yet, but just on the personalities and stuff this is definitely my favourite roster top to bottom.

Is it impossible to get tickets now?

My little bro is getting married in NOLA tomorrow so I'm hesding in with the wife and six kids. Didn't think we'd be able to make it but now I'm hearing it's sold out.