We Got Wood - 45.26 - Lowered Prices See Attendance Surge

[7teen]

A patchwork team going nowhere with the league's worst record finally forced the Portland Lumberjacks ownership to do something they hoped not to do. After five consecutive seasons of solid attendance numbers and growing budget figures, this year's poor performance has finally forced the ownership to lower ticket prices to near record lows for the remainder of the season.

"We had been rather adamant with our ownership group that we were not going to lower ticket prices" commented team owner David Wallace at today's press conference. "We have been gradually raising our prices over each and every season as we were riding our expansion fan interest high. But we are now on the down side of our first decade of existence and that shine over being a new franchise is starting to wear off and fans are losing their interest in seeing this club. And rightfully so as our poor showing on the field and in the standings is just not providing a very favorable entertainment environment. So with that said, we'll be lowering our ticket prices for the rest of this season while providing our season ticket holders with some incentives to re-up again next season."

Season ticket prices for the 2045 Lumberjacks season was $18.75 as the team has steadily rose the price in each and every season. However, the lack of buzz around this year's team and the numerous trade so the Lumberjacks sell fewer season ticket in 2045 compared to 2044.

"We sold over 3,000 fewer season tickets this season compared to last season" added Wallace, "and the raise in price did not recover the difference in sales."

The club raised single game ticket prices to over $20 for opening day and fans responded unfavorably. Aside from an opening day surge, the average fan total ranged anywhere from the lower 20,000 for weekday or non divisional games, to around 29,000 fans for weekend, divisional contests. With budget estimates seeing a projected decline by as much as $8 million for the 2046 season, Wallace and the ownership group opted for a change.

"We don't see much of an increase in salary next season in large part due to some rising talent in our farm system" added Wallace, "so combined with a potential lower budget for next season we decided that we wanted fans in the seats over the all-mighty dollar. So we're luring our fans back into the park here at the Trail in Multnomah by dropping prices by over $3 a ticket for the rest of the season."

Now at $17 a night, fans have responded by returning to "The Trail". Last week's 5 game home stand against divisional opponents Sacramento and Long Beach saw a rise in attendance. Over 9,000 more fans attended a game against the Mad Popes after the drop in price from the previous night's game. The three game, weekend set of games saw over 100,000 fans, the highest 3 game attendance totals of the season.

[RonCo]

Looks like a wise choice