Marketing an NBA team

Agri Marketing, July-August, 2007

Badger NAMA traveled to Milwaukee over the winter for a presentation on the marketing of an NBA team. The night was a great success and was capped off with a Buck's victory. The tour started at Bucks Courtside, a nice restaurant and exclusive club that only 1500 season ticket holders are eligible to enter. The dining spot was created from a pre-existing office space in the Bradley Center. Before this season there were no full restaurants in the arena, and Bucks Courtside was built to create an all-inclusive aspect to the game.

The second stop was the Cambria Club. It is a buffet-style eating and social that is totally open to the court on the west end. The Cambria Club is new and the fastest growing attraction. From its prime location, with a full view of the Bradley Center, to the elegance and prestige which radiates throughout the arena, The Cambria Club is the hottest destination and a must see new attraction, newly built in the Bradley Center. Tickets are $110 (including a game seat) and are only available in season packages. The main attraction is the food, which make the $110 a very good deal. Jim Grayson, director of sales, said they get rave reviews about the dinner. He also said that many people use the space before the game for networking. Another reason it is so successful is that you never lose sight of the game, as some in-stadium restaurants do.

One point that Grayson, and his assistant, Dave Trattner, made was that they were in the entertainment business. Their competitors range from tickets to a Packer game, all the way down to a night out at the movies.

The NAMA group received a copy of the 10-page game operations packet for evening. This included the word for word script and the entertainment, contests, timeouts, advertising boards, and scoreboard wording as it played out. In professional basketball, their main goal is to "give the customer a valuable experience" and have the fan walk out of the arena and say, "I had fun."

The NAMA professionals and students attending the event were treated to a wonderful dinner and lower level seats to the Milwaukee Bucks game, and four lucky winners were given court-side tickets, courtesy of the Bucks. (Written by Travis Balinas and Kyle Breunig)