RealGM

With a Charlotte Bobcats-Miami Heat exhibition nearing a sellout in Raleigh Tuesday, Bobcats management says it could eventually play a regular-season NBA game in the Triangle.

This would be part of an expanded effort at marketing the Bobcats throughout the Carolinas.

“Down the line we wouldn’t rule out a regular-season contest in an alternate market,” chief marketing officer Pete Guelli told the Charlotte Observer Thursday. “If we see the response as the team starts to improve, if that’s really going to help us from a marketing perspective, that’s something we’d consider.”

Bobcats president Fred Whitfield said moving a regular-season home game outside Time Warner Cable Arena has been discussed “at a very high level internally,” and that the Bobcats are allowed to play up to two regular-season games a season outside Charlotte.

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MountBiyombo wrote:How did the tickets sell for that preseason game the Hurricanes played there last season?

bobcats3wallace wrote:I think this would be a good move. This team desperately needs to build a fan base. Since they have yet to do that through TV, as of yet, they need to look at other avenues. If you can go to Raleigh once, or even twice a year, then you could create excitement around the team coming. The people that go to that game could have a great time and spread the word. That's how you create a fan base. With the arena improvements in Greensboro, I wonder if that would even be a place to look at in the future. Columbia would be a solid location as well.

freakon0mics wrote:I agree. For a small market team, that is still trying to get over the shadow of the Hornets, it needs to build up a good sized fan base to be relevant in this league. Trying to expand and get awareness by exposing this team to all of the Carolinas will help that. The Raleigh/Durham area have knowledgeable and passionate basketball fans and if the Bobcats can touch just a small percentage of that market, it will only help the team out. I also like the idea of expanding down South to Columbia.

fatlever wrote:its one thing for the people in these secondary markets to go to a heat game, but are they going to show up to see the bobcats play the wizards on a tuesday? or would the bobcats only schedule marquee games on weekends in these prime locations? and how are the current season ticket holders going to feel about losing a weekend game vs the heat, lakers, clippers, bulls, knicks, celtics, thunder etc... to a secondary market? maybe a fair compromise would be a sunday afternoon game vs a mid level draw team, such as the nets, spurs, mavs, blazers. or of course, just schedule a game vs the pacers and all the unc fans will come out to watch hansbrough or a game vs the magic so they can come boo redick. problem solved.

MountBiyombo wrote:Just got in from the Raleigh game. My wife and I had a blast even though we were in the nose bleed seats. Hendo looked really good as did Sessions, and Kemba.

BrotherDave wrote:The amount of bandwagon Heat fans there pissed me off. Bobcat fans need to start acting like hooligan firms and bullying these fools.