Blazers' 76% Ticket Surge Gives Tom Dundon Something Else to Count

Tom Dundon's first few months in Portland produced a number that wasn't especially popular: approximately 70.

That's how many Trail Blazers employees lost their jobs in May.

Six months later, there's another number worth examining.

The Portland Business Journal's Eve Peyser reported Friday that single-game ticket sales have increased 76% compared to last year, with group sales climbing another 32%.

Portland reportedly ranks second across the NBA in single-game ticket sales and has sold out its opening games.

For a franchise whose offseason was dominated by questions about expenses, those are some awfully encouraging numbers.

Dundon's arrival brought sweeping changes to the organization, including May's layoffs and a July overhaul of the broadcast operation.

Several longtime employees departed, and the ongoing Moda Center negotiations did little to improve the relationship between ownership and an already frustrated fanbase.

There were legitimate business concerns behind those decisions. Sports Business Journal reported in May that Portland ranked near the bottom of the NBA in ticket revenue, and Dundon believed the organization had become too expensive to operate.

But the latest ticket figures offer a glimpse at another way to improve the finances.

Take Portland's Sixth Man Special, which offers fans a $29 ticket and a $20 food-and-beverage voucher for select games.

That's a pretty attractive deal for someone who might otherwise struggle to justify the cost of attending an NBA game. And with Dundon reportedly pushing for more affordable ticket packages, he deserves some credit for the approach.

The organization also reportedly added 50 courtside seats during the offseason, which season-ticket holders quickly purchased.

So Portland is finding customers willing to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars for premium seating while also making an effort to accommodate fans with smaller budgets.

Of course, the basketball itself hasn't hurt.

Damian Lillard's return, Ja Morant's arrival and a surprising start gave fans plenty of reasons to buy tickets. Even after consecutive losses to the Lakers and Spurs, Portland sits with just three losses and reason to believe its early success wasn't entirely a fluke.

It's impossible to say how much of the sales increase can be attributed to discounted tickets rather than the product on the floor.

And selling more tickets doesn't automatically mean the organization is generating a comparable increase in revenue.

But Dundon has to appreciate what he's seeing.

After an offseason spent eliminating positions and scrutinizing expenses, one of Portland's more promising financial developments is coming from giving fans more opportunities to spend money on the franchise.

And unlike the decisions that defined much of his first summer, this approach actually appears to be making people happy.

That doesn't mean the cuts were unjustified.

Nor should fans purchasing tickets be mistaken for an endorsement of Dundon's ownership. People aren't filling Moda Center because they're excited about the organization's latest payroll figures.

They're showing up because they want to watch the Blazers, and ownership has made an effort to offer tickets at prices more people can afford.

The challenge now is keeping those customers coming back once the early excitement fades.

A $29 promotion can get someone through the doors, but Dundon still needs to give them reasons to return when the Blazers aren't winning six of every seven games.

When Dundon defended May's layoffs, he offered a rather memorable explanation: "I think Portland just had too many people."

Six months later, with single-game ticket sales up 76%, the Blazers' ticket office would probably love to have that problem.