Timing is everything.
With its fan base still fuming in the wake of trading away Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks sent out a season ticket renewal letter where prices are going up 8.61% on average, a story broken by WFAA in Dallas.
The reason behind the ticket price increase is “ongoing investments in team and fan engagement,” according to the announcement. While tickets across the board are going up in price, these increases “will better reflect seat value, particularly in high-demand areas closest to the court,” the team said. The highest priced seats are seeing the biggest percentage increase.
If it had not been for trading Doncic and the ensuing fan backlash, this announcement would have flown entirely under the radar (and most fans likely would have paid it without blinking). However, in the wake of a trade, the Mavericks fanbase hates, the timing of the announcement comes off as tone deaf. At best.
“In terms of anger with the fan base, I’m empathetic. I understand it. Dallas was in the Finals last year,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said of the trade, adding he also felt empathy for the Mavericks front office and ownership.
Doncic’s new team, the Lakers, have won six games in a row and are 7-2 since he joined the lineup (following a calf injury that had sidelined him), have climbed up to the No. 2 seed, and look like a threat to Oklahoma City at the top of the West. In Dallas, Anthony Davis suffered a strained adductor in his first game with the Mavericks and has missed the eight games since, with the Mavericks going 6-6 in the dozen games since the trade, and falling back to the No. 10 seed in the West.
The Mavericks have said leaked that this trade was about the future. As Sam Amick wrote at The Athletic: “[Mavericks officials] predict his basketball demise, highlighting a health history that, as some see it, will likely lead to catastrophe in the next five years or so.”
Fans aren’t buying the logic. The question is how many of them will still buy season tickets.
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