Lagging attendance gives Bobcats pause.

• Author: Roush, Chris
• Position: SPORTS SECTION - Bobcats

Last November, 21-year-old UNC Chapel Hill student Ben Couch and some friends went to Charlotte to be part of a history-making event--the first game of the Queen City's new National Basketball Association franchise. Couch, a senior public-relations major, shared that moment with 23,318 other fans.

He shares another distinction with many of them, including those who live nearby. He hasn't been back to the Charlotte Coliseum since, nor has he watched the team on television. Through the Bobcats' first 25 home games, attendance averaged 14,501, 26th in the 30-team NBA. That means the team has sold only 62% of its tickets--the lowest percentage in the league.

Look more closely at the numbers, they get worse. That first game was a sellout--the only one through early March. The team had just two other crowds of more than 20,000--one for its second home game and one for a mid-February contest with the Miami Heat, featuring Shaquille O'Neal. Subtract those three crowds, and the average attendance falls to 13,462 fans per game.

Zoom in a bit more, it gets even worse. The NBA counts attendance as the number of tickets sold for a game rather than the actual number of people who show up. The official number in Charlotte often exceeds the turnstile count by more than 3,000. By some estimates, fewer than 7,000 fans were actually in seats for the Feb. 14 game with Portland, which had an announced crowd of 9,213. That would mean more than 2,000 of about 9,000 season-ticket holders didn't bother to come.

The numbers raise serious questions about the team's marketing strategy. "They clearly have not been putting all of their marketing eggs into this season," says Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based Sportscorp, a marketing consulting firm. "They are clearly focused on next year on being their 'first' season when the new arena opens."

The team's on-the-court struggles were expected. Rather than fill the roster with overpriced veterans, Bobcats management selected young, low-paid players to maintain flexibility under the salary cap. The result: one name player, rookie Emeka Okafor, and only 11 wins in the team's first 50 games. But even the worst expansion teams usually have a honeymoon with fans.

Before the Bobcats, the NBA last expanded in 1995-96, with new teams in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Toronto. The results don't bode well for Charlotte. Vancouver averaged 17,183 in its first season, though it won only 15 games. Attendance declined every year...