For $25,000 you and three friends can sit courtside at 10 Nets’ games this season — and you can have Devin Harris over for dinner.
The team announced a new package yesterday, ‘Your Ticket to a Player,’ where you get four courtside seats to 10 games, parking, access to a private lounge at the Izod Center with free food and beverages and a player come to your home, business or school for an hour.
“It will be interesting to have an NBA player come to your birthday party or come to your Bar Mitzvah or even just coming to your house for dinner for an hour when your friends are over,” Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said. “That’s a terrific thing and it’s tough to put a price tag on it.”
Yormark said the Nets have 20 of these plans available, which will earn them $500,000 if it sells out. The idea came about because Yormark was receiving calls to have players make personal appearances. Harris is New Jersey’s star and will likely be the most-requested, but you are not guaranteed to get him if he has other NBA or team-related commitments. But you can request anyone on the team. Yi Jianlian for a BBQ? Sean Williams for your son’s Bar Mitvah? It’s your call.
“They can request, and if we can accommodate them, we will,” Yormark told NorthJersey.com.
“What we’re committing to is a Nets’ player. You get a Nets’ player. It’s got to work around their schedule obviously. If you’re a 10-year-old and you get to bring a Nets’ player to your party, whether it’s Devin or [Terrence Williams] or Tony Battie, the value for that party goes up exponentially. I just think having an NBA player coming to your birthday party is a pretty big deal.”
The Nets ranked 25th out of 30 NBA teams in attendance are eyeing a move from New Jersey to Brooklyn.
Players will not be compensated for the one-hour visit.
“It helps everybody to have more fans at our games, so if the players can make a difference by meeting with ticket buyers at their homes or offices, we are happy to participate,” Harris said.