The long-awaited homecoming of the Hornets and the debut ofChris Paul in front of a sold-out crowd at the New Orleans Arena despite the Hornets drawing frustrations from fans when problems with getting tickets to three games played in New Orleans this month began to surface.
“I assumed the tickets that had been ‘reserved’ for the season ticket holders would be released the day after the date (Feb. 9th) on the message on (504) 525-HOOP,” said Jonathan Shaver, a second-year Loyola Civil Law student.
“Yet, when I went in person to the box office (on Girod Street), the employees there had no idea what I was talking about,” Shaver said. Hornets ticket officials in New Orleans referred Shaver back to Oklahoma City.
He went to the box office on Girod Street in the first place because Ticketmaster offered only “nosebleeds.”
Shaver then called (504) 525-HOOP and “never got through to a human.” He called the Hornets offices in Oklahoma City for tickets, but they forwarded him back to (504) 525-HOOP.
He repeated this process a number of times and left messages for Hornets owner George Shinn and team president Paul Mott, calls he was assured would be returned by a secretary because “they take this kind of thing very seriously.” No calls were returned.
A Hornets fan, wishing to be identified as Steve Smith, suffered similar obstacles. He called (504) 525-HOOP and left messages, but no one returned his calls. So he opted for the Oklahoma City offices.
“They’re setting up, just hang tight,” Oklahoma City ticket officials told him about the (504) 525-HOOP operation in New Orleans. He called the number again and was unsuccessful.
Both Shaver and Smith resorted to the fan-based Web siteHornetsreport.com. Smith said, “I got Cardell Carter’s number from the Web site. We had to have one user buy a whole bunch of 3-packs to the games, and then everyone who wanted some reimbursed him.”
Smith flew in from the San Francisco Bay Area for the March 8 game against the Lakers and intends to do so for the remaining two, Saturday against the Denver Nuggets and Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Michael Thompson, director of corporate communications for the Hornets organization, cited “technical issues with Ticketmaster” and said that his “staff in New Orleans worked hard to overcome challenges” in an e-mail sent to The Maroon.
The organization also drew ire from supporters because of a March 1 report in The Oklahoman in which Thompson announced that “tickets (were) still available for any Hornets fans in Oklahoma looking to travel to (March’s) three scheduled games in New Orleans.”
Fans perceived this as setting apart tickets for the Oklahoma City fan base while the New Orleans fan base was being underserved.
“Tickets are available to all Hornets fans regardless of where they live. A number of fans in Oklahoma expressed interest in traveling to New Orleans,” Thompson said. He listed Hornets.com, Ticketmaster and several phone numbers where fans can purchase tickets.
Ramon Vargas can be reached at [email protected] Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
