Brettman: President Chris McGowan Says Blazers Will Raise Ticket Prices

Allan Brettman of The Oregonian reports that Portland Trail Blazers president Chris McGowan plans to raise ticket prices next season.

Ticket prices will increase 2.5 percent for 2013-14 season, the first increase since the 2009-10 season. However, McGowan plans to retain the fan loyalty perks program started in 2005 that incrementally awards season ticket holders with seniority-based ticket price reductions.

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"The organization is pretty much built of people who have started in the organization and have never left," McGowan said. "So, it's the way things have been done here and that's pretty much all everyone knows because they don't have experience with other teams or other sports properties or other cities or other situations. So, I think that is neat to some degree, but it's not the right way to run a business. It's important to bring different skillsets into an organization and different opinions and people who have experienced different things to make the organization better."

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McGowan also told the group he's reconsidering the team's practice of discounting tickets during the season, which, with some low-priced packages, diminishes the value of season tickets.

McGowan also recently said he doesn't like the team's websites.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter