Fans Pack Target Center For Wolves-Lakers Game
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Whenever the Los Angeles Lakers play the Timberwolves, downtown Minneapolis goes wild. It did not disappoint Friday night.
Thousands of people pack the bars and restaurants that surround the Target Center -- good news for business owners.
The real story is inside, though, where a sell-out crowd, wearing mostly white, proved that Wolves mania is alive and well in Minnesota.
It's not about how well you can dress in white. It's all about the T-shirt. There were 19,000 of them draped on the back of Target center seats for fans to wear. It's the Wolves way of saying thanks for all the support and to push sales of season tickets.
At Friday's sold out game, standing room-only tickets were available.
Wolves president Chris Wright says he hopes to expand the dedicated fan base by keeping ticket prices affordable. One-thousand seats in the lower level can be bought for less than $20 a seat, if you buy them as a season ticket.
"In the upper level, we have 6,000 seats the people can buy for less than $10 on a season basis. So all of the fans that have been with us during our hard times, we're trying to make sure that they have a level of affordability is out there for them to sort of stay with us even as our team gets better," said Wright.
Wright says multiple pieces have come together to get Wolves mania moving.
The signing of Ricky Rubio, Derrick Williams and Kevin Love's break out year, all that plus the 8th winningest coach in the NBA is the recipe Wright hopes continues to help the Wolves' fan base grow.
"It's going to be a crazy night when everybody puts these white T-shirts on," said Wolves player, Anthony Tolliver.
Right now, the Wolves are on track to sell out more games this season than they have in the entire last three seasons.
They have a 90 percent renewal rate and by the looks of Friday's crowd, they won't have much trouble selling season tickets for next year. Wolves mania is here.
