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Seeing through the marketing hype from the Nets and other sports teams

The Nets get some props from Forbes for offering "free tickets to unemployed fans who posted their résumés to the team's online job bank," but Forbes doesn't grapple with the knotty issue of food vouchers.

Seeing through the hype

Meanwhile, Bloomberg columnist Scott Soshnick sees through the sports marketing hype, commenting, in Depression-Minded Sports Teams Show Desperation, that teams (like the Nets) trumpeting no-risk ticket plans are finally recognizing "the concept of treating the customer fairly, offering value."

"Sadly, it took an economic calamity for most teams to make available the kinds of fan-friendly offerings that should have been standard practice long ago," he writes.

"Every pro sports team claims to be a source of civic pride," Soshnick observes. "And then they try to extract every last penny from the customers they’re supposed to represent."

He concludes that it's all about hype: "When the Timberwolves and other teams rescind their fan- friendly initiatives -- and they will -- there won’t be a press release or follow-up e-mail."

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