LAS VEGAS -- Amid the bright lights of America's most sinfully extravagant city, the NBA's glitziest team filled slightly more than half an arena last weekend.
It was a bit colder than usual around these parts, but even the Lakers were feeling the chill of the economy.
The Lakers secured an impressive 99% renewal for season-ticket holders, but their exhibition games this month have been played in front of surprisingly sparse crowds in venues outside Los Angeles.
A game in Anaheim against Utah was filled to two-thirds capacity, if that. A game in Fresno against the Clippers would have been lucky to be that well-attended. Plenty of tickets were available for the Lakers' annual trip to Vegas, where an announced crowd of 11,090 looked thin in an arena with room for more than 18,500.
Such games used to be less-expensive causes of celebration for Lakers followers who eagerly awaited Kobe and Shaq in cities such as Bakersfield, Albuquerque and Little Rock.
Now, despite the franchise's return to relevancy and the presence of Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, preseason games are being viewed by some as a mandatory eight-game sentence before the real deal begins Oct. 28 against Portland.
The financial downturn has trickled down to the Lakers, at least for two more weeks.
"You have to attribute some of it to the economy, given that we're all kind of counting pennies right now," said Paul Swangard of the Warsaw sports marketing center at the University of Oregon. "People are saying, 'The circus is coming to town, but I guess I'm going to skip it this year.' People usually have plenty of options. Maybe their best option is to stay home."
When teams play at their arenas, they charge regular-season prices for exhibitions. Sometimes the fans get a break. Courtside seats for the Lakers-Charlotte game next week in San Diego are "only" $300, well off the $2,600 cost for a regular-season game at Staples Center.
When the Lakers were rolling in the success of three consecutive championships earlier this decade, their exhibition games packed a punch -- and so did some of their players. In one example, Rick Fox and Sacramento's Doug Christie fought during an exhibition in 2002 at Staples Center.
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who owns nine NBA championship rings, recently reminisced about the way things used to be in October, reaching back into history when asked if he ever considered the importance of winning exhibition games.
