Pelicans promise to give fans $1 million in prizes if they conquer the In-Season Tournament

This 2023/24 campaign will be remembered as the year in which the In-Season Tournament made its debut, and as fans are still getting used to the idea of this competition, teams are trying to lure them into it. The Pelicans, for example, decided to give away money in prizes to fans who go to the Smoothie King Center to root for them.

This Wednesday, New Orleans announced the “We Win, You Win” sweepstakes during the NBA In-Season Tournament, the new annual competition for all 30 teams that will start in November.

The promise is as follows, if the Louisiana franchise win the inaugural competition, they will gave away $1 million in prizes to one hundred eligible participants, who’d earn $10,000 each.

#Pelicans to give away $1 million in sweepstakes prize money if New Orleans wins the NBA In-Season Tournament 👀 💰

Info: https://t.co/ndDj7CdlkQ

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) August 23, 2023

“The NBA In-Season Tournament is an innovative way to enhance team competition and fan interest with meaningful games during the regular season,” explained team President Dennis Lauscha. “Teams and players are incentivized to win the inaugural NBA Cup, and we wanted to give our fans an opportunity to win, as well. We are excited to announce this ‘We Win, You Win’ promotion and we look forward to seeing our fans at the Smoothie King Center for these great home matchups.”

Participants can enter the “We Win, You Win” Sweepstakes simply by attending one of the Pelicans’ In-Season Tournament home matches. Fans who purchase at least one ticket and attend one game at the Smoothie King Center will automatically receive a total of 1,000 entries per contest attended.

“I’ve long believed there’s potential to make the 82-game schedule more fun and marketable, so I was in favor of it,” said Jim Eichenhofer from Pelicans.com. “Some of the NBA’s recent schedule tweaks (two-game series in the same city, longer stretches of homestands/road trips) have made the regular season slightly easier for fans to follow. I like the idea of having distinct segments of the schedule, instead of just one, long, 82-game block. Breaking up the regular season in some way seems like another minor positive step. Also, the rampant success of the play-in tournament made me more optimistic about new NBA format ideas.”

The rules follow gradually if New Orleans host a Quarterfinals home game, eligible participants who attend all three In-Season Tournament home games will then have an additional 2,000 entries for a maximum total of 5,000.

Even though fans are open to this In-Season experiment, they believe there should be bigger incentives beyond money

As we draw closer to the inaugural In-Season Tournament, both fans and teams have many question over how it will actually unfold. However, this is defintely an opportunity to produce new marketing strategies and involve their fan base.

“It could be fun to have a separate set of standings to follow in November, where you’ll be tracking your team’s record and the other four clubs within Group B. One potential format concern is that there may end up being too many in-season tournament quarterfinal spots determined by tiebreakers, since every team only plays four pool-play games,” Eichenhofer anticipated.

“An unrelated suggestion: I think there should be bigger team incentives beyond a cash payout for players – my idea is if you win the in-season tournament, in April you automatically win all standings tiebreakers through 82 games and get to move up one spot in the seedings,” the Pelicans reporter suggested.

The “We Win, You Win” sweepstakes will be open exclusively to legal residents of the United States who are over the age of 18.