July 31, 2010 5:24 pm  |  53 Comments

Heat Sell-Out Season; Fire Sales Staff


As sad unemployment is, there wasn’t a way to go around this. From the Miami Herald: “With the arrival of LeBron James, the Miami Heat rapidly sold out all their season tickets. That turned out to be bad news for the ticket-sales staff, which was fired Friday. In a statement, the Heat confirmed the dismissals Friday afternoon, saying that with an ‘exhausted’ inventory of season-tickets ‘we no longer require a season ticket sales team to sell tickets.’ Stephen Weber, vice president of sales, delivered the news to about 30 ticket sales people Friday morning, according to one of the staffers who asked not to be named because he is seeking another job in sports.”

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  • Dave42 Posted: Jul.31 at 5:28 pm
    That is really awkward. In a bad way. Wow.

  • LD Posted: Jul.31 at 5:29 pm
    Correction: With the arival of Chris Bosh and also LeBron, the Heat rapidly sold all their season tickets. Does this also mean that Eric Spoelstra is getting fired because this team clearly does not need a coach either.

  • Cool Dude Posted: Jul.31 at 5:37 pm
    Man. If you believe in karma, the Heat is just piling bad karma on themselves.

  • [...] Well, if you’re Stephen Weber, the VP of Sales for the Miami Heat, you (reportedly) fire your entire 30-person sales staff, that’s what. [...]

  • hoodsnake Posted: Jul.31 at 6:04 pm
    ^^^thats true in a funny way…

  • C-Lo_The_Great Posted: Jul.31 at 6:10 pm
    talk about loyalty

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Jul.31 at 6:18 pm
    @Cool dude what does karma have to do with anything. It’s a freaking recession, people get fired. So just bcuz they fired some people means that the heat won’t win a chip. F*ck karma, it has no place in basketball.

  • MikeC. Posted: Jul.31 at 6:58 pm
    @JTaylor21 - if you don’t think karma has any place in basketball, I give you exhibit A: Los Angeles Clippers.

  • jose Posted: Jul.31 at 7:12 pm
    That was the ultimate sacrifice( selling so much that they don’t need you anymore)

  • LD Posted: Jul.31 at 7:20 pm
    At least tey can put on their resume’ that they sold all season tickets for the Heat in one night and they can do the same for their new team. They are allowed to take credit for this success right?

  • LD Posted: Jul.31 at 7:22 pm
    Pat Riley to staff: “Did you just sell all our season tickets! F*ck you! Get the hell out of her and don’t come back! You’ll never work here again!”

  • Jeff Posted: Jul.31 at 7:36 pm
    Remember when D’Wade was criticizing the Bulls management for not taking care of former players. Well, what does he have to say now?

  • Supreme Posted: Jul.31 at 7:48 pm
    This makes complete sense for the Heat. Let others struggle when they suck and let them go when things are about to get good. It’s how they run things down south!

  • NBA kid Posted: Jul.31 at 8:08 pm
    is everyone else as sick of jtaylor’s commenting as I am? seriously dude, calm down

  • phil Posted: Jul.31 at 8:42 pm
    i can name a few times karma has played it’s role in nba. tmac saying how good it feels to be out of the first round when leading the series 3-1 then end up losing it. how shaq sang “how my ass taste now kobe” after having more rings than kobe, but kobe ends up having more rings etc etc

  • frank Posted: Jul.31 at 8:50 pm
    they werent fired because they sold all the tickets, they were fired because there was nothing left for them to do. the heat can’t just pay their ticket-sellers if there is no tickets to be sold.

  • LD Posted: Jul.31 at 8:52 pm
    That’s 30 more people who hate LeBron now.

  • al Posted: Jul.31 at 9:02 pm
    @JTaylor21. karma transcends the recession and is as universal as the ebb and flow of the universal scheme of things work with each by law of cause and effect of actions taken and putting that energy into motion and physical manifestation .(which by natural law operates outside the economy while paradoxically also having a greater effect on it as well). rescission has nothing to do with good deed/bad deeds and the balance in-which things work in a natural cycle.
    don’t be so ignorant.

  • al Posted: Jul.31 at 9:04 pm
    basketball is a game of cause and effect. reception, perception, and the inter action of both synergistically . it has everything to do with karma.

  • D12FSU Posted: Jul.31 at 9:22 pm
    this should be titled “People get fired for doing there jobs…really well”

  • Scottie Pimpin Posted: Jul.31 at 9:49 pm
    hey dee wade, i got your loyalty right here !

  • nastierthanu Posted: Jul.31 at 10:10 pm
    Jtaylor u r an angry man. Decaf man decaf

  • Art Mooney Posted: Jul.31 at 10:59 pm
    Karmistically speaking, not good.

  • Arek Posted: Jul.31 at 11:01 pm
    Let me get this straight, they sold out of their season tickets.. which means the sales people have nothing to sell anymore, so why should they keep their jobs? lol this was probably taken way out of context

  • LD Posted: Aug.1 at 12:08 am
    Don’t fire them. Find something else for them to sell.

  • Doyouwantmore Posted: Aug.1 at 12:22 am
    There’s no such thing as karma. There is such a thing as justice, but it’s not a given in basketball.

  • bill breedley Posted: Aug.1 at 12:25 am
    How come Espn knicked the markazi article on
    Sidekick?

  • MikeC. Posted: Aug.1 at 12:31 am
    @Doyouwantmore - over a long enough timeline, justice and karma rain down like flaming turds on the unjust. If you are patient, you will witness the downfall and destruction of your enemies. Pat Riley can eat a dead pigeon.

  • NBA kid Posted: Aug.1 at 12:49 am
    in terms of karma being some sort of mystical force that transcends the physical world, that may not be true (in my opinion). however, the fact that bad actions and selfish decisions can hurt you in the long run? yes, that is true. will this selfish decision harm the heat organization in the long run? time will tell

  • dirty frank Posted: Aug.1 at 1:05 am
    I’m sure they will recieve severance pay. There was no work left for them - of course they were let go. What kind of business would pay people when there is no work for them? A business that doesn’t make much money.

  • Cheryl Posted: Aug.1 at 1:26 am
    Dirty Frank’s right–they gave most of them severance and extended benefits. Plus, they hired a head-hunter firm to help them find employment elsewhere. Some were transferred to other departments. This is a part of the sales business. Most are prepared and recognize the nature of the business they’re in.

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Aug.1 at 2:29 am
    Thank u Cheryl, a voice of reason. People act like the heat are the first team to let go of staff in the history of sports. Leave it to a woman to set everyone straight. Cheryl u are a woman, right?

  • Eduardo Posted: Aug.1 at 4:27 am
    Like LeBron and Bosh said, the Heat are all about Family and being World Class…. too bad that these 30 people that got fired no longer feel the same way.

  • Ronald Posted: Aug.1 at 5:29 am
    @JTaylor21: If you want to blame anyone for the knee-jerk reaction towards the dismissal; it should be against whoever wrote the title/article. It doesn’t exactly sound very objective.

  • al Posted: Aug.1 at 6:29 am
    @jtaylor, dude that statement you made is a pretty sexist comment. what the he!! is wrong with u man? you are racking up $hitie karma points @$$hoe

  • Nate Posted: Aug.1 at 6:52 am
    Shouldn’t the sales staff have been made redundant, rather than fired, considering they didn’t mess up their job, they just weren’t needed anymore. If so they should all recieve pay-outs to last them as they look for new work

  • rav Posted: Aug.1 at 7:34 am
    didnt lebron say something on the decision show about how the heat organization treat their own so well?

  • Waters Posted: Aug.1 at 8:31 am
    Little known fact, the Clippers fire David Stern every year since they have no need for him to give them the Larry O’Brien trophy.

  • IAMORANGE4EVER Posted: Aug.1 at 12:00 pm
    Heat tickets sell themselves now like a bottle of water in the desert.

  • total scrotal implosion Posted: Aug.1 at 1:27 pm
    Makes perfect sense. cheryl with the details. Why would a business pay ppl to do nothing because their years work was done in one night, by someone else?

  • Boobr Posted: Aug.1 at 1:39 pm
    - We have the top men working at them right now.
    - Who?
    - Top. Men.

  • The Philosopher Posted: Aug.1 at 1:41 pm
    Another example of how and why LeBron is The King.
    He just demonstrated that his presence alone can alter the lives of many, as it did to certain staff members at The Miami Heat.
    There is no more denying the truth, ladies and gentlemen.
    LONG… LIVE… THE KING!

  • ConeyIslander Posted: Aug.1 at 2:07 pm
    LeBron did their jobs in 15 mins for 110 million dollars. He’s just earning his paycheck like anyone else. lol

  • Jesse Dunns Ghost Posted: Aug.1 at 4:00 pm
    I dont believe in Karma per se’, but I do believe the universe runs on sowing and reaping (which is similar) and what the Heat are sowing reminds me of the Lakers in 2004…someone key on that team is gonna get hurt and bye bye championship…

  • NAS Posted: Aug.1 at 4:20 pm
    Then do they rehire them again next year??? This is completely insane!! couldnt they work on selling merchandise, memorobilia, concession stands, programs, made plans to sell more stuff and generate more revenue… completely insane!!!!

  • Bmack Posted: Aug.1 at 4:25 pm
    That’s odd… Eboy seems to always comment on heat related matters, I wonder why he hasn’t tried to touch this one? ;)

  • Mo Daddy Posted: Aug.1 at 4:58 pm
    This is taken so out of context, its amazing. People should be b*tch slapped for being so stupid. Cheryl said it right, what kind of business pays people for not doing anything? Season Ticket Sales staff…not their entire sales staff. They were taken care of with severance pay and they all were helped finding jobs. I’m pretty sure that’s a decent way to handle things. And they can all come back next year. Easy enough.

  • ld Posted: Aug.1 at 7:22 pm
    @ Philosopher- The King should have said on his Decision show “The first team to completely sell out all of their season tickets first will recieve my talents next season.”

  • MikeC. Posted: Aug.1 at 9:32 pm
    Completely unsurprising move from an organization that employs Rat Riley.

  • Dacre Posted: Aug.2 at 2:49 am
    Hmm, so if they have sold them THIS quickly…..the price was obviously WAY TOO LOW…

  • Eboy Posted: Aug.2 at 8:57 am
    Morons Galore.

  • EconomicMan Posted: Aug.3 at 5:40 am
    Should’ve re-assigned those 30 staff members, if they wanted to stay w/ the org. They have homes in the area. It’s inconvenient to move–especially in a shitty RE market like Miami.

  • Sanchez Posted: Aug.6 at 10:24 pm
    They got shafted . Same guys selling tix making crap money when they couldn’t give em away while winning less than 15 games a season . Redirect them to sell something else. Surely they r a huge brand now with lebron. Use your marketing brains and get creative and sell the heat product using the guys u fired ! I know Mcculloch . He sux. I know weber. He sux too . U will both find your fate..

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