Last night, well after the San Antonio Spurs- Phoenix Suns game had gotten out of hand, during a timeout, Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver took to the Public Address system to address his displeasure with his guests, stating this this was not the game Suns fans paid their hard-earned money to see and offered to send a “gift” to anyone in attendance that sent him their tickets from the game along with a return address (though it’s unclear whether or not the return envelope needed to be self-stamped or not).
Today, Mr Sarver stood by his comments and revealed what the gift will be.
Via azcentral.com:
“I just felt that the fans paid good money for the game and they didn’t see the players they anticipated seeing”, and “It was just a gesture to let them know we appreciate their support and want to do something to compensate for that.”
Mr Sarver was clearly sincere in his remarks. They obviously didn’t see the players they anticipated seeing. NOBODY anticipated seeing the Suns players dropping 121 points on the defending champs, depleted or not. There is a question as to whether or not the Suns fans attending were anticipating seeing the Spurs in their entirety, especially since Spurs coach Gregg Popovich announced while still in Turkey who would and would not be making the trip to the Valley of the Sun.
As for what the gift is for the 13,000 ticket holders from last night’s game, Mr Sarver is sending all patrons sitting in the lower-bowl a $50 voucher toward a regular-season game of their choosing and those sitting in the upper-bowl will receive a $25 voucher toward a regular-season game of their choosing. It really is a pretty generous gift stemming from a pre-season game that counted for nothing and had it announced well in advance who would and would not be there.
Suns fans seem to be split about 65-35% in favor of Popovich on this issue on several Suns forums. They understand, as do Spurs fans, that it was just a pre-season game that means nothing and, furthermore, they know that anything that Pop does is calculated and for a reason.
One Suns fan, who asked to remain unnamed in this article, stated “I don’t see why Sarver is doing this. It’s not like a team that good needs any added motivation when they come out here next time and the game does count.”
The San Antonio Spurs don’t have to wait long to give Suns fans a chance to see them fully functional, as SA travels to Phoenix on October 31st.