Who is really last in attendence?

Club changed policy to counting those in attendance

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Hornets reportedly have been violating NBA policy by under-reporting home attendance, making it appear paid attendance at the team's games is the lowest in the league.

The Charlotte Observer said in its Tuesday editions that according to records kept at the Charlotte Coliseum, the Hornets under-reported home attendance for more than a month.

"That would be a reversal of their policy," Charlotte Coliseum managing director Mike Crum said Monday. "I was not aware that they had changed."

The issue is significant because attendance figures are used in evaluating the financial health of a franchise. The NBA's annual audit of each team in the league includes a look at attendance numbers.

Starting Feb. 27, and continuing through nine of the next 10 home games, the Hornets reported the turnstile count -- fans attending the game -- rather than the higher number of tickets sold.

That deviates from the figures reported by every other team to the league, as well as from the team's policy during its first 13 seasons in the league.

The change in reporting comes as the Hornets lobby the league for a move to New Orleans. Among other things, the team has argued it is not being supported in Charlotte.

The Observer used the team's first 28 home games as a standard and calculated that the Hornets under-reported their attendance during the last six weeks by at least 3,460 ticket buyers a game.

In such a scenario, the Hornets' average paid attendance would not be the worst in the league -- as the NBA numbers currently show -- but rather 28th of 29 teams.

The Houston Rockets have averaged 11,744 tickets sold through 39 games. The Hornets have reported an average attendance of 11,297 through 38 home games, while the Observer's estimate would place it at about 12,100.

Hornets spokesman Harold Kaufman confirmed Monday the team sold out the home game Friday against the Washington Wizards, expecting Michael Jordan to play. That sellout, Kaufman said, would have represented 23,799 tickets distributed.

However, the Hornets reported attendance to the NBA at 15,621 -- the number of fans who showed up after the injured Jordan announced he wouldn't play.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league's policy is to report attendance as tickets distributed -- both sold and given away.

The Hornets traditionally have followed that policy and even benefited from it when they reported 364 consecutive sellouts starting in 1989. Often during that streak, thousands of tickets went unused during some games.

Kaufman declined comment on who made the decision to change the team's attendance-counting policy or when the change was made.

Those figures showed the Hornets' announced attendance matched turnstile count at nine of the last 10 home games. The only exception: a March 16 home game against Phoenix.