The Atlanta Hawks might have been one of the best teams in the NBA last year, but they didn’t exactly excel in drawing big crowds. In an effort to turn around attendance for the 2015-2016 season, the franchise has found a surprising spokesperson: Ashley Madison.
No, the Hawks aren’t going to actually work with the Ashley Madison site, but they found a woman to whose real name is (or probably isn’t) Ashley Madison for a new commercial launched on Friday.
“I’m Ashley Madison,” the woman says in the commercial. “Have you had a little rough patch with your first love? Maybe they just don't deliver the excitement you need anymore. Feel the rush of a new relationship with the Atlanta Hawks' flex plan. Ten nights of pure unadulterated excitement. And don't worry, your old team never has to know.”
The video specifically advertises the team’s 10-game flex plan, which starts at $250.
In an interview with ESPN, team CEO Steve Koonin said that everyone thought it was a good idea.
“We were talking about how we wanted people to have a love affair with us, and we thought this was a playful way to do it,” Koonin told ESPN, adding that he hopes the video will get a younger demographic interested in buying more than one ticket at a time.
The Hawks were 60-22 last season, which was a franchise-best. The team is under new ownership and Koonin said that they have sold 10,000 season tickets already. That’s a huge jump from last year’s 3,200 sold.
Ashley Madison is a site that says it can help users have an affair. Its database was hacked earlier this year, with its list of clients leaking online.
screenshot from Hawks YouTube video