Brett Yormark: Nets need to "turn up the heat" to push fans from "casual to hardcore"

After talking up the value of the Brooklyn "lifestyle brand" and noting he's "happy but not satisfied," Brett Yormark admits to Forbes that the next step for the Nets is "to turn up the heat" among fans.

"You want to turn up the heat on the fans and give them a reason to go from casual to hardcore," Yormark tells Forbes' Darren Heitner. "It takes time to do that, but ultimately that’s what you want."

The Nets could turn up that heat, writes Heitner, with their acquisitions this summer, giving them the tools to compete with the Miami Heat.

Yormark says the first year at Barclays, along with a new color scheme and new identity has set the stage for that.

"For us, developing the lifestyle brand gave consumers a multitude of reasons to like us," Yormark added. "They like us because we wore Brooklyn every night. They advocate ‘Brand Brooklyn’. They like us because they like black and white; it is a timeless color palate. People like us because of our connectivity to the entertainment world and Jay Z; that was a motivator for some consumers. Other consumers like us because we’re the home team and we’re a basketball team."

So far so good this summer. The Nets who started last season with 11,000 season ticket holders are now close to 13,000. They've also had a lot of inquiries about the last remaining suites in the arena, say team insiders.

• CEO Brett Yormark Reflects On Brooklyn Nets As Lifestyle Brand, Plans To Turn Up Heat For Future - Darren Heitner - Forbes