Bronny James’ commitment to USC basketball is already positively affecting the Trojans’ athletic department.
Bruni, the son of LeBron James, was one of the final college decision recruits. Now, USC’s athletic department is taking advantage by raising ticket prices ahead of the 2023-24 basketball season.
USC Chief Marketing Officer and Associate Athletic Director Craig Kelly spoke with ESPN about potential price hikes in basketball games this season.
“I know it’s going to be hard to believe, but with or without Bruni, prices would probably only have gone up by a few percentage points because that’s just the nature of the business,” Kelly said. Most teams increase their prices by 2% to 3% annually. We’ve actually been flat for some time, and so we’ve been going up in price just because the team has just improved. And you add some notable names.”
How will Brunei affect USC basketball attendance?
Despite bringing in a star-studded recruiting class, none of these players had a name as high-profile as James.
According to On3, James has the highest NIL rating in all of college sports at $6.8 million, twice that of the second-highest athlete (LSU’s Livvy Dunne) and nearly five times that amount of the second-highest basketball player (Northwestern State’s Hansen Enmanuel).
Last season, an average of 4,021 fans attended USC basketball’s home games in 2022, which ranks near the bottom of the PAC-12. For comparison, UCLA’s crosstown rivals averaged 9,276 fans for their 17 home games in 2022, more than double the number of the Trojans. In fact, four PAC-12 schools (California, Washington, Oregon State and Stanford) had lower average attendance for basketball games in 2022-23 than USC.
However, that is expected to change in 2023, with the arrival of Bronie James expected to make USC basketball games among the hottest tickets in Los Angeles.
What will be Broni James’ role at USC?
Coach Andy Enfield will have a tough job at USC this season. All eyes will be on how USC handles Bronny’s development and playing time. However, there is no clear path for James to start on the first day.
James will be joined in the Trojans’ backcourt by another highly regarded freshman guard, Isaiah Collier, ESPN’s #1 recruit in the class of 2023. A guard from Wheeler High School, Collier averaged 20.2 points, 6.8 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 2.3 rebounds. Steals en route to winning the Georgia 7A State Championship.
Collier is expected to start alongside senior guard Boogie Ellis, who averaged 17.2 points per game last season while shooting 38.6% from 3-point range.
This means that Bruni may have to start his college career as a sixth man, coming off the bench.
Enfield seems to echo that sentiment but stated that all USC guards will have a chance to log significant playing time next season.
“All of our goalkeepers have a great chance to play with us because we don’t have a lot of goalkeepers,” Anfield said. “We don’t have eight or nine. We have some chances for these guys to do a nice role for them, and in Bruni’s case we don’t promise starting positions, but the nice thing is I think all our keepers will play good minutes for us this year.”
A solid shooter and solid defender who plays with a high IQ on both ends of the floor, it wouldn’t be surprising to see James take a role off the bench as a freshman.