No Fast Break Here

In these tough times it’s good to know that we get a break on something.

A family of four this season spends an average of $190.62 on a Lakers game, down 2.9% from 1991, according to the NBA fan cost index, published by Team Marketing Report.

By contrast, the newsletter reports that the average cost for a family to attend a Clippers game is up 10% to $164.33. (All this is based on a family buying four tickets, two beers, four hot dogs, four soft drinks, two of the cheapest souvenir baseball caps, two programs and parking for one car.)

But a closer look shows that there is little to cheer about. Associate Editor Noah Liberman says the Lakers’ drop is attributable entirely to a $12 cap sold at the Forum, where the cheapest one last season was $16. He says the average ticket price for the Jerry Buss-owned team actually rose to $32.28 from $31.69.

The Clippers seem to be getting a bum rap. The team’s higher cost is due to an $18 cap sold this year, up from $10 in 1991. The average for a Clippers ticket actually fell to $22.68 from $23.13 in 1991.

What’s Fare Is Fair

Some travel agents are in a snit over entrepreneur Richard Branson’s plans to put a ticket counter for his Virgin Atlantic Airways in a music/home entertainment “megastore� opening in Los Angeles.

Jeanne Epping, a Santa Cruz travel agency owner who chairs an American Society of Travel Agents committee, says putting a ticket counter in the store seems unprofessional. “If a salesman is selling you a CD one minute and an airline ticket the next, then customers won’t get the service they should,� she says.

Branson spokeswoman Lori Levin says travel professionals will staff the counter, adding that it is simply an extra service for Virgin customers. “We’re an extremely pro-agency airline, since 85% of our business comes through travel agencies. We’re not trying to cut out the travel agents,� Levin says.

They Hope He’s Game

With Bill Clinton headed to the White House, add the crossword puzzle business to supporters calling in their chits.

CROSSW RD Magazine endorsed Clinton in April, citing its belief that crossword fan Clinton “comes the closest to the ideals that CROSSW RD Magazine represents.�

Editor J. Baxter Newgate says he hopes that Clinton will use the magazine’s new crossword puzzle software. Clinton’s name also has been added to the magazine’s complimentary subscription list, Newgate said, joining such notables as Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and imprisoned hotel queen Leona Helmsley.

Briefly . . .

Thanks for thinking of us: Revlon is pitching Mitchum deodorant by claiming people need it because “Americans are under more stress than ever.� . . . A company selling fake masterpiece paintings uses the slogan “So real your friends will think you looted the Louvre.� . . . “We find companies that have poor balance sheets, questionable accounts, financial irregularities and sell them short for our clients,� reads an ad for the bearish Feshbach brothers in Palo Alto.