NBA Fans Turn Over Their Twitter Accounts, Get Season Tickets

When Philadelphia 76ers fans Jerry Rizzo and Hunter Coleman took it upon themselves to help out their favorite NBA team on Twitter this week, they didn't think it would lead to threats of legal action.

The 76ers are in the process of choosing a new mascot, and kicked off a fan voting contest Monday to decide between the final three candidates: Big Ben, a version of Benjamin Franklin; Phil E. Moose, "one of the most regal animals to roam the wild," according to a team press release; and B. Franklin Dogg, whom the team calls "the All-American pet."

But the team failed to set up Twitter accounts for the mascot nominees. So Rizzo, 23, and Coleman, 22, did just that. On Tuesday they registered the Twitter accounts @PhilEMoose and @BFranklinDogg. (@BigBen_76ers was already taken.) Hunter and Coleman also set up Facebook and Google+ accounts for the nominees.

Rizzo and Coleman, now tweeting as Dogg and Moose, aimed to drum up support for the contest. By Friday afternoon, @PhilEMoose had nearly 500 followers, while @BFranklinDogg had more than 200. The team has so far received tens of thousands of votes in the contest.

But Rizzo and Coleman also heard from the 76ers organization on Friday. An official email asked them to cease tweeting, shut down the Facebook and Google+ pages, and pass the Twitter passwords over to team officials by 7pm that night, when the contest was schedule to end.

Rizzo told Mashable that the email praised the young fans for their enthusiasm but read, in part, "we'd like you to do this pleasantly without the use of lawyers or anything like that."

At that point, Rizzo, a self-described "social media sponge," contacted Mashable with his story. "We were just doing something cool for them, helping them drive the contest," he said in a phone interview. He was, however, not inclined to hand over the accounts, saying he planned to "just not do anything" and see what happened.

Mashable reached out to multiple 76ers officials for comment, but did not hear back. Hours later, Rizzo said that he and Coleman had changed their minds and were going to hand over the passwords after being offered "a fair deal."

And what was that deal? Box seats to the 76ers' home opener and free season tickets in exchange for helping out with future fan engagement.

"Not a bad deal for a few days of tweeting," Rizzo said.