The Charlotte Bobcats want Wednesdays to be the new day to party.

The team is spending $18,000 advertising on the city’s light-rail trains and forming partnerships with several EpiCentre restaurants and nightclubs. The hope? That young people will turn a mid-week basketball game into a full night out.

Senior Vice President for Marketing Seth Bennett said the team hopes it will be a stimulus to the whole uptown corridor. The Bobcats also hope it will boost attendance on a day when it is generally much more difficult to fill seats.

Team President and CEO Fred Whitfield said he charged the marketing department with coming up with a plan to boost attendance on Wednesdays soon after the team received its schedule. It called for 13 Wednesday home games, the most it’s ever had. And the opponents – including the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Clippers – were pretty good draws.

– Reported by Andrew Dunn of the Charlotte Obsever