Have a spare $400,000?

That's what Staples Center owner AEG is charging for top-of-the-line luxury suites, per year ($250,000 on the low end). Five of the 157 suites are available now, but another 70 are due to expire in 2009 – and given the Lakers uncertain future, it's a decent bet that a few of those leases with not be renewed. That could explain those full-page ads in zoned editions of USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal. “We are rethinking the way we’re advertising on all premium products … and this is our first test in the general market,” Chris McGowan AEG’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, told Sports Business Journal (subscription required). “We have lots of inventory up for renewal and if our teams are not playing as well as they were when we first opened Staples Center [in 1999], we’ll have more to sell.” Here’s more:

“We want to be prepared and start getting some new people on board and develop new relationships,” he said. “You don’t do that two years from now, you do it now. A 10-year deal at $400,000 annually is a big investment.” AEG also is making a concerted effort to reach businesses and residents in downtown Los Angeles through billboard and direct-mail advertising as new residential development occurs there.