I don't reside in Houston (east coast actually) but as a graduation present, my girlfriend promised to buy me tickets to a Rockets home game next season and fly me (and her) out there. I'd just like to get some input as to general atmosphere, crowd behavior, etc. How loud can I yell? How crazy can I act? Where's the best place to wait for autographs? Also, how much are tickets in general. From courtside to club level. Thanks in advance. PS: Mods, I felt that since this post was not just about tickets alone, the GARM was the best place for it. Please move accordingly.
Crowd atmosphere: Terrible, especially last season. Crowd behavior: Barely anyone cheers, let a lone stands and cheer. You can act pretty wild if you want, you'll probably be the only one though. Not sure where you can get autographs from. Tickets range from $10 on, gonna have to spend at least $45-$50 to get in the lower bowl.
To expand upon what gucci has already said... Looking at the court from the side, a lot of the seats from free throw line to free throw line are company-held season tickets. Those people are very unlikely to be cheering loudly. I would avoid those areas. I think your best bet would be to try and get some seats behind one of the baskets. That way you will be close to the action, but you won't be stuck with a bunch of business class people who don't give a crap about what's actually happening on the court. People behind the baskets generally seem to be pretty enthusiastic compared to the rest of the arena. Never sat there myself, so I don't know the prices, exactly. No idea about autographs...
I sit 18 rows above the Rockets bench and the seats are freaking great...don't expect to get down there though unless you have money. The seats are $165 a piece. They are company owned though like the above said. We get them from my gf's work. We usually get 4 and bring 2 friends or sell off the other 2. And like the others said about the cheering...alot of times when I do people kinda look at me and it makes you feel ackward cuz your group is the only one cheering and yelling but I get over it and keep doing it. Eventually the crowd will catch on and figure out they're at a basketball game and not a library...
me n my friends always go crazy at rockets games, we dont care, people look at us like we r stupid, in many other arenas we wud look like normal fans, here we look r****ded, it pisses me off, in terms of the arena, i have been to the arena in dallas, sbc center, msg, staples, continental, and phillips arena and i have to say that in terms of PRICE and QUALITY of the arena itself, toyota center has to probably be the best, although phillips arena is not far behind, its just there were few spots in the phillips arena where u dint get a great angle, in toyota center it looks good no matter where you sit, i do believe that AAA, sbc center ( now ATnT), and staples center are all better than toyota cetner , in terms of atmosphere by far, and by quality, but the prices r damn ridiculous, still they bring in alot more fans, die hard fans than us, and last...and least, continental arena just sucks, and madison square garden is great becuase of its awe feeling for it being MSG, but interms of arena its ok nothing too speical, but getting in and out of the arena to ur car is a damn hassle man
id rank overall(quality, crowd, PRICE, etc.): ATnT(SBC) Center (San Antonio) Toyota Center (Houston) Phillips Arena (Atlanta) AAA Arena (Dallas) Staples (LA Clippers) MSG (New York) Continental (New Jersey)
The AAC in Dallas is a place "to be seen", and the stadium lighting there reflects that. Granted most in Dallas are credit card millionaires who want to show off, but still, it works. The Toyota Center is a much darker place than places like the AAC, Staples Center, and Arco Arena. I think the Toyota Center should get better lighting. It would wake up the crowd.
Try and see if you can sit with the Rowdies, that's where you want to be. I went to the 'experimental' game against Golden State and it was a completely different experience than the other 10-15 games I've been to at the TC.
Depending on what you are looking for should determine where you want to site. As people have said, in the company-owned seats, the atmosphere is pretty dull, unless it is a giveaway or the game is close in the final seconds. Behind the baskets is the place to be if you want to be in a rowdy section where people are actually paying attention to the game. With that said, last year there wasn't much to cheer about anyway. There were games I went to last year when I wanted to get loud and cheer, but there just wasn't crap to get excited about. The building itself is really cool, good sightlines and nice sound system/video screen. You might want to get a tour of Minute Maid Park also if there isn't an Astros game when you are here. It is a very nice place as well.
The lower level is much nicer than the upper level in every way. The upper level seems unfinished to me compared to the lower level. It's like they designed the place for the "fans with money" and the "fans without". The seat Nazi's make sure there is no co-mingling between the classes. Empty luxury boxes take up space where real fans should be. (there is a stupid truck in one of luxury boxes. They don't serve coke so if you want to sneak your flask in be prepared to mix your drinks with Pepsi. The Food is OK on the lower level and below average on the upper. The over the top flashing advertisments that surround the arena are sensory overload and distract from the atmosphere. All in all I'd say the Toyota center is below average for the common fan.
Almost all NBA arenas are below average for the common fan, as soon as tickets started averaging huge amounts of money. If they do it next year, schedule your game with one of the Rowdies games and sit there.
I concur, schedule a game to sit in the Red Alert/Rowdy section. That is a lot of fun. Only problem is there isn't much advance notice of which games the Rowdy section is operating. Buying airfare might be tricky.
I went to one of the rockets playoff games against dallas, it was so much fun, you'll have a blast, as long as we're a winning team, you'll have fun for sure. haha just cheer loud for the rockets!
Per game??? That's unbelievable! Man, you can get a pretty good season ticket package from the Astros for that kind of money. No wonder Astro games are so much fun and the TC is such a morgue on game nights.
I'm just curious, is there anyone on this board that reads posts typed like this? When I see something like "me n my friends always go crazy at rockets games, we dont care, people look at us like we r stupid" I stop reading immediately because I'm pro-literacy.
Quit being so dramatic. You definately can hear sneakers sqeeks and an occasional whistle being blown (which is usually Yao being called for an offensive or blocking foul).
