i just got back from New Orleans today as I went down for the game. it was a horrible experience in my opinion. not because the rox lost, but because the hornets game experience was disgusting in general. first, ill start with the good. as i entered new orleans arena, who entered right behind me? no other than les alexander. i really couldnt believe it. u just dont think its really him when youre standing next to him (i guess cuz i was taller than him). its hard to believe that guy has probably billions of dollars and hes still entering in the same entrance. well i found out why there was no "special" entrance for vip or womever. New Orleans Arena is absolutely the WORST sprting venue i have ever set foot in. Its like walking through a high school. no carpet, no fans, same old crap food. there was nothing outside of the section portals. it was almost eerie. for the game, it was quite a pathetic experience. there were less fans than at a hawks game, even less than a rockets game!!! unfortunately, the fans were horrid. i guess they werent used to pro-basketball. they were amused by annoying sounds of "Whooooo!!!" over the pa system whenever baron davis scored a point. the pa announcer had to say "come on fans chant defense" about 5 times. (now this is getting picky, but he also said that yao was checking in for the hornets). and the handful of rockets fans (most were yao fans) just were awful. they never got on therer feet they never cheered. they just sat there and watched. im not trying to raise my ego, bt i was probably the loudest rockets fan there. i say that only because the fans in front and behind me were trying to anger me by yelling what i was yelling. childish. but then the guy in front of me was a complete drunk; id say he had about 5 alcoholic beverages. this guy was a total idiot. but what can u expect from people who have been die-hard new orleans hornets fans for 3 months? oh but the worst part of all is how much they were jealous of yao. they booed him as much as possible, thinking he was trhe worst player ever. whenever he missed, the crowd went nuts (but it was awesome near the end of regualtion when yao had those awesome blocks; it really shut the place up). sadly, the same drunks in front of me were yelling out comments such as "waste of height" and, showcasing Louisiana's upmost stupidity, "Communist". oh and by the way i think george shinn is the absolute, biggest f*&* in the world
WOW Mooch, you sound less like a Rockets fan and more like one of those residents of Charlotte who are still bitter about loosing their team. If that is your agenda, which is what I suspect, then your opinion looses most of it's creditability. But just to remind you and anybody else still in denial they are now the NEW ORLEANS HORNETS, Charlotte is but a memory. Sure it did not have to be this way, but the Elected officials in Charlotte decided they were going to "stand up" to the NBA. Then they refused to build the Hornets a new arena acting as if the franchise should bend to their every whim and do as they (the city of Charlotte) told them. They all but ignored the Hornets complaints about lack of revenue, due to an arena with an inadequate number of luxury boxes. Charlotte laid down the challenge and the Hornets pulled their punk card. Now they are still crying as if loosing the team was totally beyond their control and throwing all the blame on the team. Now beyond that they have decided to toss even more blame on New Orleans, and continually engage in juvenile name calling and city bashing, with the hopes that it will make things better. Real mature attitude guys and dare I say the same one that forced you to loose the team in the first place. Now it seems this same attitude is about to result in their plans to build a new arena (which would have avoided all of this in the first place) and may cost them the expansion franchise. All that aside here is my response to your obviously biased claims and childish rant. #1 There is a special entrance for VIP's I guess Les just did not know where to look. Now I'm sure you are going to argue this point but I would venture to say your one trip to the arena does not qualify you as an expert regarding it's amenities. #2 Of course the Arena is not the prettiest sporting venue at this point, but remember we were only given several months to get the facility basketball ready. Other amenities and features wil be added during the off season. As for your contention that it is the "worst" sports venue, I think not. Sure it could use some touching up but over it is one of the better small market facilities. Being a native Houstonian, I can surely attest that it is head and shoulders above the Compaq Center, just on the basis of the matrix board alone. #3 Less fans than a Rockets game? You better go check your stats little man. So far this season the Hornets average attendance is better than that of both the Rockets and Hawks. In fact New Orleans is about dead in the middle in regards to attendance while both Houston and Atlanta are near the bottom. #4 They booed Yao? Well what should have done cheered for the opponent. Thats part of playing on the road, you get booed, heckeled, etc all part of the game. I guess you would think it was out of line of the crowd at Compaq booed Shaq. And last time I checked China was still a Communist country. Truly a dumb statement. #5 There is NO WAY IN HELL you were the loudest Rockets fan at the place, because I was, end of story. #6 George Shinn is the biggest F*** in the world. Like I said this does nothing more than tip me off as to your true agenda. But just in case you have forgotten let me remind you. THE HORNETS ARE IN NEW ORLEANS NOW, THEY ARE NEVER GOING BACK TO CHARLOTTE. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LIKE IT, BUT YOU BETTER ACCEPT IT BECAUSE IT IS REALITY.
BigEasy -- I love New Orleans...it's like a second home...but what's up with attendance for the Hornets..it seems the reception has been lukewarm at best...so much for the novelty of the act selling tickets, huh???
With out the exact stats right in front of me I can tell you that the Hornets average attendance is about 14500 per game. Take into account that the arena holds about 17500, thats not too bad. In fact if you look at the numbers the Hornets have better average attendance than the Rockets and Hawks. Now on top of this you must also remember several things. One, the team was not an expansion franchise, that had the benefit of being able to market themselves, for up to 2 years prior to the first season. They only had about 5 months. Given that time frame I would say that average attendance of 14500 and about 8500-9000 season ticket holders is not too shabby. Second, it's still Football season, and in these parts the Saints reign supreme. The team has been here 30+ years, and has a bit more of a loyal following. Once the season is over, and New Orleaneans realize just how good of a team the Horners are, attendance should spike. Third, I would not call middle of the pack in average attendance lukewarm. Consider it is still the first year and fans who were without the NBA for 23 years are still becoming reaquainted with the game. Yet still we are putting up better attendance numbers than other franchises, which are well established, and in larger markets.
typically first year franchises DO put up higher attendance numbers than established franchises in larger markets..particularly when those franchises have had a recent history of futility. typically first year franchises DO put up higher attendance numbers than New Orleans has this year. i don't see how attendance for the saints impacts attendance for the hornets weeknights' games...obviously it affects your season ticket base (choosing one team over the other)...but if you're not selling out in your very first season with all the novelty of having a new team back, the chances for success aren't real good, i'd say. hope i'm wrong...the hornets are probably my second favorite team right now...mostly because they're in New Orleans!
just as the Saints have always been my second favorite football team! except those years where the oilers weren't here and before the texans...then the Saints were my favorite team!
New Orleans has a brand new team in town, a winning team no less, you would think the attendance would up high on sheer novelty. Still I finally bush league for fans to yell communist. I think the reason New Orleans is outdrawing the Rockets and Hawks of the league because those teams experienced down years. It is rare to continue to pack a building during down years no matter how loyal the fan base. I'm just shocked that New Orleans, with a brand new winning team getting serious pub, are having trouble bringing people in. Houston has a reputation for eventually drawing, Atlanta has always been a crappy sports town save for probably football, but if New Orleans isn't drawing now what will get them drawing?
Well typical logic would tell anyone that you are right, but this is one of those situations where you must have an understanding of the market. After living here several years I have found New Orleans fans to be some of the most loyal fans in the south. I mean how many years have they supported the Aints, with ONE playoff win to show for it. The thing is that it takes a little time to gain loyalty, it's not automatic. On top of that these people have NO IDEA what it is to have a team that goes deep in the playoffs. Let them experience that and the team will sell it self. All of that said, give them a season to gain a loyal fanbase and I assure you that the attendance numbers will increase dramaticlly. I'm just sick of all the naysayers and NO haters. WTF is up with this hatred of New Orleans by not only the sports media but other cities as well ?
Sorry about the grammar mistakes, no edit features right now. I have to say, even if New Orleans building is better then the Compaq Center it doesn't matter since the Compaq Center won't be in use for the Rockets after the next year or so. And didn't Shinn and some of his pals constantly lie about attendance and basically screw around in other to get another big money deal somewhere else and screw over Charlotte? I think the NBA even realized this since they're putting a new team in Charlotte most likely. Either way bragging about having better attendance the the Hawks isn't really something to brag about considering it's Atlanta. Houston will eventually start packing them in, they have a reputation of doing so.
Actually Shinn went to the city of Charlotte and requested they build him a new facility, as the Charlotte Coliseum was outdated and had only 12-15 luxry boxes. Now a renovation of the building would have been acceptable, but it was not possible due to structual constraints. Now the end result of this was the city government flat out refusing to build a new facility, and instead doing everything in their power to debunk Shinn's claims. The whole mess culminated when the Mayor and city council (who then knew of the New Orleans option) flat out refused to finance or build a new facility. The thing was they did this knowing it would cost them the team but they did it anyway. Needless to say as this was going on the fans became a bit jaded and stopped attending games, hence the low attendance. But just to debunk the myth the Hornets did not leave Charlotte because of poor attendance (it only took a dive for the last year when the possibility of the move was good). They left because of the arena issue and the lack of luxury boxes\club level seating. It had nothing to do with attendance. And yes I am sure that houston will start packing them in as will the Hornets. Still I cannot seem to figure out why everybody in the country seems to hate New Orleans as a sports market, and is so concerned with our attendance numbers. I don't see the same concern for the NJ Nets, who are at the bottom of the attendance list despite a trip to the finals last year. The point is the Hornets are more profitable here than they were in Charlotte, other wise why would you move? Call Shinn what you will, but he is a business man and sure would not have moved the franchise if it meant loosing money.
BTW if any of you guys are intrested the Hornets have a great fansite, much like CC.net. Take a spin on over and discover all the reasons that New Orleans is hyped about the Hornets. The address is www.hornetsreport.com I post there regularly under the name dream34. Hope to see some of you guys over there.
ACTUALLY BIG EASY, i am: 1.) Not bitter about Charlotte. I could care less...MUCH less. I just thought that Shinn is the biggest jerk in the world, which he is. 2.) Believe me, I DEFINITELY was the LOUDEST rockets fan there. Where were you sitting? How many heckles from drunken fans did you get? 3.)That game had NOWHERE NEAR close to 14000 fans. More like 8000. They announced it as 13000 (which are tickets sold). It is sad that they cannot sellout an arena with (at the time) an undefeated home record. 4.) Obviously Les didn't go in the VIP entrance. The entrance I walked though was closest to the street and it was close to tipoff. 5.)Head and shoulders above Compaq, huh? Now I can agree that The Summit aint nothin special, but you are saying that NO Arena is that much better?!?! You have got to be kidding me. There is no doubt that it is THE WORST arena in the NBA. It needs A LOT more than touching up, it needs a bulldozer. Honestly, how can you possibly say it's better than Compaq?!?!?!?! Thanks for the information, but by calling someone a communist, is that not the same as anti-semitism? Obviously you have put a lot of thought into this and I commend you for it, but are you a Rockets fan or a Hornets fan? If you are such a big Rockets fan, how many years have you lived in Houston? How many games have you been to?
Just to clarify, I was born and raised in Houston, where I lived for 26 years, prior to moving to New Orleans. I held season tickets from 1993 until my departure in 1997. In fact I still make it back to H-Town about once a month and always attempt to take in a home game if possible. Now am I a Hornets fan, well of course, due to the fact I now live in N.O. However me being a Hornets fan does not make me any less the Rockets fan. Until N.O. landed the Hornets I had a tendency to pull for the Celtics (as I have several close friends who reside in Boston) in the E.C. Now that N.O. has the Hornets they are my E.C. team. Now as far as my defense of the Hornets, New Orleans, and The New Orleans Arena thats a whole diffrent matter. To be quite frank I have become sick and tired of every "expert" naysayer and New Orleans hater overexaimining and bashing all three. Sorry but New Orleans is my second home and due to that I take the same offense to it being bashed as I would if somebody were to start H-Town bashing.
Big Easy, you are one of the most ignorant posters I think I've ever had the displeasure of seeing on this BBS. Give me a break, you come in and totally start firing insults about a guy being a bitter resident of Charlotte with absolutely no reason to. I don't care if there are a bunch of "New Orleans haters" that have made you frustrated, but I don't see what was in the original post that warrented such a firey response from you. There really wasn't anything in Mr. Mooch's original post that required such a blasting, he didn't really say anything that wasn't true about the New Orleans Hornets, other than maybe the fact that he thought there wasn't a VIP entrance. I think if you look back at all of the teams that decided NOT to move to New Orleans, it had a lot to do with the fact that the New Orleans Arena isn't NBA quality and would/will take a lot of work to improve (not saying that work won't happen). Honestly, if I was a resident of New Orleans I'm sure I'd attend some of the games, but I'd have a hard time supporting an owner like Shinn, and there was a reason that the city of Charlotte didn't want to build the Hornets a new arena, and it was the team management. Within a few years, the attendence in New Orleans will be just as poor as it was in Charlotte when the team decided to move. Considering the team couldn't even sell out its FIRST home game, when the fans of New Orleans catch onto scumbag Shinn, attendence will only go down.
Big Easy -- no hatred for New Orleans from me!! I love that city! But not selling out the first game in a new city is at least mildly embarassing, don't you agree? Again..I hope it works out...and I hope the Hornets and T-Wolves switch divisions so the Rockets can play road games closer to home...
The Hornets sold out the first home game vs. the Jazz. It was standing room only according to the media reports. I think we've had one or two additional sellouts after the first one. We're not lighting up the attendance records but I think we're doing very well considering a large portion of potential Hornets fans can't see them on television yet.
Hey, right now I love the Hornets. Why? They beat the Spazzholes last night, helping out the Rockets playoff chances (OK, OK, we have 62 games left. Still...).
