And that season ticket base is (primarily) made-up of corporations. Very few "singles" can afford an 81-game season ticket package (which is why the next largest segment of season ticket holders is groups). And they absolutely, positively, without any question ran afoul of corporations when they tore this thing down. I worked with one (as most here know) and we did not, for instance, renew our suite. Crane personally came to our office to meet with me - a low-level no one - two years ago to communicate his commitment to winning (and ask for more money, of course!) Corporations do not, by and large, want to associate themselves, or subject their customers, to a terrible experience. And now, of course, they're having to navigate an unexpected pricing issue in the city's primary industry, which also cripples tickets sales and, frankly, usage.
Tuesday home attendance for games in July and August 2005, ten years ago, and for the record a season in which they were coming off an NLCS run, and a season in which they went to the World Series: Tuesday, July 5 vs. San Diego: 27,307 Tuesday, July 26 vs. Philadelphia: 33,867 Tuesday, August 9 vs. Washington: 34,255 Tuesday, August 16 vs. Chicago: 31,963 Tuesday, August 30 vs. Cincinatti: 29,971 One to grow on, a single Tuesday night game in September: Tuesday, Sept 13 vs. Florida: 31,512 Better than this year, but definitely not close to capacity and not really close to 40K either. And that team had a solid history of success to draw from.
10 years ago the Astros probably had over 24,000 tickets sold as season tickets. It would just take selling another 5-10,000 to get to the numbers you'd expect for a huge weeknight game. The Texans have about 66,000 of the 70,000 seats are sold as season tickets. That's why it's so hard to get an individual game ticket for the Texans.
We've had 75% of one good season in the last 10. It'll get better, and it's already showing signs of a turnaround. There are more callers on sports radio wanting to talk Astros, more apparel being sold in the stores, and more buzz around the ballpark.
what about us stay at home fans? we work just as hard and get no respect. =) It's fun going to the stats sites and seeing astros all over the place. And if there is lack of rockets talk on radio, imagine how we astros fans feel about the lack of astros talk on a non charlie p show.
Why don't you take your own advice and stop b****ing about a thread. I just thought it was an interesting fact.
And more Astros gear in general. I saw a Honda the other day that had the Astros "H" logo on the back instead of the Honda "H". Pretty cool.
In April/May, people said "wait until summer". Now it's summer, and people say "wait until September" No, no "it's a weekday" Stros didn't even sellout vs Yankees on a weekend. The numbers somebody posted regarding 2005 attendance were also weak. Houston is the 6th largest metro in the country. This crap right here is the exact reason we only have 3 major teams. While smaller markets like DEN, PHX, MIA, and ATL have all 4. DAL isn't that much larger, but they have all 4. And no, I don't like hockey but can recognize the city would be better with it. The Rangers and Red Sox games had big crowds because their fanbases attended the event as well. As for season ticket shortages being partly the blame... do you really believe any corporation or fan, right now, couldn't buy season tickets for the remaining games? Not saying Houston is a bad sports market, but we're definitely below par.
You don't know what the hell you are talking about. Go look at MIA attendance..... http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance The Marlins would have nights...before the new stadiums....of less than 5,000 in the stands. They are still below the astros now. The Diamondbacks are drawing the same as the Astros are this year and the Braves are drawing 400 more fans. Before the tanking, the Astros outdrew all those 3 teams and the Rangers. The reason there is no Hockey in Houston has NOTHING to do with attendance, but Leslie Alexander controlling the Toyota Center lease and no one else can bring a team to Houston for that building. Plus the NHL HATES Alexander. Stop talking out of your ASS when u dont know something.
BTW....Phoenix and Miami are prime candidates for NHL relocation because of poor attendance. Atlanta lost its hockey team in 2011(moved to winnipeg, canada). Some people talk without knowing anything.
Bottom line is that it's always been hard to get Houston to fully back the Astros. Us diehards are always around, but unless it's football, Houston fans are a slow sell. Most of us who have lived here long enough can remember going to the Dome in the late 90s during playoff seasons even with crowds of 30,000 in a 60,000 seat stadium. In non-playoff seasons it was even worse. You could get up and sit pretty much anywhere you wanted to. Even for the Rockets, I had season tickets for a good five season stretch there and most games the arena was pretty sparse. People showed up for the Lakers, the Spurs, the Heat, but that's it. It's gotten better since Harden and Dwight are here. But the Astros - if they maintain this pace and are challenging for the postseason in September, people will show up. That's what it takes for baseball in this town. It's just the way it is. For football, all you gotta do is roll a ball out on a field and 65,000 people will show up to see if something's gonna happen. The friggin' training camp practice tickets were gone in ten minutes for crying out loud. And the Texans haven't won jack squat.
This isn't about attendance but I wish the Astros will do like the Texans and announce colors for each game. It would be nice to look up in the stands and see a sea of orange (or blue or white). The Rockets did this in the playoffs too but instead of picking the color they provided the shirts for each seat.
With just a few rare exceptions, this is true of every single city with every single pro sport. Most cities don't have teams that draw huge numbers even when their teams absolutely suck for years on end. This city provided extremely healthy attendance for the Astros from 2000 (year MMP opened) through 2009 or so. Even as late as 2009, they were drawing over 31K/game and in the top half of attendance. Right now, we're on the heels of what was easily the worst period in this franchise's history, and one of the worst prolonged stretches by any MLB franchise ever. For the most part, this city has been served up utter dog mess by its pro sports franchises. I think we're the only major city with 3 or more teams that has only 1 of its teams ever winning a championship....in the entire history of pro sports in those cities. The support here is very good, I think, relative to the product we've been served for the most part. I also hate the idea that somehow it's my duty to buy very expensive tickets...and that we're somehow less of a city if we don't all do so collectively.
Lol, may be a bit selfish on my part, but there is nothing better than buying 10$ tickets, 1$ hotdogs and being able to sit in the lower sections watching our guys up close and personal. STAY AWAY "FANS"!!!!
There are 8 home football games, and you have a week between them (often more) Doing that for 81 home baseball games wouldn't likely work Now maybe Friday night home games or something like that could work
