Chron: No more seats in coming home games...

Rockets games become hot-ticket item

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

So you're in town for some football game, and because there's probably nothing going on, you thought you would check out the Rockets game the day before.

Fine, but you'd better act fast. If there are tickets left, they'll be gone by the time you finish ... reading ... this ... sentence.

Too late. They're gone.

But because you're the type that flies your private jet to these Super Bowl things and don't bother to find out who's playing until the second half, you're not used to accepting defeat. Besides, it will better impress what's-her-face on your arm to get in to the sold-out new arena.

So you figure you'll stop by around Thursday and pick yourself up a suite for the day. Why not? It's just $5,500 for everything but the cost of alcohol.

Better hurry, Slick. The Rockets have 20 single-game suites and just three are left. Forget the 10 "party suites" at the end that go for as little as $2,500. They're gone, too. And if you're thinking about Wednesday's game against the Kings, the suites are moving fast for that one. (Don't you have a phone in that stretch Hummer limousine?)

Now you could just buy a suite for the rest of the season. They've been moving pretty well lately. The Rockets sold three last week, but there are about 15 left.

If buying a suite for the season because you're in town for one game sounds a tad frivolous even for you, the Rockets will prorate the cost down to somewhere between $120,000 to $160,000, depending on the location. (Remember, the chicken wings are included.)

This is where you say you'll watch on television.

But ...

"The building is going to be juiced," Rockets vice president of corporate development Thad Brown said. "This is the first event we'll truly optimize the capacity, every suite, every seat in the ledge dining."

Tempted? He doesn't stop there.

"There's going to be lots of celebrities," he said. "We have confirmations from Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore."

Mix in Kim Cattrall, Angela Bassett, Beyonce. Jay-Z. Half the NFL.

"It will be the place to be," Brown said.

"We love it," Rockets vice president of marketing Tim McDougall said of sharing the sports stage with the Super Bowl. "We lobbied pretty heavily to have a game on Super Bowl Saturday. The league wisdom was not to put it there, that the Super Bowl is too dominant an event. But we lobbied hard, got New Jersey, the defending Eastern Conference champions. We're having a blast."

Of course, he has not had to drive through downtown to his office.

But McDougall is feeling pretty good about things lately. The new introduction, with a rocket lifting off into the center of the scoreboard, finally debuted last week to raves.

With this week's sellouts, the Rockets will have eight in the season's first 21 home games. They had 10 last season, with Rockets ticket sales typically picking up in the second half of the season.

"Our strongest games are toward the back half of the schedule," McDougall said. "We have two Lakers games left, Cleveland left, two with Dallas, one more with Sacramento, one more with San Antonio. Those are great draws."

But that will come later. This week, the Rockets can enjoy some of the reflected glare from the Super Bowl.

"We love that it's coming to Houston and the excitement it generates," McDougall said. "If it's good for the city, it's good for us. What's better in the first year of a new arena, to showcase it like this to people from all over world coming to Houston?"


This sounds sweet. Sorry if this was posted, I couldn't find it.