Seeing Rockets will cost more, less in new arena By MEGAN MANFULL Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle With the Jeff Van Gundy news out of the way, the Houston Rockets revealed what it will cost to watch the team in its new downtown home next season. The answer -- more. And less. The price for prime lower-level seats at the new arena rose significantly compared to similar seats at Compaq Center. At the same time, the number of lower-priced tickets increased. The Rockets' push to fill the arena, which is still under construction, began last week when packets were sent to all 2002-03 season-ticket holders. Full-season tickets are currently available only to former full-season ticket holders. New season tickets will go on sale later this summer, along with partial season tickets and individual game tickets. "The areas that are seeing some price increases are those prestige seats, where we've had an extremely high demand," said Tim McDougall, the Rockets' vice president of marketing. "We're likely going to have a wait list for those, even with the price going up. "In the rest of the arena, the average price for a seat actually drops a little bit. And that's because we have a bigger building, and we want to make sure it fills up." The costs of all seats are lower throughout the upper deck, which is smaller and higher up from the court than it was at Compaq Center. Season ticket prices, which were $10 to $46 at Compaq, now range from $9 to $35 per game. There will also be about 1,000 seats as low as $35 in the large lower deck, down from last year's lowest price of $46. The tickets that rose in price are the lower-level seats between the baselines, which used to cost $112. Season tickets in that area range from $125 to $175 in the new arena. The area is called the "Club Level" and includes parking at the nearby garage along with access to restaurants and concession stands other fans cannot use. Tickets in the new arena included 12 price levels, which will vary depending on whether they are purchased for the full season, part of the season or individual games. For example, season ticket holders can buy Club Level seats for $125 to $175. But for individual games, those same tickets will cost between $140 and $200. "The thing that our season-ticket holders asked us for the most -- and the season-ticket holders are our most important customers -- is that there would be a price difference," McDougall said. "They asked that they would get a better price than someone that was just buying a single game and that they get recognized because they are our most loyal customers." While amenities and location of seats vary at each venue, prices for next season's Rockets games are comparable to those at Texans and Astros games. At Reliant Stadium, Club Level tickets are $257.50 per game and include VIP parking. The lowest-priced tickets are upper-level end zone seats, which are $35 each. At Minute Maid Park, the highest-priced ticket for Astros games is on the Diamond Level, where seats are $250 for each game. Diamond Level seats are available only as season tickets, and the price of the ticket includes food, beverages and parking. The cheapest seats are $1 and $5 seats in the outfield deck. The Rockets have been able to change their prices because of the increase in the new venue's capacity. The downtown arena seats 18,500, compared with 16,285 at Compaq Center. While the Club Level tickets are significantly higher, the Rockets made an overall effort to keep to a minimum the number of tickets that cost more than $100. There are 3,501 seats in the downtown arena that cost more than $100, compared with 3,963 at Compaq.
Who's gonna pay $100 to go see a 3 hour game live when you can get just as good a seat by sitting at home watching on TV. I know I wont.
Tim, What will the Rockets be doing as far as give aways and promotions next season for season ticket holders?
"The costs of all seats are lower throughout the upper deck, which is <B><font color = "BLUE">smaller and higher up</B> </Font>from the court than it was at Compaq Center. " Higher up than the compaq nosebleeds? Will I have to bring my own oxygen mask?
If the Rockets start winning, people will gladly pay $100 to see the Rockets play up close. Houston is a city that gravitates towards winners.
boy, that's one heck of a contrived spin on pricing, considering they are clearly getting hammered by fan feedback here and on the phones. First, the comparison to the Astros and Texans is flawed as they are not comparing the Rockets highest priced ticket at all. Nor are they considering the best view in the house for the Astros and Texasn, which are $36 and $74, respectively. <b>Astros $250 Diamond Level is comparable to $650 Courtside</b> Rockets courtside used to range from around $200-$650. The Diamond level at the Astros is actually a smaller section right behind home plate. There will still be about 3 rows of courtside in the new stadium. Plus, there is an outrageous $20,000 license for those; that's what the Astros just told me over the phone. <b>$175 Rockets Club Level is 250% higher/year that the Astros $36 Dugout Level</b> The Club level is $175 for ~ 10 rows in the most center and for 5 rows just off center, then ranges from $135 and $125 as you go back. The Astros dugout seats between the bases for all rows are $36. One is for 44 games, and the other is for ~85 games, which is a 250% difference to the overall price of the season ticket. It is insulting to consumer intelligence to compare best view at the Astros to the best view at the Rockets. <b>Rockets Club Level is ~300% higher per year than the Texans Club</b> For 10 games, Texans club is ~$2500/yr versus $7700/yr for Rockets Club. Further, the Rockets have 2 levels of luxury boxes, one of those levels could have been priced as the Rockets Club, like how the Texans use an elevated level as their club. <b>Texan Best View is $74 versus $175 for Rockets</b> The Club at the Texans is not the lower bowl. If you want 50yrd line 10-20 rows up, that is $74. All rows in the lower bowl, between the endzones are $74...all of them. That is ~$740 per year versus $3300. It is insulting to consumer intelligence to compare lower bowl center Texans pricing to the Rockets. <b>PSLs are one-time, resaleable costs/assets</b> And PSLs are not really an issue, imo, as they don't come close to equally a $2500/yr difference in base ticket price per year. They are a one time fee that is a resellable asset, resellable entirely at your descretion...ie, at market. If you have a 50yr line seats, you can sell your PSL for a profit, surely. <blockquote><i>originally posted by smackpeddler</i> If the Rockets start winning, people will gladly pay $100 to see the Rockets play up close. Houston is a city that gravitates towards winners.</blockquote>So, let's raise prices to enormous levels before they start winning. Les, and apparently you, just don't get it. Yeah, that won't upset current season ticket holder. If we start winning again, you're right, many would pay $100. But that is not even close to the price. It is $200 for non season ticket holders, and $175 for season ticket holders. The prices are $125, 135, 175. <b>bottomline</b>: forget comparisons to the Astros and Texans, it doesn't come close. Let's compare them to other NBA teams: if the Rockets aren't now the most expensive seats in the NBA, they are very, very close.
<i>That is ~$740 per year versus $3300.</i> correction. row 10 at the 50yrd line is ~$740 per year versus basket-level at midcourt, which is $7700. That is an outrageous 10x difference for 50yrd line at football versus basket-level center (~row 5-6) in basketball. 10 times more expensive for the same seat. make no mistake, view for view, the Rockets are 2x to 10x more expensive, considering total price for season tickets, than any other sports venue in Houston. Another price factoid, <b>Rockets Upper Bowl Center is 300% more expensive/yr than Texans Upper Bowl Center</b> Les thinks he owns a monopoly. But he is competing with season tickets with the Texans and Astros, and he is way out of line with prices....up and down the line.
heyp: You're right. That was a ridiculous spin. Was that just written from a press release? Good grief. I will say this about Texans vs. Rockets. It is absolutely fair for you to compare tickets on a per game basis, but $740 vs $3300 isn't really a good comparison since the Texans only count for 10 games and the Rockets for more than 40. If you were to average out the Texans over 44 games, that would be $3256, almost identical. But, I definitely get your point about most of these being bad comparisons and I'm really surprised at the feather touch the Chron gave the Rockets on this one. The thing that frankly pissed me off a bit about this story was the fewer and farther comment about the upper bowl. I was led to believe that there would be about the same number of seats and, due to the configuration of the building, the seats would actually be as close or closer. I even told people that and now I kinda feel like a jackass for it.
Jeff, $74 ticket for 44 football games is not close to a $174 for 44 basketball games. I erred in my post, as corrected in the second post. <b>The price difference is $740 to $7700.</b> That is a 10x difference, and still 250% difference if there were 44 football.
Also, the face value of the ticket is not what seasonticket holders look at. They look at total invoice for each sport. People do not say to themselves, "Hey, if football was 44games, this would be $3256 compared to $7700 for the Rockets." People just look at $740 for football versus $7700 for bball. And I can also say that the 44 game schedule is a burden, not an advantage to the sales staff. Most season ticket holders would rather pay for less games if they could. This is even more true with Baseball.
Jeff, Thank you for saying this. I was worried somehow you couldn't say the truth about certain things because of the website you created for the stadium. I thought you were intentionally misleading people, but now I see that you were just misinformed. On the website a view of the different suites is shown. Is there/will there be a view from the upper deck seats added to the site at some point? The Texas did this even for the seats at the top of the building. I'd like to see the view before I buy another season for $9-12 a game again. Thanks, B
