Good points. I guess the actual arena atmosphere is pretty exciting, but there's always the price factor that'll always keep me in my house watchin the Rox on TV. ------------------ da ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence - alaskanSnowman
So, why the hell do any of you root for a Houston team if you think the city sucks? ------------------ The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being. - Lao-Tzu
DEANB-- Dear God, dude, I'm gonna be sick...Lisa Malosky? Oh man...you are one sick human being... ------------------ Jazzkiller
So what if we have low attendance? I always have fun at the games. There's always lots of fans around me. Since we have the (one of the?) smallest arenas in the league, 12,000 people at every game means the arena is still pretty densely populated. That's 3 out of 4 seats filled, right? Thats fine. All the best value seats are always full. The empty seats are the worst seats at any given price level. (seating chart) For instance, sections 213-209 are all $46. The worst seats in those sections are the higher seats in 213 and 209. Those are the empty seats. In 214, and 208, the best $32 sections, almost all the seats are filled. Even the best $13 sections, like 205, are full. I have friends with $13 season seats in 205 that never miss a game. Those are pretty good seats! I don't wanna hear any whining about low attendance or how Houston is bad sports city. Just shut up and come to the games. Or watch at home, fine. Don't whine about how Houston sucks. I have a great time at the games. All the seats around me are full of the same season ticket holders every game. All rabid Rocket fans. The Mavs first sellout of the year was tonight against the Lakers. Dallas must be the worst sports town in the whole country. What a bunch of fair-weather fans. To be honest, I'd rather go to game that 3/4 full of true Rocket fans, than a soldout game where 1/4 of the fans are slack-jawed gawkers. A sellout just means longer mens room and bourbon lines and too many Laker fans. I'm happy with our attendance. If you wanna come out to the game, come out, we'll have a great time. If you don't wanna come out, stay at home, fine. Don't whine about low attendance.
Love it or leave it.That's what I have to say about that.Fact is league wide attendance is down,way down;and you guys make it sound like it's just a Houston problem when it's not.You just don't know how good you have it.Like when Steve mentions HTown fans comeout only to see the Fakers:Uh Steve maybe before you get on our backs how about getting on Walt's it seems to me that's the only game he's showed up for all year too. ------------------ Principal Skinner to the school hamster after sending it into a snowstorm to rescue himself and the children"Nibbles,you made it!Now chew through my ball sack" Just some more brilliance brought to you courtesy of The Simpsons
Snow, How do you manage to get rocket games in alaska? Anyway, if the rockets did better they would probably have a lot more sellouts. And i agree with snow, watching the game at home is a lot more fun. Watching a game live takes away from the glamour of the game. Lisa Malosky isnt hot, now if they were handing out Rocket Cheerleader posters, now that would be tight ------------------
I dont feel like our attendance is that bad. It doesnt seem that low when I attend the games it's just that we have a very small arena and ticket prices dont have a median. Either they are very expensive or relatively cheap which discourages many fans. I used to be a top row upper deck season ticket holder and am now a courtside season ticket holder and one thing I like about Compaq center is you get a good view of the game whether it be in row Z or courtside. ------------------ www.truebballfansite.homestead.com
I may go to like one game during the whole season, cause basically that's all this poor white boy can afford. So I tried to get the usual 10 or 13 dollar tickets..first for the Lakers game, then for any damn game...and to my surprise (guess ive been in the dark on this one), the freaking seating prices escalated. What the hell is that about. And the small amount of ten and 13 dollars seats that are left now are pretty much soldout...so if I wanna go to a game, I gotta pay like at least 30 dollars (course then comes the ticketmaster charge)...Anywze...the reason the Lakers game was the only sellout was because the die hard rockets fans..the ones who scream at the games and actually ROOT for the team, cant afford to shell out 40 bucks a pop! (And to all those die hard Rockets fans who CAN afford to shell that out...much props to ya'll! wish i had the money) ------------------
And to all those who think Houston is the worst sports city in the country, thats a load of crap! I remember my mom tellin me of the "luv ya blue" era w/ Bum Phillips and Earl Campbell..she told me a story of the tough Playoff loss to Pittsburgh that one year (wen the refs blew the call), and how she and my pops went out to the airport to cheer the team on even though they lost, and there was like a whole crowd there..and they lost! And how bout when Rudy came in to coach the Rocks..things got exciting pretty fast...and before u know...Houston had become a basketball city...was I just imagining those parades we had for the Rocketsb where people SHOWED UP! ANd if i remember, those Rocket games used to sell out. As for the Astros...theres a number of people who are behind them..the rest are waiting for when they actually DO something besides choke in the playoffs. And how bout the huge support for the new football team coming to town...for crying out loud, how many season tickets have they sold..and the freaking team hasnt even starting playing yet. Im proud to be in Houston, because we got some of the classiest (if not the classiest) teams and players in the whole damn country...u cant get much classier than Dream..and how bout Bagwell...choosing to stay w/ a team he respects for the rest of his career instead of choosing the easy money way out (though he still is gettin paid alot). My pt is, this city IS a sports city..sure we got prblms w/ fairweather fans...but what city doesnt..that comes w/ any sport. But the fact of the matter is..Houston wouldnt have a baseball team, a basketball team, and a football team if this wasnt a sports city. ------------------
it's an aberration guys. Two years ago, the Rockets sold out every game, and there was a wait for season tickets. Are we fair weathered fans ? Yes. Taht does not mean we don't have the resources to support 3 or 4 franchises. There are alot of millionaires in Houston. ------------------ "I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence ?
The crowds this year are the most horrible, quiet bunch of goodie-goodies i've ever been ashamed to be around, i swear my 4th grade elementary classes could easily muster more unsolicited noise than the pitiful 11,000 or so that "cant seem to find anything better to do on game nite". ive been going to games for years and years now, its just terrible these days! the worst part i feel is when the "the rockets' red glare" part of the anthem, in which the small audience thats there at the time just mumbles and creaks like Abe Simpson. and i used to think the atlanta hawks' crowd was terrible... before the home game vs. the kings this yr, my last game was barkley's last game, now that game was definitely hype to be at. the kings game fell far short of my expectations...they just plain kicked our a$$e$... oh well, i'm only disgruntled to see how apathetic our town is about anything sport-related...go titans. go rockets. go 'stros. go clutchcity.net. ------------------ purvis was never short.
(i just cleaned up the barf from that Lisa Malosky post...damn!) ------------------ purvis was never short.
Getting fans to want to go to games is the responsibility of the teams. Attendance is dropping in every major professional sport with the exception of the NFL where you could field a team that consisted of me at quarterback, Clutch at running back and Stephen Hawking at wide reciever and still draw 60,000! Sporting leagues are not doing what is necessary to keep fans coming back. In many ways, it is like live concerts. As late as 1985, a band or artist could sell half a million records and easily sell out the Summit. Today, even if a band sold 5 million records, they would struggle to sell out Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion (10,000 seating including 7000 general admission lawn seats). The fact is that with cable tv (and satellite), the internet, DVD's, much better sounding CD's and advanced video games, people have more to do than ever. Their entertainment budget is stretched to the limit. Even in sports towns like Boston, the Celtics struggle sell tickets the way they used to. People support winners and that is just the way it is. Houston has more theater seats per capita than any city in the US outside of NYC. We have more restaurants per capita than any city in the US. Add all that and movie theaters to the ever-expanding plethora of entertainment options and you can understand what is happening in sports. If they want their fans back, they have to make it an event worth seeing. Ticket prices have to be equal to the value of the attraction and they just are not at the moment. Until teams realize that they can't just put any team and entertainment on the court or field and be successful, they will continue to charge too much for tickets and get away with it. To me, I think the lack of attendance can be a good thing. It makes teams nervous and remember what a good thing they had when the building was full every night. Believe me, the Rockets are well aware of the problem. So, what would get you to the arena besides lower ticket prices? What entertainment beyond the game on the floor would make you want to shell out some $$ to go to a game? ------------------ The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being. - Lao-Tzu
" Maybe if the price of tickets wasn't so freaking ridiculous we'd go to a lot more games. " $10 bucks is "freaking ridiculous"?? What is the Hawks attendance?? Are they factoring in tickets sold or actual attendance? I have a hard time believe more people show of for the Hawks. Old School ------------------ I voted YES!
Geez, thanks Dwg, for making me feel a lot older now. I was at the Dome when the Oilers came home from Pittsburg that year. ------------------ Behad Sergeant at Arms of the Clutch BBS
Hawks are averaging 13,499 per game at Phillips Arena. While that isn't exactly world-beating, it is higher than Houston despite the fact that Atlanta is pretty bad AND they have had several games go above the 17,000 mark including two above 18,000. The Rockets stuggled to get one sellout of 16,000 plus. Part of the Hawks is that Phillips is still pretty new and their ticket prices, on average, are lower, but the Hawks will have to start winning for their attendance to improve. Anything, of course, is better than what they had prior to Phillips where they weren't even able to sellout playoff games. The funny thing is that the ticket prices in many NEW arenas have gone down because the luxury suites provide the bulk of the revenue meaning individual tickets don't have to cost as much. ------------------ The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being. - Lao-Tzu
Behad: I know what you mean. I wasn't at the Dome but I WAS at the airport!!! Of course, I was only like 9 or 10 at the time. ------------------ The way to use life is to do nothing through acting, The way to use life is to do everything through being. - Lao-Tzu
Heck, I'd pay to see that. I don't go to Rockets games, but my excuse is that I live in Arlington. I do go to Mavs games now and again, though. If I lived near Houston, I'd go more often, but there's only so many times a year I can afford to shell out for tickets. And had I been living in Houston this past year, I probably would've spent the bulk of my sports money this year on Astros tickets (because of the new park, and because I like baseball better) and Texans PSLs. You have to admit, Houston has had more competition for the sports dollar over the past year then the city has had for a while. More Astros tickets sold because of the new park, and people spending goodly amounts of money for their Texans PSLs. Really, you'd have to expect that the Rockets would suffer a little bit attendance-wise with these new sports competitors. I would expect next year to be better (Enron Field won't draw as many people in, I wouldn't think, and many people will have paid off their Texans PSLs) and even better after that. Once the city gets back into its sports equilibrium. ------------------ Houston Sports Board The Anti-Bud Adams Page
I'll bet you guys dollars to doughnuts that tonight's game has the least attendance so far this year.
