Considering the NBA and other major sports, where would you place Houston in the sports industry? When you think large market teams, some that immediately pop up are the Lakers and Knicks. Do the Rockets belong up there? We try using taxes as advertisement but in reality, if not for player recruiting, is Houston a city a free agent thinks of first? How attractive are we to free agents......today......five years ago.....all together?
Out of 30 teams, that would sound about right. Makes me wonder when I think about how many teams there are, how many are actually small market
TV market size I believe we're something like 5th or 6th. As far as attractiveness to players I've long thought Houston itself is a top 5 city for players, easily. The tax advantages are well documented but all of the things to do nightlife-wise, beautiful young women, and year-round warm weather play a part too. Add up the Rockets history with the city and I think we're probably the 4th or 5th most attractive franchise for free agents overall right now - I'd only put the Lakers, Warriors, Heat and maybe the Celtics (though playing in Boston negatively affects them in free agency imo) above us in terms of free agent draw.
Celtics and the Lakers will be attractive FA markets for years to come because of their rich championship tradition alone.
4th largest city 5th largest metro area 8th to 10th largest tv market (I've seen it 8th and 10th depending on the study) Only NYC has more fortune 1000 companies in city limits One of the fastest growing cities and metro areas Add to that they have the bandwagon Chinese fan base. Definitely large market
I won't overestimate the Chinese base.....we still have some but most flocked to the Warriors and the late Heat.
According to Forbes we were 4th in revenue last yr so as of right now, yea and we'll probably grow with the cp3 signing. So large. What I don't get is why Mavs are ranked right after us in that Forbes list in terms of value. The brand and their market values are smaller than ours, but somehow a dollar earned by them is worth more?? Bullshido arts.
Houston as a city and metro area has lots going for it. Cheap houses, low taxes, hot weather (which I hate but most people seem to like), strip clubs, massage parlors, etc. that would entice free agents. I will say that from a sexiness and coolness factor, Houston ranks rather low. If I was a Euro visiting America for the first time, Houston would be like 30th on my list of cities I would want to visit. Even in Texas, Austin, San Antonio, dallas has more sex appeal. I mean the Galleria is like the must see attraction and it's just a mall. NASA is like 45 minutes from downtown. Galveston is like a hour away from downtown. But keep in mind lots of nba players seem to have homes here and Houston is a magnet for immigrants, refugees, people from the northeast looking for jobs so the city is doing something right even if it's not the sexiest city in the country.
Of course Houston is a large market. I didn't realize that was a topic for debate. There's no argument to be made that it isn't. That's not an opinion, either. By any reasonable metric, Houston is a large market.
So why is we seem to have issues getting top tier free agents? CP3 can arguably an addition via Harden and other than that we've struck out a bit on top tier agents, especially post Yao/Mac. The way you guys answer it feels as tho we should be flocked by these super stars. Not used as leverage....
Well, we did get Dwight while several others who were courting him lost out, including Golden State and Dallas who both wanted him at the time. Sure, it didn't work out for us but he chose the Rockets over them. Bosh would have been here too if Miami didn't end up making him the highest paid player in the NBA at the time. Didn't work out for them very well but we were in the pole position until they offered him that contract. To say that we have problems getting top tier free agents is simply blasphemy. We're always a target for big name players when they're available. We just got PJ Tucker and Prince for pennies on the dollar and while they aren't top tier they took pay cuts to come here. Melo wants to be here too but he's not a free agent so we will have to see. What moves has Utah made this offseason? What about Dallas? What about the Spurs? All of them have gotten worse while the Rockets have improved in almost every aspect. When was the last time Dallas signed a big name free agent?
Yeah Dh12, his failure made me forget that one. We offered Bosh the same tho. Twice.... Dallas? They are the same size market as us. Utah I would consider a small market team. So how is it blashpemy when besides Dh12, we struck out on everyone else we tried. We tried with Melo before as well
Right expression would be to say the city of Houston is a large local market. But I am not sure if the Rockets are getting the most out of the local market let alone an international one. On a separate note, The Rockets brand is bare fits into top half of NBA teams.
You said we miss out on free agents, I told you that we don't and presented facts as to why we don't. You mentioned New York and L.A in your OP and yet neither of those teams have signed a significant free agent in many years. That was all I was trying to point out to you. Houston is the last team to sign a significant free agent if you take Lebron out of the mix, and if you take the massive contract Bosh signed with Miami out of the mix. Maybe LMA or Durant?? Neither one were coming here. I don't consider Dwight signing with Atlanta to be all that significant considering he wasn't a top performer at the time.
