Why are posters making out like this is fans' fault in some way? It's the Rockets problem to figure out. Yes, we like football better, we'd like a team that was contending, we'd like to have a blue chip player, we'd like to have good seats at a cheap price, we'd like to have convenient parking, we'd like to be able to buy a beer without mortgaging the house. Now, Les, go and figure it out!
The Lakers are a contender every year, and are one of the most famous sports franchises in the world. San Antonio is also a consistent contender and they don't have anything else but the Spurs. Once Timmy and Manu retire, we'll see how loyal their fans are. I agree with this.
Houston has many Rockets fans who are willing to travel 30 minutes to see the Rockets WIN. The last thing I want to do is make the trip to watch them lose to the Bucks. I would rather stay home watch the fourth. I agree, I am tired of spending a minimum of $6.50 just for a small hot dog when I want to get something to eat at the TC. They were longer before, and the quality did not change. And aren't sporting venues supposed to have good nachos? I can get better nachos at my local gas station for a quarter of the price. The TC parking garage should only cost $5. The marketing for the Rockets really sucks. They use to send deals for one/two game packs, and special event nights. Now, all they focus on selling is season tickets and 6 game packs. Send me an email giving me free parking if I show up early against the Pistons and I might consider going. When people see that the garage is full they will gladly come earlier next time and pay the $10. Just not against the bad teams like the Bucks.
For people who believe that tanking helps, the Rockets had the THIRD WORST ATTENDENCE THE YEAR THEY GOT YAO MING, THE NUMBER 1 PICK IN THE NBA DRAFT. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/year/2003
If they want to sell more tickets, the Rockets really need to follow the Astros model of letting the ticket prices adjust with demand. This year, I got field box tickets for $11, $19, and $21. There are a lot of decent package deals, but the tickets are still high for what you get. The cheapest you ever see lower bowl tickets is over $40. That being said, having the Guys Night Out deal on a Saturday is a positive change. If I didn't already have date plans, I'd jump on that one.
Dunks sell players, therefore tickets. Wins sell teams, therefore tickets. Very simple formula to follow. I don't think people want to make the trip to the TC for one of Parson's put backs. I have YouTube, and NBA.com for that. I don't blame any of this on Martin. He's a great player for most teams, but not when he's the best player on your team.
Now we have the second worst attendance and yet we are not getting No. 1 pick. Also, 1 total national TV game in 3 seasons. Thats what you get for not tanking.
So Steve Francis who was dunking a lot was our best player in the early 2000s and the Rockets had the 2nd and 1st worst attendence. We got T-Mac and everyone was super excited. We won 50 games. We had a top level superstar who had finished top 5 in MVP voting just 2 years back. And the Rockets were will 23rd in attendence.
I'm withdrawn from the Rockets because I don't believe the current makeup of the team will remain intact for very long. I'm biding my time... waiting for them to find a plan they can stick to talent-wise.
Mediocrity has taken its toll on the city. No reason to get excited with a team that has no emerging young star or even a remote chance of ever winning anything. Stuck in the ****ing middle... At least with Yao and McGrady, the potential to win was there, even if the end results were never anything close to it.
So that's why attendence was still pretty bad with Yao and T-Mac? I'm not saying that superstars wouldn't help attendence but overall the Rockets do have attedence problems that go beyond the team.
Averaging around 16000-17000 in attendance from 2004-2010(excluding 05-06) is pretty decent for a building whose capacity is around 18000, and a team whose roster never won anything and had two injury prone stars. http://www.databasebasketball.com/teams/teamatt.htm?tm=hou&lg=n I'm willing to bet that had T-mac and Yao actually won something, attendance would had been a lot higher during that time. Agreed. Would definitely be a step in the right direction.
The Rockets started off below .500 that season. Many die hard fans were upset we traded Francis and Cat, and the media made T-Mac look like a bad guy for wanting to play on better teams. He was advertised as a loser who only won 20 games for the Magic...there goes the casual fans. Francis sold jerseys. He came out of the draft on a negative note and nobody really knew who he was. He was marketable as a player, but fans didn't start watching him until after the dunk contest. You can't expect fans to go out to see a 30-40 win team. Especially nowadays when we have highlight reels on the internet , HDTV, and DVR to record the game. Problem solved. /thread
Maybe Clyde has been more you know Clyde to force them to go to the games instead of watching the tv on mute.
The problem is that Rockets tickets are too damn expensive. Just made a comparison. The Rocket's tickets against the Wizards tonight are roughly the same price as the Timberwolves's game against the LAKERS this Sunday. And the Timberwolves are a more exciting team to a casual fan. Combine that with the fact that Houston's more spread out, meaning longer driving times compared to St. Paul, and I get why people don't go. Lower the freaking prices.
Two things about that. First you are basically admitting that the problem is that we aren't winning and not the hispanic population because it has been proven in other cities that they will support a winner. Second, even if you take away the entire hispanic population we are still the 7th most populated city. The amount of hispanics is not the problem. The smaller arena and lack of an attractive product is why people don't go
