I've seen an increase of Asian fans just in the preseason. I'd guess about 25% increase. Tad Brown mentioned season ticket sales has increased 10% from last year as well. Lin puts butts in seats.
During their bad years, they didn't. I used to get into Mavs games under buy one get one deals if you bought a certain taco combo at Taco Bueno. In the NBA, the playoffs are the thing. The regular season is just a warm up. That's true of the NHL as well. We've had a very long stretch here of very very limited playoff success. That breeds apathy in any city, but for a few limited exceptions and for varying reasons.
I'm sure you're a swell guy, but this is a terrible post. The Rockets are a highly valued franchise...he has an absolute sweetheart deal here funded by Houston taxpayers. Attendance is only part of the pie. Put a compelling product on the floor and Houston fans will show up. Throw out more mediocrity, and they won't.
If anyone knows this better than anyone it's Les. The Houston spots market is a gold mine for corporate sponsorship, luxury suite and club sales alone. How come more than 60% of Toyota Center suites are sold for every game? They aren't cheap. How come Club level seating hasn't taken a hit in renewals? Those seats go for $5,000+ a year. Les and the Rockets break their backs for the Club memebers. Gifts, special engagements, player meet and greets. Those accounts keep TC open.
Highly valued is different from well attended and fans supporting their team. No they won't hence my post about the 1994 playoffs and the championship years when attendance was still not that great. Many reg season games were terrible, quite as a mouse and empty seats all over.
Les is making a tidy profit. That's what Les cares about. He's doing just fine. Plus, he's in a lease he can't break. The Rockets aren't going anywhere in Les' lifetime. Ummm...the Rockets sold out every game at the Summit from the 95-96 season through the 98-99 season. The year before that, they sold out 97.8% of capacity... More recently, in 2007-2009, they sold roughly 97% of capacity at the Toyota Center. They offered a compelling product, and people showed up. But yeah, miss the playoffs in the NBA where more teams make the playoffs than don't....and do that for a 3 year stretch...and yeah, ticket sales will suck. And frankly, they probably should. Beyond that, this market affords him opportunities to make money on local media dollars that he couldn't possibly find in a city that doesn't currently host an NBA franchise. In addition, the corporate base of Houston provides a huge market for suite sales, which is far more lucrative for these organizations.
Selling out is again not the same as attending! Toyota centre games are sold out regularly but it's still empty and everybody's quiet, not really cheering unless there's a dunk or other highlight play. Also, as a fan, I don't care whether Leslie likes it and he's making money, that's not what we are discussing here.
I thought we were discussing Les moving the team. That's what I was responding to. Les isn't moving this team...but if we're not talking about that, then I'm sorry for changing the topic. I will say one thing though...there are very rare exceptions where fans buy tickets and actually attend games to see teams that have the playoff record that the Rockets have had over the last 15 seasons or so.
Quik question for anyone who may know... Last year i got kicked out of a game for being overly rowdy(honestly all i did was talk badly towards a security guard) so im wondering am i permenently kicked out or if that was a obe tine thing?? They didnt say i could never come back from what i recall but im jus curious...
I am going to guess bottom third in the league. I have been to about 1/2 the games the past few years and that place is empty. Especially the lower sideline seats. The upper deck usually has a bunch of people.
Attendance will be better than last year, and I think a 10-15% increase is a good starting point as a baseline. Beyond that, it will depend on performance. If he starts going HAM, I think you'll start seeing the place fill.
I just hope Clutch Bear doesn't do gangnam style routine this season.. I think I've seen it enough already...
Where are the Rockets supposed to move to that is better in terms of population, media marker size (thus size of local TV contract), arena and corporate base? All of the really good cities (NY, LA, Chicago, etc.) are already taken so we are talking a 2nd or more likely 3rd tier places that are most likely worse than Houston. Besides, Les now partially owns CSN Houston and is expected to rake in a ton of TV money, so he is not moving anywhere. BTW, attendance and total gate receipts are two different things. Rockets tickets don't sell for Lakers prices, but they do much better than the Sacramento and Detroits of the world. This combined with corporate sponsorship, suite sales, and local TV deal makes the Rockers profitable even if their "attendance" is ranked low (Toyota Center also has low capacity compared to most other NBA arenas so this limits on how high they can rank even if they sell out often). In any case, HOU is a great market. If Les is ever stupid enough to move out, multiple smallish market teams would give their left nuts to relocate to Houston.
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