Its definitely a sports city. What I don't understand is why the Rockets don't get more love. I listen to sports radio every morning on the way to work, and its almost like they forget the Rockets exist. I'm hearing calls about the Texans, Astros, Aggies, Owls and every other team you can think of EXCEPT the Rockets. Its always been this way. Even at a time when the Texans suck they still dominate the conversation. The Rockets are the only Houston team legitimately making power moves but it seems like nobody talks about them.
Football IS the No. 1 sport of the world, but very few people outside of the US care about the American style "football". So, no. It's not the nature of the sports that decides the size of fan base.
Someone may have already touched on this, but these cities that are considered good sports towns have had families rooting for the same team for decades and decades. The Red Sox have been around for well over 100 years. In 1890, the population of Boston was over 400,000. The population of Houston was less than 30,000. How many of that 30,000 still have ancestors here? How many of that 400,000 still have ancestors in Boston? The Celtics have been around since the 1940's. The population of Boston was double that of Houston in 1940. The Rockets did not arrive to Houston until the 1970's. We just do not have the same demographic of people that are tied to Houston, much less to a Houston sports team that has been around basically one generation. These older, more established cities on the east coast are going to naturally have much more buy in to their sports teams.
I blame les. Even when the teams weren't that good he would gouge prices when good teams came to down. Dallas used to get no fans either, but last year when they didn't even make the playoffs they sold out.
Then compare Houston to its contemporaries in terms of fandom: Dallas Atlanta Miami Phoenix Seattle Denver Indianapolis I think they're still somewhere in the middle... but not as bad as Atlanta and Miami. Phoenix seems to consistently draw well for its teams, and has some passionate fans of all sports despite not much history for the city, or for its teams.
Winning, Dirk, and Cuban changed the culture. Dallas still has Dirk, who was their lone star when they won a title. It will be interesting to see if they still show up once he leaves or retires.
Let me address these lame excuses. First, parking. You can park for $5 in a garage, two blocks from the arena. If that is a far walk you are a fat ass. Arena seats are not comfortable and it's crowded? Lol Wut? What other sports arena has better seating? Hell you get to sit on a cushioned seat!!! Tickets are not cheap? I got two tickets for the Orlando game last week for $14 each. Lower bowl on flashseats. Try harder. Fans from other teams? I've only see that happen when the Lakers are here, I might have seen one Olando Magic fan the entire game last week. Food? You have options. I've yet to see someone complain about the BBQ. I get it if I'm hungry but Toyota Center is rolling out a new menu this season so we'll see.
Suns were 21st in the league last year in filling up home games as a percentage of their capacity. Rockets were 16th. Pacers 14th Nuggets 15th Hawks 23rd Mavericks have been a great team for over a decade, and recently won the title, so not fair to compare. I don't think of any of those places you mentioned have fan support outside of the diehards and the band wagon fans. Portland is the lone exception it seems. They have good attendance, and have not won much the last few years.
When I have enough money someday, will everyone be okay with me buying and moving the Toyota Center to the Katy/Cypress area?
