i know they got to have them for the money, but those luxury boxes kill the atmosphere of basketball. Who is more excited about the game, a blue collar worker that saved his money to buy season tickets or those coporate types that own those luxury boxes that just entertain client with? Those old arenas that had nothing but seats were the bomb and sounded like one inside, now all you have is these uppity people that are worried about wasting thier Moet on their suits. I take my daughter to some of the games, but its kind of expensive and i make good money.
I say they have a commercial of nothing but Francis/Mobley/Griffin dunks(and anyone else on the team who happens to put one through), because a lot of fans want to see the uptempo, high flying games. A lot of people, just want to see the dunks, plain and simple (Not that I'm one of them ).
Umm, I'm a huge rockets fan & live less than a mile from the Compaq Center. I would love go to a game, I would KILL to go to a game, but...... i'm not a rich executive & I dont have my own corporation. I just have a regular job & have to pay my rent. Lets look at the options: Rockets: $26 a ticket $ 5 a beer one game = $50 PJs Sports Bar $23 = 2 steaks 2 baked Potatoes 2 salads 1 PITCHER of SHINER BOCK 1 free Big Screen Rockets Game Hmmm.......tough decision I'll probaly buy a ticket after I win the Lottery.
I looked to go to a game this yr. So I was going to spend some money. For $46, I was still in the upper bowl. F*ck that. Unless I'm somewhere between courtside and 15 rows up, the best seat is in front of my 53'' Sony. Those $10 seats suck. I can barely see the players let alone the cheerleaders. We, as a fan community, need to do something to let the players know that we love them. I wonder if Franchise gets bummed out sometimes cuz the fans in the Center are a bunch of rimmers. I mean if you're as exciting and excited as Steve is, wouldn't you feel bummed if your own fans aren't as excited? I would be. As a young man, I always see the green of the other side. I wonder how it'd be in Sac or LA or NYC. Sometimes I think that if the Rockets were to leave Houston, it wouldn't be a surprise. As for the snoballers who attend games as part of their pretentious agenda, I hope they choke on their next trip to the local glory hole.
Man, I couldn't agree more. I can go into my " sports room" in my house, watch 4 different games, tape the rockets on the other set and all that for a couple of g's. A good seat at the labtop is what $80? 3 or 4 beers, thats another $20, and maybe some nachos or something, that another 5 or 10. For 1 person and 1 night thats a $100 easy. I pick and choose my games, but I'm not like those people in Sac,Utah, or Ny that has to be there. I bet if we played uptempo like the buck, mavs,kings, or magic, it would be a easier sell though.
We all talk about how we're great fans and everyone else stinks - Why don't we all meet in a section one game? Have our own CC.NEt section... that way we can try to blow the roof and show the Rockets we do love them. Just a thought - im sure many of you guys would love to be with real fans for a change. Lets get some games/ideas going..
Hey, before you jump on your horses and run with it, see what the fans do this week. We all know that the world series was playing. I for one, stay at home to watch it, with pip on the TV. watching the Rockets, too. I live 110 north of Houston, and it had not been a problem in the past for me to make the games.I been getting their in 2 hrs. straight from work and be sitting down by tip off. In my home town alone you got at least 30 season ticket holders that have miss at least 3 games due to The World Series.
I disagree that the Rockets don't advertise to the black community, a majority of their games are played on UPN which carries many African-American sitcoms. That's where all the TV ads are so that statement carries no weight. I think, like most people here, the reason that the Rox get bad attendance is because of the ticket prices. Not to mention this is a new team that no longer carries any longtime Houston sports icons like Hakeem Olajuwon. Regardless, a winner always draws the crowds so if the Rockets keep playing well then the Compaq center will begin to fill up.
Giz- You dont have to be Rockefeller to watch Rocket games. Be like me at the T-wolves game the other night.... Pound about 3 shiners before the game, buy a $13.00 ticket, sneak down to the lower prom, and make some noise. They dont have ushers standing at EVERY aisle, and if you act like they're your seats to begin with, you've got it made. DD
I disagree that the Rockets don't advertise to the black community, a majority of their games are played on UPN which carries many African-American sitcoms. That's where all the TV ads are so that statement carries no weight. sorry kubli, that is the statement that carries no weight. Because the Roks are on UPN only supports my argument. We see all the commercials for The Parkers and The Hughleys that have nothing to do with our team, and the only representation we have as fans is a fat bad actor sitting in front of a TV and some kid with acne and a problem, lest we forget that lovely toll booth scene with the brother hugging the attendant, ahhhhhh. Plus the Roks went with the station that gave them the best deal, it had nothing to do with their programming. You can blame ticket prices, proximity, TV rooms, sports bars, the Dow or Chappaquiddick, but I still believe that if a little more attention was paid to communities other than the mainstream, the difference would be significant. You can't compare this market to any other, not LA because they are the champions and the fans are celebrities, not Sac because there is nothing else to do there, and not NY because of their rich sports history. How dare we complain about money, Man if you go out to a club you will spend a mint on cover charges, drinks and ho's (not to mention Score's). People will pay up to 100 dollars to go and hang out in a room with the Roks at an after party, but complain about ticket prices, that's not right. We can't just assume that just because most of the Roks are Turkish immigrants, that all Turkish immigrants will attend to support them. Just because they are on Turkish TV, Turks can still feel ostracized. Spend a little money appealing to the Turks as well as everyone else, because everyone wants to feel like they are a part of something, no matter what channel you're on.
No really, the prices are not cheap. Me and a couple of my friends convinced 12 of our other friends to go to the game, telling them they would easily be able to get $10 tickets. This was Saturday for the Minnesota game. Surprisingly they all showed up!! But the price of the tickets was another issue. I got my ticket free from Teelo(new clutchycity member and season ticket holder) and was also sitting with ROckets03. But my other friends had to buy tickets. Man, 2 of them got there at 6:55 and the $10 tickets were supposedly sold out!! the cheapest ones were $20, and they were in the upper deck, row J!! Granted, u can still see most of the stuff goin on, but we looked around, and there were hundreds of seats open all around up in the upper deck. So I guess Crispee is right, there must only be like 500 seats of $10!!!!!!!! But that is not the whole issue. I look around work and school and always talk about the Rockets, and they have the wierdest responses. They talk about how we should never have got rid of Sam, Horry, and OT. And how we should never have gotten Barkley, he never led us to anything!!(WC Finals dont count I guess).....And how we suck now(we won 45 games last year and nobody knows!!!!).....and how we should never have gotten rid of the Dream...where do I even begin to explain......its definitely frustrating as a Rockets fan nowadays. If they want the fans back in the seats, they will have to market better and lower the prices a lot. or just start winning games and win back the fickle rich bandwagners!!!! But it is nice to know that there are true die hard fans like ROckets03, who still went to the games during the world series, took a small 12 inch black and white T.V with him, and cheered like hell for the Rox!!!!! Me and him definitely got it goin during the Minnesota game!!!!!!!!!
Another Brother is refreshingly persuasive. But dude, those are not Rockets ads...they are Reliant Energy ads. Now that that is clear, there is little doubt that Popeye's Chicken marketing levied a blow to the white Colonel prompting him to start rapping and dancing like Gene-Gene the Dancing Machine. lol But there is also little doubt that marketing and pricing have to work together. Saying people will drop $100 at a strip club means little to this debate, because that is a pricing dynamic based on temptation and sex addiction (not to say I'm not afflicted), fueld by alcohol consumption. imo, it is like saying we have no problem dropping $50 on cocaine...so we should be able to afford the Rockets. really? What the strip clubs do in advertising is a better argument. They stay in front of us everywhere with billboards and local rag ads...tempting everywhere. The only thing missing is telemarketing by dancers...lol. Another Brother, do you really think TV ads are the answer? Or are you just miffed at lack of targeting the ads to blacks? I've never been one to think TV ads is ever the only answer. They'll need a broader media campaign (TV, print, radio, billboards, co-marketing, business deals, etc) to target a community based on race, imo, and price certainly can help that campaign.
HeyPee, I think you hit on something. Telemarketing hoe's. " If you would just purchase tickets to two games, it would make me so hot. Just thinking about it makes me want to touch mysel....."
1. Lower the price. 2. Make compelling ads that really sell the excitement generated by this fantastic team! Do people go to the Aeros games? That would prove a point, if the Aeroes were outselling the Rockets. I haven't lived in Houston for a while but I remember their ads being everywhere when they first started. It's supposed to be cheap to see a game isn't it.
"our" team...don't worry, small mistake...they might cover that next year in 2nd grade. and sellouts is one word.
Us Rockets fans are spoiled. We have EVERY game available on TV one way or another. If home games were blacked out, or on a PPV basis (like Por and some other teams) then I guarandamntee you attendance would be higher. We know the game will be on TV, so we rest on our laurels (literally) and just watch the game from our couch. I think the Rockets play in the 2nd oldest arena in the NBA, after MSG. I would like to think the Rockets will sellout all their games in the first year of the new arena.
