Does anyone on the rockets actually read the forum?

I think it would benefit the Rockets organization to follow this forum, since we are their best and (sometimes) most knowledgable fans. That being said, I don't think the Rockets pay this forum any attention at all. I don't think they care about their fans' opinions at all (except when they need people to vote for a new arena). I think that the Rockets are run like a straight business and any love they give to the fans is just a PR move without any substance.

 

I'd have to agree, they run it strict business way

 

PR people might read it...but no one that works with the players would actually consider any of the things that people post here. the forum might as well be like talk radio where coaches can hear the exact same thing the people b**** about here.

 

Ok..first off.
I doubt anyone in a position of authority actually takes seriously the talk that goes on here(as far as team strategy).

The Rockets marketing dept does in fact read here.. Tim (the VP of marketing) is actually a member and posts and responds to posts here. The Rockets do care about us, but they arent about to take advice on how to run the team from a bunch of wannabe GMs on trades and rotations.

 

I'm sure Nachbar posts here...Heck, it's not like he's spending any of his time playing BASKETBALL or anything...

 

He probably does post, when he's not playing garbage minutes. PLAY BOKI!

 

I think that the team is right to ignore us as far as team strategy, but I feel that they should pay attention when it comes to marketing, since we're the people they're trying to appeal to when they market.
If Tim, whoever he is, is actually reading, I'd like to start off by asking him what's the point of a zillion commercials trying to sell mini ticket plans? As a fan, what's my incentive for buying 6 tickets at once? When you go to Wal-Mart and buy 6 pizzas at once in a package, you're doing it because you're getting a discount for buying in bulk. You don't need to stock up on pizza because you can get pizza at any time you want, just like anyone could purchase a Rocket ticket any time they want.
I feel like the Rockets don't want to offer fans tickets at decent prices, but they bargained for this bad TV contract which gives them nothing but commercial spots, so they feel inclined to use those spots by filing them up with something - the mini ticket plan happens to be it.
Look, it's very simple economics - if demand is low, you need to lower your prices. If you want people to buy in bulk, you need to lower your prices. But I think we'll see Les playing ice hockey in Hell before he budges one cent.

 

I'm not Tim, but in the past, the mini plan offered an option to get guaranteed playoff tickets. Perhaps that is still the case.

 

Which is probably one of the reasons why he comes here. There have been threads in the past month or two that involved alot of the posters here telling Tim what their feelings were about subjects just like what you discuss below.

This is a good point that has been broached many times...I for one would be more inclined to save my money for a small ticket plan especially if I knew I was getting a discount on the tickets by doin so.

I dont know enough about their tv deals to comment on this one way or the other. I do agree on your point about demand vs price.
I dont think we will see a difference on ticket prices till next year when the new arena opens. It has soo many different ways of raising the bottom line that hopefully Less will equal more (for the fans)...


bonus points to whoever can place that pun.

 

Man, leave town for one long weekend and I already become some sort of imaginary creature. Like I'm buddies with the Snufalupagus or something.

Good question on the mini-packs. There actually are several advantages to buying a mini-plan.

* There are no service charges if you buy your tickets as part of a plan. (There are also no service charges if you buy at the box office, but that's not convenient for everyone -- it's quite a long trip for most.)

* You get to buy playoff tickets before the general public. Full season holders will get first priority, then halves, then 12-game and 6-game package holders.

* If you buy a 12-game or larger size package, you also get admission to Rockets Play Day in March (hang out for an afternoon with the players and coaches) and the opportunity to buy additional single game tickets over the phone without a service charge.

If these advantages aren't enough, then by all means buy your tickets as single games -- we're just happy to get you in here.

But it's worth saying that the advantages are enough for a lot of people -- we've sold over 25,000 tickets through those mini-plans so far, and plan on selling a bunch more. They're a pretty big success for us. It's just about offering people choices.

As for our TV package, we certainly didn't make it to get more local commercials -- that wasn't even a factor in the negotiation. It was the best deal on the table after a long and arduous negotiation process. In the end, while it isn't perfect, we're pretty happy with it. While KNWS has had some issues with signal reach and satellite (which we're aware of), we're actually reaching more households now, at least in part because more of our games are over-the-air -- our total viewership in number of households is up 33% year to date.

And, finally ... we are rapidly creating more commercials so we don't burn people out on the ones we already have.

Tim McDougall
Vice President of Marketing
Houston Rockets and Comets
timm@rocketball.com

 

I doubt if the coach or any of the players come to this web site, when the majority of the people here just hate.

B!T*H WHINE AND MOAN, B!T*H WHINE AND MOAN. Yeah if I was a player I would log on to read this.

 

From what I've heard, most pro athletes are encouraged to AVOID fan call-in shows, the media and places like this, just as most smart entertainers don't read their own press.

It is better to stay as independant of criticism as possible and let the actual professionals (your coach, your agent, your teammates, etc) point you in the right direction.

That isn't to say players haven't visited here. Boki's brother said that Boki has been here and I'm sure many others have as well. But, regulars? I seriously doubt it.

 

The ad with Steve and Cuttino at Wilchester Elementary School is EASILY my favorite ad on TV right now! Hilarious!

 

Madmax, thanks. That's probably the consensus favorite around the office right now, too. Steve and Cuttino did a great job (especially considering that practice ran late that day and they were both beat), as did the people on our staff who worked the extra hours to pull those commercials together.

We're shooting four more in December, with players and locations to be determined (but Yao will probably be in two of them).

Tim

 

If Moochie doesn't start playing better, pretty soon he'll be the one DRIVING the bus and not riding in it...

 

Quick question to MadMax, Tim, or to anyone who has seen the above commercial. I live out of town and didn't get a chance to see the commercial. Could you tell me which Wilchester Elementary School it is (if there are more than one)? I went to Wilchester Elementary School way back when in Spring Branch ISD. Just wanted to know if it was the same one or if there is another one in the Houston area. Thanks in advance.

 

Tim, I have a related question. Do you keep a database of who's buying these 6-game packages? And what if I buy 3 6 game packages? Would that put me in line for playoff tickets ahead of someone who purchased a 12-game package?

One more quickie: What about customizable packages where I can choose which 6 games I want to go to instead of the pre-packaged deals?

 

yup im yao mings little brother MiniMing!!!! haha jk

 

Toast,

Yes, we do keep a database -- one of the nice side effects of selling a lot of mini-plans is that it has allowed us to really expand our database of core fans. So once you buy one of these packages from us, we'll have that in our records and can refer back to it if you come back to buy more.

So, although technically you'd be a 6-game plan holder, I'm sure we could work something out if you were to buy that many different packages. I don't think we'd put you ahead of 12-pack holders because too many tiers makes the system too complex and playoff tickets need to be distributed quickly. But commit to 3 different 6-game packs and we could get you 12-pack holder benefits.

We designed the Francis 6-pack and Yao 6-pack as two-parters specifically for that reason -- we hoped that many of those who bought the first 6-pack (with all 6 games in the first half of the season) would like it enough to come back and buy the second half (with all 6 games in the back half of the season).

We are working on a system to offer customizable packs, but we're not able to offer it yet -- it's probable that we will, though sometime in the future, although I couldn't say yet whether it would be this season or next.

Tim