One can never underestimate the luxury of "home court advantage." Having played basketball my entire life, I understand the effect a crowd can have on a game--helps build momentum, extends runs and can ultimately take the visiting team out of the game. Having said all that, I never understood why the Rockets crowd was so bad. I don't live in Houston, but I am a League Pass Subscriber. Every game I see tons of empty seats! I expected this during our years of mediocrity, but I didn't expect to still see this with Dwight Howard now in town. Is there a reason behind this? Ticket prices, traffic, more interest in Football than basketball? I watch the OKC Thunder and the Golden State Warriors play and I never see an empty seat, no matter who the opponent is. The energy makes them both play better, its obvious... Just wanted to get your thoughts on whether you guys noticed the same and what could possibly be done to change it...This is a good, young team on the verge of contender status...Toyota Center should be a tough place to play in. I would love for our Rockets to be able to feed off a playoff type atmosphere every single night.
The empty seats surprise me too, especially since they're a fun team to watch (apart from hack-a-Howard).
While I agree that the atmosphere is not electric, the attendance has been there. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/sort/homePct
Tons of threads about this, with lots of ideas and theories as to why. I think attendance has been pretty good this season, though. I was pleasantly surprised by last night's turnout.
I also have to wonder if all of the people who complain about the empty seats are purchasing tickets on a regular basis.
guys..this has been talked about a lot. I can tell you that a lot of the club seats/season ticket seats that are shown most frequently on television are almost all sold out. The way Toyota center is designed allows customers to watch the game from a bar/restaurant club section--i've been there numerous times out of my seat and in that section networking/drinking a beer etc. While I prefer to sit in my seat (And I do 90% of the game), a lot of people are content multi-tasking at the game. So usualy the toyota center is actually pretty full, just a lot of people near the court are up mingling... maybe that's lame, but its really not for a lack of attendance.
