I think I have the answer to why we have 50 people going to our games. Besides sucking right now, our ticket prices are RIDICULOULY expensive. I'm sure a lot of you are aware of this already, but let me tell you something - it's worse than you think. I've been looking at seating charts of every team for the past half hour. Besides the Lakers, the Rockets have the most expensive lower level seating prices around the center court sections at $112. All other arenas are under $100 around that area - mostly in the $60-$80 range. THAT'S ALMOST HALF PRICE from our arena. Golden state has sections in the lower level for $24!!!!! This is definitely a problem. It's time for the management to make a change if they expect the arena to sound better than a high school game.
i was looking at mavs ticket prices in their new arena.. tickets start at 8 bucks. and i believe their most expensive seat is about half the price of the rockets most expensive...
2 things: 1. Ticket prices didnt change from last year. 2. The reason for the high prices is the lack of adequate luxury suites at Compaq Center which is a HUGE cash cow for a basketball team and/or hockey team. The revenue from luxury suites allows teams (in the newer arenas) to lower the cost of general seating because they can afford to do so. The American Airlines arena (Mavericks) has hundreds of suites and a whole platinum luxury level ($100 a pop for tickets) which have all sorts of luxury concessions (full service bars and gourmet food). That leaves the door open for cheaper general tickets....
1. some of the highest priced tickets in the NBA 2. a poor product on the court, at the very least in terms of wins and losses 3. lack of any real marketing efforts for years now because of an expectation by management of labor-free sellouts
Don't take this the wrong way but... I lived in Houston for 14 years and went to plenty of Rocket and Astro games....the attendance sux for one reason.....Houston is a terrible sports town in terms of fan support. PERIOD. Hopefully when the Roxkets move to the new digs, things (as far as fan support) will change like they seem to be with the Astros in their new park.
Bingo. Bingo. and Bingo. The ticket prices are very high. There is no question. The idea with a new arena is that ticket prices in most seats will not need to increase on a regular basis because the club seating and luxury suites will more than cover them. The Rockets have been losing big bucks in the Compaq Center. I mean, they signed the lease. It's all on them, but the fact remains that they are losing a ton of cash. The new facility will dramatically increase reveune for the Rockets. Unlike the Astros where McLane slams on the brakes if someone in his car drops a penny out of the passenger window, Les Alexander has never had a problem spending money on the team or in the community. The arena will help in those areas. Now, the one area where the Rockets have not spent money under Alexander is marketing. They just assumed that fans would show up just because it's the Rockets. They also assumed they didn't really have to aggressively campaign during the first arena referendum in 1999. Both were bad assumptions to make. They have changed that tune now and not long ago hired a new director of marketing. Should be interesting to see just what he does. The NBA has no excuse with dwindling attendance and teams moving NOT to market themselves in the same way they did when they were on the upswing.
Exactly how much more are tickets this year compared to the last years when the Rockets were selling out? I bet that the difference is not enough to be the reason people aren't showing up. As mentioned, Houston is a poor sports town when it comes to bandwagon jumpers. os
With the prices being as high as they are, I only go to about three games a year, which means the Rockets lose out: My girlfriend and I just went to a game and we spent about $25 on beer and food - we're pretty much going to spend that at every game (or wherever we go out for the evening). But if the Rockets were to lower ticket prices by about 1/4, we could afford to attend more games, where we would spend more money on food. Here's how the math works: Let's say a somewhat decent seat at Compaq is $28, with tax. We get two seats for three games: 2 x 3 x $28 = $168. At each of those games we spend an additional $25: (3 x $25) + $168 = $243. So, the Rockets get a total of $243 from us this year - no more, no less. But, let's say that the team cuts ticket prices by 1/4 to encourage us to attend more games (and the cuts are for the same somewhat decent seats, not the @#%* ones 200 feet above the backboard which no one wants). Now, the $28 seats are $21 each, so whereas before we could only go to three games on $168, now we can go to four games at the same price: 2 x 4 x $21 = $168. And guess what we do at this fourth game? The same thing we do at the other three games - drop another $25 on food and beer! By lowering their ticket prices, the Rockets would get the same amount of ticket money out of us, but they would also get another $25 from us when we show up at the game. So, they make $268 in total, a nearly 10% jump in earnings just for lowering their ticket prices! I know that my math is tailored to my own habits, but basically, I know that lowering ticket prices would allow more fans to go to more games, leading to two results: First, more concession sales, which I believe could, at the very least, make up for any loss revenue resulting from the cut in ticket prices. And second, a full arena, creating a great atmosphere and inspiring our team to perform a little better (and, therefore, draw in even the fairweather fans). Call me crazy for thinking this would work, but this is exactly how the movie business makes its money: relatively low ticket prices combined with high food prices being paid by your captive audience (and they don't even sell beer!). Think about it: if your local cinema doubled its ticket prices to $18, it would actually kill their profits because, at that price, people would rather stay home and watch movies on TV (just like we'd rather watch the Rockets on TV at their high ticket prices). But the cinema is able to remain profitable because they get people in the door with fair prices, then sell them stuff inside. The reason why the Rockets have missed this simple logic is because, back during the championship years, they assumed that every game would always be a sellout, meaing that they would already have enough people (the max) to sell food and beer to. But that assumption was absolutely moronic - everyone (except the Rockets) knows that no one can stay on top forever in sports. There will always be lean years (except if you're the Yankees, in a sport with no salary cap where you have the means to outspend everyone else). But right now, the Rockets are selling tickets at championship prices, as if there was that kind of demand for them, and its hurting their gate sales, their concession sales, their overall profit, and its hurting their teams, which now plays in a half-empty arena.
If I were the Rockets I would lower the prices next season, the last in the Compaq Center, just to fill the place up. That plus what I hope will be a better team could build some excitement going into the new arena in 2003-2004. I thought they should have done the same with the Thunderbears, the arena team. Hell, just sell the upper decks for $5 buck apiece just to get bodies in the seats (for arena games). Wouldn't that have been better than leaving them empty? I've never understood that. Has any pro team ever lowered their prices significantly? I think they are afraid to admit that their product is not worth as much. OS
This pertains to fans that live in Houston area only: You guys moan and complain about the team about how terrible the fans are and the attendance but do you ever see yourself as one of the many who do not attend games at all? the one who vents online but never shows his or her passion at the game itself. And yet finds excuses like ticket prices are too high blah blah their not winning etc etc. ALL LOUSY EXCUSES nobody said go buy season tickets but im sure everyone who vents can atleast attend one game. Then you will see what you are missing. Im sure I will hear I have a job,school to go to etc well again LOUSY EXCUSES. I have been attending every home game for the past 5 years and have not missed a one and still have my priorities taken care of, so no excuse is a good excuse. As far as Ticket prices go if you attended the games you would see what they provide: Couple of freebies at every game: These past few months they have been giving out free t-shirts every game offering free small drinks for the designate a driver program or pledge not to drink any alcohol that night! Free autographs,Trading cards from reliant energy and last but not least drawings to enter to win prizes! So if a 10 buck ticket or 13 buck ticket is not a good enough reason to attend at least 1 game to show your support then why complain? I pay 13.00 a seat for my two seats for the season. I have seen a rough draft of the reviewed ticket prices for the new arena and if you wanna complain now you will find that club level seating which is about 100 bucks right now per seat will be 150 dollars per seat for those who just jump on board when it opens. I do not see any reason why people should complain about the prices they offer alot more giveaways than alot of Teams do! So anyone who complains about the attendance and you do live in Houston then whats your excuse why and why have you not done anything to help it? This only pertains to the "TRUE" fans who live in Houston not for the Die Hards outside of H town!
I normally make about 10-15 games per yr with my daughter, this year i have made 2. Its not just about the team slumping its the fact that the team is boring to watch period. I've taken my 10 yr old daughter whom I've been schooling on hoops since the toddler yrs and she evn thinks they are boring. I had the chance to go to Dallas and watch the Mavs play, and she enjoyed that game much more than the Rockets. She understands movement ,passing ,etc because we watch so many old school games together, but when we watch the Rockets she just doesn't seem interested in the style. They teach even small kids to pass, cut , and share the ball and to see the Rockets dribble the air out just isn't appeasing. Even with the prices and the team have a bad yr, this team is still a very boring team to watch until they get down but 20 going into the 4th qt.
drewdog.. doesn't matter if they changed from last year.. the attendance wasn't that great last year. and they were overpriced last year.. they dont have luxury boxes etc .. i dont care and neither do a lot of the fans who don't want to overpay for rocket tickets... i'm not asking for reasoning behind the rockets high prices.. i'm just saying.. they have an aweful record.. and way too high prices.. everything is normally cheaper in houston. but yet in the rockets case they have higher tickets than most teams.. the other day when speaking about the nba going to new orleans .. espn brought up the fact taht the average salary is not that high in new orleans. .. salaries are a lot lower in houston than a lot of cities as well. and we still have the high priced tickets.. i dont consider ticket prices and lousy basketball to be bad excuses.. why woudl you want to spend money to see unentertaining basketball.. i wouldn't spend money to see a bad concert. or a bad play... i watch on tv because i'm a fan of the rockets and plan to be even during the rebuilding process.. but i dont have the money to be buying overpriced tickets to see bad baksetball.,,,
I have two questions... 1) How do Rockets' ticket prices compare with the rest of the league? I realize that different markets allow for different price ranges, but it would be interesting to know... 2) One fairly effective thing they have done here in Toronto is to offer various ticket packages, ie. selling tickets to 10 games of your choice, or one package including the Lakers game, the Knicks, Jordan's Wiz, and another package with the Magic, the Mavs, the Sixers etc... for reduced prices.Do the Rockets have similar packages available?
You should take your daughter to a Comets game later this year. She won't be bored and the basketball is good. os
Not the most expensive seats at AAC for the Mavs. Those are something in the range of $10,000 (called the Nicholson Seats. There are very few of them right on the court). Those aren't advertised on the ticket price map, though.
The Rockets had 10 assists last night. That is how boring they can be to watch. If it weren't for Griffin, it would be even more boring. Until the Rockets start to play as a team instead of iso's all the time, they are going to struggle with attendance. And the Rockets will never be a championship team with the iso's. Look with Hakeem, we became a championship team once he starting passing the ball!
The Rockets prices are high and so are the concessions. That, unfortunately, is life in the NBA. My wife and I went to a game recently (on a friend, thankfully) and decided to get some TCBY. We got one cup for each of us and I got a bottled water - <b><i>11 BUCKS!!!</i></b> What would have cost me about $3 at a grocery store or maybe $5 in a TCBY oustide the CC was $11. Even the fee at the ATM was $2.50! They rape you once you are inside, plain and simple. You CAN go to a game cheap. You can buy 2 $10 seats and not eat or drink anything. It isn't hard to do and it is fun if you want it to be. The Rockets attendance dropped as soon as the team began to struggle. In 1999, the first game of the year was on the same day as the arena referendum that failed. That was the first non-sellout game they had in like 5 or 6 years. The team went steadily downward from that point on. If the team begins to win again and once they are in the new arena, fans will line up to go. No, Houston isn't a great sports town in terms of supporting their team but New Jersey is 20 minutes from NYC (supposedly one of the great sports towns in the world), they are leading the Eastern Conference, have an MVP candidate and they have the lowest attendance in the leauge. Also, league-wide, TV ratings are down. You can't blame that on ticket prices. The NBA needs to market themselves better plain and simple. They just got lazy with Magic/Bird and then Jordan. They thought they had it all. They were wrong and now they have to pick up the pieces and move on.
