Any other season ticket holders PISSED?

Don't we have the second most expensive tickets in the league already?

If prices are going up then I won't be able to go to as many games next year.

I heard season ticket holders are getting discounts next year so you might get a break.

 

I think the new arena is closer to where the compaq center is.

 

Hmm, dont be too sure about that. Jeff and a few other posters posted an article where there will be more seats $35 and below than Compaq ever had. There are even $35 seats that are going to be on the lower prom. My guess is that the seat they are offering you, its WAY better seat that the one you got over at the Compaq. Again, this is my guess. As for the new place being close to Compaq, Id say its about 10mins at the most away from each other. Of course with me staying in the east side, the downtown arena is closer to me.

 

Damn that sucks! I have cheap season tix, so I don't think it will affect me too much. But a $60 increase is just crap for the expensive tix!

 

There are more seats available at $35 and under than have every been offered before. Unfortunately, how do you pay for it? Well, you make those who can afford it pay for it.

Think of it this way...people who can afford $12.50 per seat per game probably cannot handle a 50 percent increase to their tickets. A family of four would end up paying $76 instead of $50. But, if you can afford $110, a 50 percent increase to $165 is likely more feasible.

The reality is that tickets downstairs ALWAYS sellout. There are always buyers willing to pay the big bucks to sit close to the floor. That's just supply and demand.

I'm sure it does suck if you were used to paying a certain amount and it went way up, but people who can afford $5000, $6000, $7000 per season are not the one's to worry about. If you cannot afford $175, you can always go for the $130. I mean, currently for 4 seats at $110, that is $18,040 per season. If you go up to $130, that is an increase of $3280. If you can already afford over $18K per season for tickets, another $3K shouldn't be the breaking point.

The ticket holders who need the most protection are the one's who pay $25 and under for their seats. They cannot afford big increases. The truth is that those in the more expensive seats can afford the increases. If the Rockets increase the costs to those in more expensive seats in order to provide large numbers of inexpensive seats, I personally don't have a problem with it.

 

Punishing the rich...typical liberals...

 

Actually, it isn't punishment. It is supply and demand - an economic concept everyone can get. If you can sellout the lower bowl even with an increase in ticket prices, the demand is obviously great enough to justify the increase in price.

However, it is very likely that an increase in upper bowl seats would result in fewer ticket sales meaning the demand for those seats is just not as great so their cost must be lower.

I'm no economics whiz, but you don't really have to be to figure that one out.

 

Yeah I totally understand why this is happening. A good portion of those people in the lower bowl probably don't even pay for their tickets. When I go to games, I notice that the lower bowl looks much more empty than the upper bowl. This increase might not affect the actual sales of tickets too much, but it definitely doesn't help fill up the arena in my opinion. Although a new arena might give some of these so called fans a reason to bring their trophy mistress in and impress her with their company credit cards...

 

This problem is not exclusive to the Rox alone but sport teams the world over. Team owners are now agressively and stylishly passing down the escalating cost of management down to the demanders - the fans (some may say it is greed). This is sad but somehow there is only little they can do above it. When will a ceiling be hit if any? Dunno. All this does is possibly alienate fans like William whose family has been season ticket holders for years.

Don't take it too hard Bill - just go for special season tickets deals that work for but don't turn your back on our beloved Rockets.

 

I owned a Mobley 12 pack. I just sent in the survey the Rockets sent out to all mini-pack owners...

I ripped them a new one. I'm not gonna renew - at raised prices - to watch this bull**** entity Les calls "the greatest team ever assembled" or whatever such idiotic rambling he made earlier this year.

I mean I gave the Rockets organization high marks for effort & promotions, but that's the corporate part, not the basketball part. I wrote to them that I will not pay a premium to renew, just to watch Moochie dribble for 5 minutes, EG jack up friggin 3's, etc. Screw that.

I don't care how nice the stadium is - novelty wears off - just ask Drayton about Enron/Minute Maid Park...

Change the team or get ready for empty seats and a whining owner...

 

Most people seem to be ok with the price hike. The club level is already sold out. Of course this may change if people cancel.

 

well~ i went to the game 4 times this year, and it really cost me a fortune, i spent about 200 dollars on those tickets, and i still sat in the upper level. ya, 200 bucks may sounds stupid to u, but for a high school student, that's alot part-time-job-hard-works.

if the tickets price going to increase next year, i may only go to 2 or 3 games that is not on TV, and watch rest of them on my be loveble Ch. 51.

and i think 50% of tickets purchaser r poor students like me, and if the rockets don't do something about it, they will lost us forever.

 

A ticket center section ticket for $175 is pure greed.

Jeff, I wish you wouldn't defend them on ticket prices. if that price is correct, that is just greed for an owner handed a new stadium who can't even get us to the playoffs.

I would be curious to see if there has ever been a 50% increase on the equivalent to field seats in the history of any sport.

Do you all realize that the total bottomline season ticket price for bball is way way above the Astros and Texans, seat for seat. I'd be willing to bet that you could buy both a season ticket package for field seats between the lines at the stros and 50 yd line seats for a combined less than wea tickets for just the rockets.

it is just greed.

Tim,

That's just not right!

 

The only time I complain about rate hikes are for the inexpensive seats and for food because the people who have a tough time going to games struggle to pay those prices. Like I said before, if you cannot afford $175 per seat, you can just move to a $100 seat somewhere else. However, if you cannot afford a $12.50 seat, you just go home.

Besides, this is a luxury item anyway. This isn't milk or gasoline or baby formula. If you can already afford $110 per seat for 41 games per season, the worst thing that could happen is that you may have to move to slightly less attractive seats if you want to pay the same amount. It could be worse. At least you are in the building and downstairs.

I'm no hardline capitalist but everyone knows that if you have a high demand for something and a limited supply, the cost goes up. That is just the nature of economics. Since they are obviously having very little trouble selling the more expensive seats - in fact, they are always sold out - those prices are going to increase.

 

too much dribble. a simple price elasticity of demand curve would illustrate this. the percentage change in the quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price.

 

I know this is going to be a very controversial topic. Ticket prices always are. Especially for those directly affected by the increases, like wea.

Jeff summed it up pretty well, though. The biggest increases by far are in the very best seats -- floor seat and those in the first 6 rows between the baselines (first 10 rows in the center section). The increase is substantial there. And guess what? We'll still have a waiting list for those seats. There's always incredible demand for the best tickets in the house.

The rest of the seats will see minimal increases or no increases at all. We'll have many more seats under $35, and many more under $25, than we did before, like Jeff said. If you were a 12-pack holder, you weren't in lower bowl seats between the baselines (now the Club Section), and you really shouldn't see much of a price increase -- perhaps none, depending on where your seats are.

And if you buy a season ticket or a mini-pack, you'll get a better per game price. In our Fan Council last season, this was the #1 single thing our fans' asked for. So they got it. The #2 thing they asked for was for us to do what we needed to do to fill the building, because everybody felt like their tickets were more valuable when the house was packed. We tried to set our pricing strategy to help accomplish that.

I'm not saying everyone is going to love their situation -- I sympathize with wea, and he's going to meet with our staff personally to figure out the best options. But we are listening to our fans -- through things like Fan Council, and things like supply and demand -- in trying to run this business in the best way possible.

And before anybody complains that this shouldn't be a business -- please remember that trying to put winning teams out there in the current sports environment is an expensive proposition. We've got to run our business off the court well if we have any hope of giving you a winner on the court.

Tim

 

There's an easy way to combat this. Buy a $10 ticket and move down. Find an usher who's busy or an unguarded aisle, then sneak on down. Act as if you belong, and don't constantly look around or at people passing up and down the aisles. Sit back, and act as if they're your seats. Also, it doesn't hurt to pull out your ticket when you see a seat that you like, and pretend to correlate it with the one you like.

I've been doing this for years. Haven't paid more than $13 for a ticket in years.

 

OK Tim you tell me as a season ticketholder who attends just about every game what are they doing about parking?
If you think I am gonna scramble each and every game to find a parking area between 5 and 10 bucks, each time you are about nuts.
Something or a parking pass needs to be thought of because the parking garage that was built is made strictly for the rich seats.

You have security and crime issues involved parking your car in some gravel filled area that some bozo charges 10 bucks to park at WHO does not even give a flying rats rear if your car gets damaged or not.

So you tell me TIM ,are the Rockets gonna be held responsible when you have a "Fan" get killed or robbed or shot because you people are more worried about your $175 patrons versus your $25 to $10 patrons?

Matter of fact Tim tell all these Kind people who are clueless to the fact that the Parking garage is RESERVED for the Higher priced seats, and the Suite holders and that the "other season ticket holders" are left to find parking,in the 10,000 or so spots as your organization states.

You guys made a huge mistake putting that arena so close to the George R Brown and Minute Made park.
WE ARE NOT NEW YORK parking always sucks downtown.

Take a poll Tim and ask several what they think about the Rich seat only parking garage.

 

I am also concerned about parking. I can't afford to pay $5-$10 every game for parking. This is one reason why me and my friend are discussing whether to renew our season tix this year.