i think that alot. how good would it be to be with 20 thousand screaming fans like at a college game... what does utah do? they defy logic. UTAH????? we're one of the largest cities, its ridiculous.
1) They need to run some promotions during the schedule, give away free tickets or something. 2) This city is more of a football town than a basketball town. 3) They haven't reached the playoffs in 4 years and no one is interested anymore. The marketing sucks for this team. So many nice lower level and court seats empty. Sad.
You don't see too many fat people watch games in an arena. Being the 2nd fattiest city in the US, Houston naturally has attendence problem in Toyota Center.
You do a lot of overgeneralization, in my opinion. Tell me again, which of the sports teams has its arena outside of 610? Where would you have the arena anyway? A big problem with houston is the sprawl. There IS no center of Houston. To me, downtown seems a likely a place as anywhere else. Isn't I-10 at highway 6 basically Katy? So you move the arena to right beside your house. Your whole rant about the wife and kids and buying food, etc. is unchanged. Basically, all that changes is your drive time. It sounds to me like you just don't like going to sporting events. Do you REALLY think that any arena in the country features reasonably priced, savory food delivered to your seat? Or no drunk "rednecks" yelling? By the way, if you want to generalize, I'd say that having the arena outside the loop would increase the percentage of drunk "rednecks" present at the games. Overall, I think your rant is typical of the Houston sports "fan". You whine about food prices, you whine about driving (but at the same time, you need your 'space', so you move out to the suburbs, where you can have a big house and contribute to the urban sprawl), you whine about your wife and kids bothering you (what do you suggest the Rockets do about that one?) Plus, it seems like you have some sort of a chip on your shoulder about living outside the loop. Other cities have the same concession prices, the same (or higher) ticket prices, and the same drunks at the games. We don't see those places with 9000 empty seats every game when the team is winning. Bottom line is that Houston sports fans are fickle. We need a winner, and an erratic 19-14 team doesn't cut it. We're front runners. If the team's not in first place, call us back when they are. While it is certainly people's right to feel this way, I wouldn't really call these people "fans". They're more like people who follow the team and like a piece of a winner. The problem is, that by this definition, there's just not many real fans in houston. So you've got lots of complaints.. where are your solutions?
I went to the game last night, my first at the Toyota Center. I have to say Yao looked horrible. He just looked really clumsy and uninspired. I think a lot of it had to do with Dampier; he's really got Yao figured out. Some games, he just goes through the motions and it really stands out when he's not playing hard now that we're getting so much effort from the rest of the guys. We would be a championship quality team right now if Yao could be a consistent inside presence. If the dude could just control the glass and play the solid defense he's capable of, this team could be better than the Spurs. Big ifs I know. We're a good team without him when everyone plays hard and someone has a hot hand, but he's got to make an inspired leap for this team to get anywhere.
I think they should have more promotions.. buy 1 get 1 ticket free for some lower echelon teams. I heard Dallas and alot of other teams do that.. for games people arent coming to watch they basically give them away free to at least fill up the stadium. Think about it.. Rox vs. Hawks buy 1 get 2 more tickets free. hahaha what do you think? could we make this recommendation to the Rox management? Once people start going to the game and get into the habit (conditioning) .. for big games we dont need those kinds of promos but against Hawks/ GS/ J
A much better post than Nero. This isn't the KATY Rockets. It's the Houston Rockets. Let's move it out to I-10 and blahblahblah. Okay, do that. Now you're alienating the other suburbs. Classy. You don't have to drive home. You could go to the game directly. The problem, I think, *does* have more to do with the fact that so many seats went to corporate companies who can't get rid of their tickets. I wonder if it's possible for the team to sell tickets after the first quarter if people aren't there. The other problem may be those stupid clubs in the Toyota Center (wasn't there some article where the Rockets even commented on how it's annoying that people walk to their courtside seats during the second quarter because they're chilling in the clubs). Why in the world would you get a taxpayer funded stadium and NOT attempt to bring fans closer to the action? I guess that's why it's Toyota Center and not Toyota Fieldhouse.
Not a mistake, there are 4 million plus people in Houston, the problem is the product SUCKS on the court. It is boring, and sloppy basketball, and is NOT fun to watch. Sure, they win, but they are not exciting doing it, and the announcer is the most unprofessional piece of garbage I have ever heard. The Rockets spend a lot of money to put a first rate team together and then do a half assed job of making it an entertaining to everyone. DD
The Warriors' announcers mentioned something during last night's game that caught my attention. Paraphrased, Yao will never reach his full potential until he no longer plays basketball 12 months a year. I think that's part of the problem. Nothing against Rudy T, but Van Gundy has this team much more focused on the playoffs. Actually, the championship if you read many of Van Gundy's quotes. But mentally, Yao must prepare (pace?) himself for long beyond the playoffs. The Athens Olympics has to be somewhere in Yao's his mind. I'm not trying to make excuses (JVG wouldn't accept them anyway), but Yao is 1/3 thru a marathon which will immediately turn into a world class 10K. And then the next marathon begins. (I'm optimistic that a good showing in Athens will allow the CNT to start grooming a new center for thier future but that's a whole different topic). Secondly, as much as I dislike it, NBA officiating is sometimes predicated on perception. If a player establishes playing aggressively or having pet moves, then the officiating adjusts. For example, Bruce Bowen is known as good defender. Bruce Bowen gets away with alot of "bodying up" on the offensive player. He has has established this in the minds of the officials. Another example is Kobe's pet offensive move (which he shares with Malone). A pump fake to draw the defender and then throwing his body into the defender for free throws. I saw Yao do this and get called for a charge. Yao won't get this call until he stops the fadeaways and goes aggressively to the basket. IMHO, a major portion of the lack of consistency from Yao has the same roots as the offensive inconsistencies of the team (especially Steve Francis). Jeff Van Gundy (whether you agree or disagree, like it or dislike it) is re-forming the team. Yao is in a big transition from 100% finesse to some balance of power and finesse. Francis is in transition as well. To paraphrase Van Gundy - same FGA's on less dribbles. I'm optimistic. We're developing a playoff-mentality with a struggling C and PG, a natural center playing PF, a formerly one-dimensional PF coming off of the bench and recovering from injuries, a 10 team in 12 years cast off SF, a bench that needed to be introduced to each other at training camp, a re-invented SG and losing a starting PF from last season. IOW, Yao hasn't been the only thing in transition.
[class warfare] Yuppies have many, if not most, of the good tickets, but are more interested in hanging out at clubs and looking fabulous. The decent tickets left over after the yuppies get their gimmes are still rather expensive, and still not very good. The organization would do well to make seats accessible to real fans, and not as gimmes for bored-and-boring over-domesticated upper-class mannequins. [/class warfare] Oh yeah, and I repeat my assertion that Yao needs to listen to Slayer's "Reign In Blood" in its entirety before each game. And feed him some raw meat, he's too skinny.
Rik Smits had a sweet touch, intelligence, and good court sense. He did not have a mean streak, and he did end up in foul trouble a lot. He was a crucial role player for the Pacers. I'm not sure why I'm mentioning that in this thread.
The reason the warehouse district is (near the new stadium) downtown is because it is easily accessible to all parts of the area. Put the new arena out west? What about the people out east and north? It makes sense where it is. A lot of the parking and access problems are all the renovation going on down here. The light rail is running now. Park out by Reliant and ride it here. You can park in North downtown free, and ride the rail to 3 blocks from Toyota Center. Don't want to pay so much to eat. Eat downtown somewhere else. That family pack looks pretty cheap. I think people have a better time at their favorite spot watching it on TV. That's the real reason. Bring us a playoff team and more than 10 points total 7 minutes into the game and people might get more interested too. Thistype of BB is simply boring everyone to death.... Maybe CWard and Spoon will improve on that
Well as a (nearly) life long Rocket fan who's finally back in Houston, and still NEVER actually attended a game, I must say I'm ashamed of myself! I will take it upon myself to go see ATLEAST one, hopefully more home games before the semester starts back up. Go Rox! I don't care about low scoring, just win and I'll cheer!
Jebus and Rocket104: I guess you fellows missed the part where the POPULATION CENTER OF HOUSTON IS ALREADY APPROACHING I-10 at HWY 6. Should I repeat it? The question was asked: Why does the attendance suck? While it's obviously not all of the answer, no defensive and condescending rehtoric can change the FACT that is it a logistical NIGHTMARE, if not downright IMPOSSIBLE to attend a weeknight game if you live in the area of Houston where the MAJORITY of Houstonians have chosen to live. Maybe you are single, maybe you don't have a regular 9-5 job, maybe you genuinely don't care about the necessary level of punitive suffering which necessarily goes along with making that trek to the game during the week. Whining and no solutions?? The solution would have been to place the new arena (not just the basketball one, but all three new arenas) as close as possible to the population center of the city. Sorry to say to the fans who live on the south side, or NW, but the population center of Houston is about 15 miles WEST of the Loop, NOT INSIDE IT. It should never have been placed where it is to begin with. Empty seats? No city in this country has the sprawl that Houston has. Wrigley? Please. It's located IN a residential area. Boston? Come on. You could fit three Bostons inside of our own Loop 610. Don't confuse 'convenience' with 'merely reasonable'. The city and the team made their bed, now they have to sleep in it. They could easily have had an arena that would have been more full on weeknights merely by locating the arena closer to the fans they would need to attract in order to have that loyal 'every-day fan' in the seats. But they were more interested in corporate image, corporate sales, and a total lack of a willingness to understand that Houston itself has shifted West (anyone who has studied American history can tell you that the typical urban growth in most major American cities is to the West). Now, as many others have said, the only real cure is to put a true winner on the floor, because most Houstonians are not so much 'fair-weather-fans', as some have asserted, as we are highly cognizant of exactly what the costs are for such a trip, both in money and time, as well as just plain old headache. But when the Rockets become a true quality product, the people don't suddenly 'become' fans, but rather the team has suddenly become 'worth it'. And, by the way, if you don't have a regular job, a family with kids, and live an hour's drive from the arena, then you really don't have any place criticizing those who do.
