Tim: Please don't sell play-off tickets to corporations

Tim,

maybe a bit out of context for this thread, but how about finding a way to get t shirts to the cheap seats? Most of the shirts go to the lower bowl ( granted, they bring most of the revenue ) - How About mounting a " t shirt air cannon" on the Southwest Airlines blimp?. There are some guys in the rafters throwing out tshirts ( the parachute idea is nice) ...just not too many make it above the lower bowl

 

Just to further this "taxes" issue a bit. The funding for the arena is paid for completely out of the collection of hotel occupancy and car rental taxes by the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority. They take a percentage of the total taxes collected by the city and use them to fund Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park and Reliant Stadium.

In the case of Toyota Center, NONE of the approximately $150 million spent on the building, land and garage came from the city's general fund which is made up of property and local sales taxes.

So, unless you have paid to rent a car or stay in a hotel room in Harris County, not a penny of your tax dollars have been spent on Toyota Center.

 

Unfortunately for the promotions squad, the Rox can't use a t-shirt cannon since Clutch hit Cuttino Mobley with a t-shirt several years ago - since then every proposal to use one has been denyed from the top.

 

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, all they really said was that having the game start an hour earlier than usual combined with the "Houston traffic" made for a late arriving crowd. I didn't catch anything snide or derogatory from them.

I think the TC has been pretty vocal the last month or so. Besides, when we make the playoffs, TC will be rocking. Don't worry.

 

Also Tim, games should be free. Note that that was sarcasm concerning the entire basis of the this thread.

LegendZ3, can you afford season tickets? can you afford to pay over 30 thousand dollars for your season tickets as my fathers corporation does? If you were the rockets organization would you want to alienate those customers by telling them "Hey, thanks for supporting our team by spending 30 grand on tickets but now that the Playoffs are here and your financial support should be rewarded we're only selling tickets to 'true fans' and we're testing them to make sure they are true fans and aren't tied to corporations. Hope you come back and buy season tickets again next year so we can screw you come Playoff time."

this may just be the most assinine suggestion i've ever seen in this forum. You're essentially requesting that the Rockets stop being a business. Good luck on that.

 

They mentioned the traffic in the first half, but then in the second half they said something sarcastic - something along the lines of "It's the second half, and this is a sold-out game - I guess it's not the traffic.."

 

ok check these out:

 

Ah, OK. I switched to Bill and Calvin after the 1st quarter. The game was a blowout for most of the 2nd half (until B Davis got hot) so maybe the corporate slobs were walking around the club level sipping wine.

The last time I landed some good tickets from my friends company, I got there an hour early to watch the shoot-around and didn't leave until a half hour after the final buzzer. I wanted to get my fill of the good life because I don't know if I'll ever have that good a seat again. Those corporate slobs don't know how good they have it.

At any rate, we've had some pretty good showings on national TV this year as far as crowds go especially since football season ended.

ckahlich001, the 5th pic down is great! Hope you don't mind if I photochop my head onto your body and use it as my desktop background.

 

sweet pics ckahlich001. thanks for sharing. i'm definetly going to have to go next year. i'm jealous.

 

i love those white outfits.

 

How is that? Like you mentioned those seats are already sold to the corporations - the money is in the Rockets pockets. So, not selling them to the corporations so the Rockets can sell them to "true fans" is going to turn into more money?

(Besides, that New Orleans game WASN'T a sell-out)

 

who said we are making the playoffs?

 

Pro sports is built for the corporate fans for the most part. Typically the most rabid fans are the ones chatting online during the games yelling at the TV, or sitting in sports bar slapping high fives. Just think, most of us don't go to more than 4 or 5 games each season.

Coach Barnes' solution at the Erwin Center was to designate the areas behind the North and South goals the "Ozone" for students. This is general admission and the most rabid students get in line long before tipoff to get the best seats. Dick Vitale has praised the noise and intensity of the Ozone on many occasions ever since. However, like all other UT sports, the blue hairs have the best seats, and God forbid they ever stand and cheer.

The Rockets should take a page out of Barnes' book and open up the areas behind the goals as general admission $25 tickets. That would create some fan noise, and give a place for us diehards to cause a ruckus and taunt opposing players, etc.

 

I actually do know a little bit -- just a little -- about how a pro sports franchise works.

Our biggest source of revenue, by far, is ticket sales.

Also, the New Orleans score was not a sold out game. I don't know what was said on air (I was at the game), but it wasn't a sellout. Check the box score if you want.

We've near the end of a stretch here where we have 10 home games in about 22 days. We've sold out a lot of them, but we never went into that stretch expecting to sell out all of them. When the home games get packed that closely together, it always hurts ticket sales a bit and our no-show rate goes up. That's a lot of nights for people to be out in a very short stretch of time, and some fatigue sets in.

The New Orleans game was also an early start, which also increases our no show rate. Most fans go home first and then come out to the game. In a spread out city like Houston, that makes it tough. That start time is part of the league's national TV deal, though -- it is what it is.

I have to admit I'm baffled by the idea of refusing ticket sales to corporations. What are you suggesting? A background check on all ticket buyers, and if they work for a corporation, they can't come?

For someone giving others lessons in business ... I guess I'm missing how this is a good idea.

By the way, I think what the UT program did with their student section is great. Now, if we can somehow convince the players to play for free so that we can have the same economic model ... now you're talking.

Tim

 

well i was thinking all the games were sold out, in which case this make no sense as an economic model.

however, since not all games are sold out. wouldn't lowering prices be akin to supply side economics? lowering taxes --> more taxes collected. lowering prices --> more tickets sold. i'm sure you've done market studies and what not that's beyond my elementary knowledge of economics. but maybe you can recover some dead weight loss by making tickets in lower bowl more affordable.

 

Tim, I love it that you post here, and actually read our posts. Very wise marketing research.

Of course, the suggestion from the thread starter is absurd. We understand that basketball is a business. So, of course you need corporate supporters.

But, in all the fuss about what is good business, an important point is getting lost.

A lot of corporate ticket holders end up as no-shows, and this affects crowd excitement and momentum for the team. If they've bought during the regular season, they ought to get Playoff tickets. But, perhaps you might consider some type of policy, that if they don't get there within a certain period of time, you could either sell or give away their seats to RABID fans, even holding a competition for fans who get the most excited. You could do some type of promotional give-away, or even charity offer that made corporations look good, but that excited fans. If you needed, you could keep a percentage of them for real late arrivals, possibly losing their assigned seat, but still being in the good seats. But, its something to think about. You might have more noise, fan appreciation, and even make more money in the process. Marketing guys are known for coming up with win/win solutions.

Somthing else to think about.