I wouldn't call it racial. I'd call it tribal. Houston sports are divided into tribes for a lot of folks. I know people that just don't like the Rockets and only love the Texans. I know people who hate the Texans and only love the Astros. This isn't a sports city that backs their teams because they represent Houston. They pick their teams and invest 90% of their interest to that sport. I'll say a lot of it has to do with age. Older people don't like basketball but no worries because millennials love it and they will eventually afford to buy tickets.
It can be a multi-variate problem, but I have no issue assigning the lion's share of the blame to the fact that the majority of the ticketholders in the club level are not individuals. This creates a layer of separation between the attendee and the product. The more layers of separation, the less invested the attendee is. The less invested the attendee is... you see where this is going. Why are so many seats owned by organizations and not individuals? It's a combination of price (see below) and Houston's booming corporate sector. To put this in perspective, here's some season ticket prices for similar seats w/ other teams in similar locales: houston - 7.2K atlanta - 2.7K milkwaukee - 3.7K charlotte - 4.3K detroit - 4.4K dallas - 5.7K denver - 3.1K miami - 5.1K cleveland - 5.9K okc - 5.8K new orleans - 3.1K washington - 5.5K I'm not saying this is entirely to blame, but it cannot be ignored. I'm not saying the Rockets should act like a charity, either, but it is an annoying problem I wish they would attempt to rectify... somehow.
I want to believe that Utah and minny are not entertaining for fans and that everyone knew Houston would beat them so they MUST be waiting for the wcf right? Right?
To everyone claiming a race or (sports) culture problem. Was the Summit this dead in the 80s and 90s? It's hard to imagine that it was.
I always buy from flash seats so I didn’t know there was a certain release date from the team. Is that why and when the price drops? Is it cheaper buying straight from rockets? Is it possible or do scalpers get them all?
season ticket holders have access to their tickets already, thats why theyre able to list all their tickets before the general public sale. the public sale is generally going to get you better prices than what theyre listed at now but its also a risk bc we dont know what deal people may find last minute. I was able to get get upper direct side tickets for $78 last series. 2 days before the game. by game day they were $130 per
There have been much better Toyota Center crowd years than this one (as recent as LAST SEASON)... with the same suspected corporate structure. Also, corporate structures are not solely unique to Houston in regards to NBA tickets. While Harden has evolved as a basketball player, he really hasn't generated any sort of increased connection to the fan base during that time. As animated as he is on the court, he's one of the worst interviews of any Rockets star in history. There's a reason he's not asked to say much during the State Farm commercials. He's just not a personality, or likable enough, to create extra buzz (maybe that changes at the strip clubs... who knows). Until you're able to prove that the vast majority of the lower bowl is simply owned by corporations... AND those corporations give their tickets to fans who have absolutely no interest in the Rockets whatsoever... I'll continue to take the approach that this city collectively doesn't really care about this year's Rockets team in comparison to Rockets teams of the past... despite the improved success. Maybe a playoff heartbreaking loss in game 7 changes that. Maybe winning it all changes that. Maybe a dud performance (like game 6 last year, or the terrible 2016 season) makes this city turn on them even further.
Yeah see, I was able to get round 1 upper side seats for 82$ each, and in round 2 for $73 each and I bought them both about a day or 2 before the game. That’s why my hope is on Sunday/Monday they are cheaper. I appreciate the info. Hopefully I can get them for roughly the same price I have been paying.
I'm pretty sure there have been threads complaining about how our crowds suck each year going back to the 2000s. Then you're going to be waiting a long time, because I don't work for the Rockets (although I have been a season ticket holder for a decade now, FWIW). It doesn't take a leap of faith to understand and accept that tickets owned by organizations are going to end up producing more disinterested participants than tickets owned by individuals. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a number of reasons and cannot even begin to be quantified (unlike my theory). So, agree to disagree. One thing we can agree on either way is that I don't expect this to ever change unless the Rockets rip off a streak of deep, deep playoff runs (and/or titles).
There's been a lot of meh Rockets teams as well. I'd suggest you go back and watch video of the teams that were exciting/fun and this city found a way to connect to (Yao-McGrady year one, 22 game winning streak team, Harden/Howard year one and two... especially after coming back 3-1) and tell me if you think those fans seem more interested, into the games, then what we've seen thus far in the playoffs. I also saw similar dis-interest in the early 90's Rockets teams from Houston... pre-corporate TC era. You're the one putting the majority of the blame on this aspect. I also have been a Rockets season ticket holder... albeit not in the last 3 years. I still keep in touch with a good number of season ticket holders in the TC, who have seats in the supposed "all corporate" areas. Back to your anecdotal evidencing, they say first-hand that they haven't felt the same connection with this team... despite the wins... for whatever reason. Some thought it was carry-over from the Astros title. Some thought it was because they figured GSW was going to win it all anyways. Again, having corporate fans doesn't necessarily mean they're incapable of becoming passionate... and in years past, these same fans were more into this team. It doesn't make sense... but when you break it down on a success/passion ratio, this is one of the worst supported Houston teams ever. An emotional/heated 7 game series against the Warriors... win or lose... will go a long way. I saw the same thing in 1993 when the Rockets lost to Seattle in 7. It set the stage for the 15 game winning streak (where they were still drawing 9,000 fans/game at the Summit), which eventually woke this city up to the world of elite NBA basketball that you can get behind.
blaming obama really? then why do most other cities have rocking crowds where they show up before tipoff? while the rockets dominated the jazz on the court, the jazz fans dominated the rockets fans in fan participation. lemme guess the big city vs. small city argument. well toronto still didn't have as many empty seats at tipoff. face it. this city just doesn't like basketball and the rockets. houston has a lot of people who will support the texans no matter how garbage they are and the actual basketball fandom in this city is split because it's a lot of bandwagon fans of other teams like the lakers or warriors.
Astros and Rockets had quite a few conflicting home games so far these playoffs. Might be something there.... It's a what have you done for me lately type of city....time for the Rockets to step up and win the hearts of the city as the Astros did last year.
If the Rockets come out and give the fans a reason to believe against Golden State the stadium will go nuts.
I noticed a blasé crowd as well, people not impressed with the late run against Utah and just thought we would walk over them. We are going to need this crowd to beat the Warriors. I'm always concerned about game 2 with our team and we need to play faster.
Disagree whole-heartedly. Plenty of people I know that have season tickets for the Rockets also have (or had) season tickets for the other two teams. People who grew up in Houston, and like sports, typically root for all 3 teams... with passion amongst the teams varying depending on how a team is in a certain era. For me personally, was more passionate growing up with the Oilers in the early 80's, then that migrated to the Astros in the mid 80's, with around the same time the 86 Rockets started making noise, then 90's Oilers, then the 90's Rockets (which sustained true invested interest till whenever Yao finally came up lame), late 90's Astros - 2006, Early 2000's Texans, 2011 Texans, 2015 Rockets, 2015-18 Astros, etc. etc. etc.) I don't think I'm a unique Houston-raised sports fan by any means. I will admit that passion for this current Rockets team is off... I still want them to win like crazy, and will celebrate the hell out of any championship... but not going to be too crushed if they lose either (wouldn't have said the same thing 15 years ago).
