BGM- when i used to say that, i used to get called all kind of names, now fans are beginning to see. DCKID, it may be true Francis and Mobley are exciting, but they make as many turnovers and bad plays as they do good ones. I really don't have to see dunks and very difficult shots to enjoy basketball, I just like watching games with a "flow". This "flow" I'm talking about is sharing the ball, running the court, and playing sound defense. I know thats a lot to ask of teams now days, but to watch a team like the Rockets is just not fun. For all the atheletes we have, how many fast breaks do we have per game? How many dunks or layups? Most atheletic teams get slashes to the basket or shots in transition, but the Rockets do neither. I don't really have a problem paying to see good basketball, but when evrything is iso or 3 pt shots, plus you're not competing on defense its just not good.Maybe with the infusion of Griffin,Morris and Torres, this team can improve and become more transition based, but as it stands, most people like me would rather stay at home and watch or flip the league pass and watch someone else play.
Wow. I don't know how you were able to convince yourself that 2 weeks of basketball outweighs 40+ games. I have some snake oil I can sell you...
I have to agree that it's not just the attendance that's bad, it's the attendees. I went to last night's game and I swear I could have studied for a test in there. It's almost like going to a library. I remember one instance where Cat or Mooch made a play a clapped his hands and you could hear it clearly at the top of the arena where I was sitting. It's pretty embarassing. As for the team. I hate to say it, but it is hard to watch them play when all they do is shoot 3s. The only inside game they have is from KT. Mooch should do like Steve and look for Cato for some easy lobs. Last night on defense Kelvin was doing whatever he wanted on Gasol. Also Griff needs to play low post a little more and Cat needs to drive it in more. It just seems like all this team does is shoot jumpers. The one thing that can be said about them is that they seem to play really well when they're down by 20 points. Maybe Caroll Dawson should hire a hypnotist and make the team believe that we're down 25 at the start of the game. Then we'd make the playoffs!
dude, I never get tired of Mooch's do... I mean last night he was sporting the ICE-T ponytail! Stylin' OG Style!
when I lived in Houston, I would have loved to see the rockets play but the Summit/Compaq center was: 1. Too far as I lived in Humble/Kingwood area which was about 30 miles from my parents house. 2. The Summit/Compaq Center was in my estimation on an extremely busy freeway and what was becoming a bad neighborhood. I'm not sure on what Houston looks like now as I moved to the east coast at the end of 1995.
Been to two games at the Alamodome, but none at Compaq Center...pretty odd considering I've lived in Houston for so long. SA has lower ticket prices but you have to pay for parking. Houston has higher ticket prices but of course parking is free. I plan on goin to the Rockets Spurs game on March 7th.
and above all the summit sucks...new aerena will bring back the funs as long as ticket prices can stay in the middle of the pack...here in d.c. even with JOrdan on the Wiz i can go enjoy a wizards game for 1/2 price of the rockets games
Huh? I go to Wizards game too, and I don't really think there is much difference. For the Wizards its $45 bucks for the upper level, and $35 for the upper level when you're directly behind the backboard. The Rockets are $46 when you'r even with the court on the upper level, and the prices for tickets on the horshoes decrease as you get further behind the backboard, starting at $34 and ending at $10. And in addition, when you're on the Rockets upper level you're almost twice as close to the action as when you're on the Washington Upper Level. MCI Center is much taller than the Compaq. Then on the bottom level they look about the same, except you can get a seat behind the backboard on the lower level for $46 bucks in Houston, where the cheapest bottom level seat in Washington in $75. There's really not much difference. So I don't think its neccesarily true the Rockets have the worst ticket prices in the league.
You people who sit and say Rockets sucks Fans suck etc etc why the HELL ARE YOU HERE If your not a fan of the team and the rockets but a fan of winning ONLY then go someplace else and post. Is every other post a negative post now? This is a forum about team support not bad mouthing the team. If you guys are the ones b****ing about fan attendance and your not attending then SHUTUP you have no room to talk. Lets think positive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree that Houston fans suck once they're in the arena. I went to an Aeros game one night with some friends. Everytime they'd take a shot on goal I'd stand up and scream my azz off. I wasn't being obnoxious or anything, just doing what you're supposed to do at a game. Some prick behind me tapped me on the shoulder and told me to sit down so that people can watch the game. He asked me why I was being such an *******. That's what's wrong with this city. When you go to a game, don't sit there like you're in church. Get off your azz and scream and have a good time. If you can't see over my head, it's because you're sitting on your azz like a stick in the mud. We have NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE in this town because everyone is so lame. Maybe someone could hold a class on how to act a freakin' game.
We could go on and on as to why we, collectively as Houstonians, suck as BBall fans! But, some chose to still try to develop conspiracy theories, when the bottomline is that winning cures everything in today's high-priced market The facts are clear: The Rockets had 5 straight years of sellouts in the mid to late 90s when they were going to the playoffs and winning. Before you judge Houston on attendance and "fanship", look at every team in the NBA except for the high-dollar TV markets, NY and LA, and "the nothing else to complete with team" in Sac-town and you will see that every other team does not sell out if they are not winning! Boston did not sellout after all those years of championships, they struggled. NJ is winning and still struggling to sell out. Minnesota did not sell out until the last three years. Chicago, the great sports town with all those great fans who go to Wrigley to get drunk and bask in the Sun, is not coming close to selling out or even attracting high volumes...it goes on and on and on. Even the Lakers would not draw well if they were not making it to the playoffs. I can get a ticket to the Knicks game this weekend with no problem compared to 5 years ago, when it would take me weeks to bag one. PEOPLE QUIT WHINING AND GIVING YOURSELF ULCERS OVER THE LACK OF FAN BASE (ATTENDANCE)....WINNING brings out fans--bottomline! Attedance has dwindled over the past three years due to a failing organization. You need to make the playoffs and stay consistent in every NBA town to keep the fan base going--look at the numbers overall in the NBA! The fans are here in Houston, just not coming out to watch a perennial losing situation. This is basic discretionary spending economics... Sidenote: I have been a season ticket holder for 8 straight years and will continue, but will downgrade my tix next year because the return on entertainment factor is not high right now. $84/per seat per game is not worth the product on the floor right now (more like $36-40/game)
Brilliant post!! I couldn't agree more. There is this perception that all the teams around the NBA have fans that support their teams, win or lose. Dallas gets billed as a great sports city....yet getting Mavs tickets was never difficult before the last two seasons. Remember when the Cleveland Indians couldn't draw 10,000 fans to a game for nearly a month back in the very early 90's??? Now we all hail the Cleveland fans as some of the best in all of sports...whatever!! The reality is that sports fans, on a very general basis, are not compelled by the NBA product right now. Hell, even NBA commentators are lamenting the state of the league, today!! The expectation for the Houston Rockets is that they win in the playoffs...when they stop doing that, people lose interest. They've created that expectation. In addition, real ticket "get some butts in the seats" promotions haven't been utilized by this team since 1992/3. They took sellouts for granted for a long time, and did very little real marketing (save a few nifty "believe it" type campaigns during the playoffs -- remember the little kid preaching to us in that ad?). Today they're selling a losing team in a league that is, quite frankly, a boring product. And I say that as one who used to be a season ticket holder..as one who wouldn't dream of missing a game. Today, I find the cost of the seats to not be worth the value of the entertainment.
I definitely agree. Of course, if your team is winning it will make all the difference in the world as far as attendance goes. But the fact is that the Rockets were a winning team last season, and were going down the homestretch with playoff hopes still intact! They are one of four teams to win the NBA title over the last decade. So, they a.) had more recent success than most other NBA teams and b.) they were having a better season than at least twelve other teams. So, I could understand if the Rockets finished somewhere around 15th to 20th in the NBA in attendance. But NO! It was the absolute worst attendance in the entire NBA last season! How can you possibly explain that?
here's how I explain it...ticket sales are largely determined before the season actually begins based on the performance of the team from the year before. at the time, 1987 was the best year the astros had ever had at the gate...yet 1987 was largely disappointing for the 'stros. Their seats were sold with the expectation of seeing a previous division winner from 1986. the rockets haven't been a playoff team for some time now. yes, they were competitive last year...but that was largely surprising. if i remember right, they started the previous season off by losing a long string of games in a row. they subsequently picked up the super-fabulous, ticket-selling Joe Collier in the draft. and again...this organization has not made a real strong marketing effort to put butts in the seats for nearly 10 years now. they've relied solely on the performance of the on-court product...that's simply not good enough anymore.
I'll buy that. And I can understand why the Rockets tickets sells have decreased so much, but even with the lack of advertising, what I can't understand is how a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers who haven't won anything in over a decade, don't even have an All-Star on their team, and play in a smaller city can sell more tickets than the Rockets. I seriously doubt the Caveliers advertising is THAT good. There's only three explanations I can think of 1.) Something is wrong with our arena 2.) houston is a poor city 3.) our fans aren't that good And I just used the Cavaliers as an example. There's at least half a dozen other NBA teams who would fit in the same boat.
1.Basketball is not a part of the good ole boy network like football and baseball.To prove my point neither one had a problem getting their buildings.Adams wouldn't have had either if he wasn't a jerk, plus 2.We are so use too our teams losing, houston fans are fair weathered, plus 3.We especially don't pay to see bad teams especially when 4.You can watch most or all of the games on T.V. and 5. the ticket prices are so expensive because the CompactCEnter is so small and no longer a place to take clients when we're in the middle of 6.a failing economy, why pay money to see 7.a team that lives by the jump shot, brick. I would and most of you would but the majority of houston wouldn't, just like when we were winning the building was sold out but must of the time people wouldn't cheer or get out of their seats.I would and you would but they won't.
how much do cavs tickets cost??? how many more fans/game are they really averaging as compared to houston??? have they ever run "hot" for the cavs like houston has for the rockets over long stretches of years?? is cleveland a more compact city that allows for easier trips from work to home (to pick up the family) and on to the game?? i know for a fact that the latter is a very real consideration for me....simply not enough time to work until 5 or 5:30, brave traffic home, pick up fam, brave traffic back out to the game and make it in time and not entirely stressed...would rather just watch the game at home on the couch with my son on a weeknight than go through all that. lots of money out west on I-10 probably feels the same way!
no offense, but this make absolutely zero sense. the ONLY team in Houston that did not get their requested building was the Oilers. the baseball team did...the basketball team did. in the last referendum, Houston approved the basketball arena by the largest majority of any arena/stadium referendum EVER! the only problem with the first referendum was that there was no urgency..didn't matter that the first didn't get passed, because we all thought there was a very good chance we'd get a second shot at approving a new deal later.
