Yes lowering prices would help. But winning would help the attendance most because Houston fans generally are ignorant and have a weird way of thinking. I know that sounds really negative but here's a couple of examples to back it up: 1)Went to the home opener of our first championship season by getting tickets an hour before game time and there was only 11,000 people there! All of a sudden when the team won the whole thing, the next year, it was impossible to get many tickets. 2)Here's a few ridiculous(typical) statements from a person at my work who went to the game yesterday: "The only reason I went to the game was to see Griffin and he didn't even play, Rudy T sucks." "Man, I was really disappointed with Cato and Willis' play yesterday. The Nuggets got all the rebounds down the stretch." The first example speaks for itself but if winning was the only way to get a good crowd game in and game out then how come the Bulls(not to mention many other sports teams) still sell out every game. The second example just pissed me off and showed me how ignorant houston fans can be. Willis and Cato were great last nite. But Rudy went to a small lineup so they only played maybe half the game. The stats and energy those 2 had yesterday in the limited time they played was really awesome. To me they were the stories of the 1st(Cato) and 2nd quarter(Willis). Ah well I guess the Rockets are going to have to settle for us true fans for a while till the ignorant fans see their record.
Yo Teeloo -- when are you going to let me come to a game with your third ticket? Anyway, you have a good point. However, do the Bulls still sell out? They did immediately after Jordan's retirement because there was always the thought that he would come back. And even there are sellouts, do people actually show up? I will continue to b**** about the Rockets marketing department until they are either a) all fired or b) inspired to make good commercials and get more people out to the games. The best point I've heard so far is why no one knows the Rockets had a friggin 45-win season last year. THAT should make it an easier sell, and yet the commercials are non-existent, the newspaper ads are rather dry (when you actually notice one), etc. Naturally, the Rockets will sell out in the new arena. That's still stupid, because that will last less than a year (as a reference, see the Astros' first season at Enron Field).
The bulls still sell out now even with no chance of Jordan ever coming back. Granted a great deal of those are season tickets sold in the excitement generated by MJ but a sell out is a sell out. If the ticket holders don't come I'm sure enough of them are given away and used and they still get more fans in the seats then Houston. Don't have a 3rd ticket. I have 1 season ticket, RocketsO3 has 1, and we split the 3rd. So 1/2 the games I only have 1 ticket.
