Not everyone wants to live vertically. Trains are long overdue in an area with millions making nightmare commutes. We don't need more freeways. We need easy and accessible trains to the city.
Not sure if it is the cause of the crowd issue. But basketball ticket prices are ridiculous. Why would I shell out more than a 100 bucks for a nose bleed seat to watch the g-league Spurs getting beaten? And yeah, Lakers and Knicks are even more ridiculous. Basketball is supposed to be an urban sport. How can inner city kids afford to watch a game, especially now that almost all games are moved to cable TV.
Would be shocked if some heads didn't roll this summer. Would be the first thing I'd do. Embarrassing, no matter the excuse. It's too expensive and the non-game experience, from the sounds of it, is usually mediocre.
I used to be in the crowd that its because football..blah blah...But just was looking at some childhood fam pictures of games I went to...starting to think that the Summit was just a better location for fans...
So we got to book more than one month in advance to get descent prices in nosebleeed seats?... There has got to be a change, or seats wont fill (until playoffs). - Not a band wagoner, been bleeding red since mid 80s-Thanks!
are you expecting even cheaper prices to sit next to the court? bc thats just not feasible. you wont find that anywhere
The Rockets have sold 99% of their tickets this season. There is not problem selling seats. Welcome to the economic realities of the open market. Do you expect cheaper plane tickets the day of a flight? This isn't the 80's. Inflation is higher, players get paid more and dynamic pricing is the norm.
Posted this before, still relevant. Prices are not outrageous. http://www.city-data.com/income/income-Houston-Texas.html I'm not really sure they're really that outrageous for a city with the population and income level of Houston. There are about 180K house holds with annual income $100K+ (so let's say $70K after tax). Which means for the top 22% households, 1% of their post-tax income is at least $700. If we assume ~6000 lower bowl tickets per game (not including box and club), at a average price of ~$270 (assumption based eyeballing seat geek) per ticket, that amounts $1.65MM per game and $68M per year, or about $375 per house. In another words, Les just need the top 1/5 of Houston house holds, on average, to spend ~0.5% of their take home pay on the Rockets and he can expect the lower bowls to be filled. This is even before the corporate and etc. buyers. I don't think the prices are too high for the city. Now, whether if there's enough demand/real fans (Houston is a football town) of the Rockets, that's another questions all together.
I agree with everyone who says that prices are too high. I live in Austin and rarely get the chance to go to Houston for a game. When I look at prices, and factor in the cost of parking, gas, food, drinks, etc., I just turn away. I make good money, but I still don't want to spend over $200 per person to attend a game. For Austinites, it's cheaper to go to San Antonio when the Rockets are in town. This feels like a similar problem facing the NFL: in many cases, it's just better to watch the game at home. I have a better viewing angle, I don't have the jerk dropping f-bombs every few seconds around kids and my beer is a lot cheaper. If this makes me a "bad fan," so be it. I love the Rockets, follow the team closely and want them to succeed. But that doesn't mean I need to drop $400 to take my wife to a game. It seems like there is room for ideas here. For instance, if a lower-bowl corporate ticket hasn't been scanned in by the start of the second quarter, why not move an upper-deck season ticket holder down to the seat?
It doesn't make you a bad fan. Some people can afford it and some can't. It's like saying Season ticket holders are better fans than people who aren't. It's just priorities and economics. I feel the same way you do about food. I'd much rather cook at home than pay someone else $100 to cook a plate for me.
most of the people that say prices are too high are expecting to pay next to nothing to sit next to the court. Trying to sit there for what $20, well that's just not being realistic. prices for rockets game are by no means too high. really just another one of those excuses. but to each its own. playoff games have never been much of a problem. the support will be there
The Knicks sell out MSG for that team. Every year. Their tickets cost a lot more than ours. People just can't come to grips that Houston is a world class city with world class wealth and the tickets sell because well, people are willing to pay that price. i think it comes from the idea that Houston is still some sort fo small town.
I wonder how many of those club seats are unsold. I would like to see the club seats condensed down a little more to just the center sections and half of each of the sections next to it (ie moving that rail splits 104/105, 109/110, 117/118, & 122/123 to split 106, 108, 119 & 121 instead). You'll always notice how filled 104,110,117 & 123 are because they aren't club seats. Now if they really are selling all the club seats and people are just not going, this is a moot point and we just need to change the lighting to stage lighting ala MSG & Staples Center.
1) It's Spring Break and people may be out of town. 2) It's against a Spurs team with everyone sitting out. 3) It's a Monday. 4) Houston traffic always keeps people from arriving on time for 7 PM tipoffs. 5) People may have forgotten the Rockets actually have home games given their road heavy schedule lately(ok, that one's a reach). I'm not really worried about the playoffs though. Toyota Center is gonna be rocking when mid-April is here.
