You're comparing the Rockets to the Astros and Texans? The Rockets are coming off three straight trash seasons. I think they were the single worst team in the NBA over that span? The Astros meanwhile have won two WS in the last, what, 6-7 years? The Texans weren't selling that many tickets, IIRC, but Texas effing loves it's football, so the second the Texans start looking promising (as they do now), you have to know those tickets are gonna disappear quickly.
The NBA as a whole is down in ratings and attendance. They market their stars over the teams, and nowadays it's stagnant. Plus you have too many stars switching teams all the time. Also I think they are trying too much stuff. In session tournaments, the all star game is always different, etc we're also out of the playoffs and the Astros just started. So there's inter-city choices for sports.
I've been to many games at the Toyota Center the last few years and I live in Austin so those of you living nearby gotta step it up. That being said - it can be a pricey experience as a family to go to a game - especially if you want decent seats. They really gotta figure out that problem of unsold seats in the lower sections - I'm guessing the same people who complain "the Toyota Center has become too urban"(if you guys remember that gem of a thread) are a big reason why expensive seats don't get filled by real fans so the arena will continue to have a wide ring of old oil money reserved seats missing honest fans. I did notice you can get much cheaper seats if you buy from the ticketmaster resale seat section and are willing to wait until literally last minute....it's not super cheap, but I've had seats behind the bench for under a hundred - but then ticketmaster tacks on some absurd upcharge on top of it calling it a "transfer fee". I know people love to complain about the Toyota Center but I don't think it's all that different than other team stadiums I have caught in the past and I have been to games in Portland(a few weeks ago actually), LA, San Antonio, Boston, Philly, and Detroit. It seems like most venues are more interested in quick transactions and keeping you moving back to your seats. The sustained engagement or better dining options doesn't seem to mesh well with the fast pace of NBA basketball - it's not like MLB or NFL where you might be sitting at the game for 3+ hours
My wife put me through law school teaching first grade in alief. She left for a while when our kids were little..but one day they called and said they needed her to bail them out of a teacher just quitting on them in like February…she went back to teach and she’s still there now teaching. She grew up in a country club community in Little Rock and she’s all about alief! She buys the shirts with that small print alief script and it’s just fantastic. She’s a great human being. but let’s not move Toyoda Center to alief….
I have this thing where I always make it about myself…help me. OTOH she’s ****ing amazing and she should have left me a long time ago!
This is absolute bullshit. The city went nuts for the Rockets during the championship years through the end of the 90s. You must be too young to have experienced it.
some of you folks don’t have a clue how logistics and crowd management works. you open up a can of worms saying “we’ll start letting anyone come down in the 4th quarter”. Dumbest **** I’ve ever heard. Do you know what will happen? The upper level will be EMPTY after halftime since lots of people will just start making their way towards the lower level to try and move down. It will be chaos since there isn’t enough space in the walkways for hundreds of people to just stand.
The wins will come. Gotta get a party atmosphere first then we can talk wins bruh. I got it? Toyoda Center dating service? I bet it be packed like a mofo lmfao.
I was in 9th and 10th grade for the championships. Of course there were people that liked the Rockets (myself included) but Hakeem wearing Etonics and LA Gear was never popular like Jordan was, even in his own city. Most people aren't into basketball in Houston like they are for football and baseball, it's always been that way.
They give away way too many prime seats to corporations, and the club seats behind the benches you see on TV cost an arm and a leg no matter what game you go to. Maybe they are maximizing profit that way but it'd be cool if they at least got more legit fans in the seats you see on TV, and maybe put more of the corporate giveaways on the other side. Upper bowl is usually a better fan atmosphere than lower bowl besides heavy season ticket sections because they are actually affordable Also would be awesome to see something like the Clippers are doing- https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/...on-called-the-wall-with-strict-rules/3313983/ Don't think we will see any of that though, unfortunately The atmosphere for playoff games during the Harden years was generally good though. I think NBA regular season is always a tougher sell
The Summit was at least on par, if not better (especially after they added all the awesome new concession places in the mid 90’s). And there was a time they were drawing 9,000 fans/game in the midst of a championship season. Hell, 150 year old Madison Square Garden is better… and that was prior to the most recent renovations that completely blow Toyota Center out of the water. I honestly think it was designed as poorly as any arena in North America right now. Surprised it isn’t lambasted more… but nobody outside of Houston really cares about Houston stuff so I guess not all that surprising.
