...I would imagine the arena in large part reflects the demographics of who actually attends games. Judging by the amount of empty seats in the lower sections every time I have been, the people who attend Rockets games and drive revenue for the venue today are not the people with large amounts of disposable income. I don't think putting in a fancy tequila bar or nicer restaurants is necessarily going to change that dynamic drastically until the team starts winning more. If Houston can become a perennial playoff team and equally as important - have a real "face of the franchise", then that dynamic might change. I think NOW is the time to develop those contingency plans for how the arena attendance might grow to be more profitable and you execute those plans one offseason in the hopefully near future....it would also be interesting to understand where they are in the lease timing for their existing vendors - it may be a situation where they have a year circled in red pen where many of the vendors are up for contract renegotiations and they can reshuffle the profile of vendors to align to a larger strategy for demographic engagement. The one thing about the arena is the infrastructure is already in place for better or worse. I would think reskinning spaces for new experiences is a relatively quick surface remodel and could be done over an offseason(provided you have inspection schedules lined up well in advance)....the only wrinkle there would be wether you think the building infrastructure can't support some capability or if Fertitta can't get the city to accommodate an aggressive permitting plan for an offseason. What in particular would you say makes the Knicks experience better besides "fans actually show up and get rowdy"?
Rockets were selling more individual/season tickets then. To people, not just the corporations and organizations purchasing tickets so they can give them away for free to those within their organizations. A guy who's been selling season tickets to my family since '93 said they've lost lots of season ticket holders the last few years, including us. For the past few years teachers in HISD/FBISD have been getting up to 4 free tickets for home games on a first come/first serve basis. This season they were only getting seats in the upper deck because the Rockets started winning more games and prices for the lower deck got higher. That's not counting tickets purchased by other corps/organizations and the ones gifted by players and staff. A retired Rocket has been giving tickets away to my family since I met him in Vancouver at a Grizzlies game. Majority of the seats in the upper deck this season were given away for free. Some people get extra tickets they don't need or don't show up to games. Hence why there's been so many empty seats. This will change once the Rockets become a legit championship contenders. Unfortunately Harden is one of those rare superstars hated by the media and NBA fans. As good as he was for the Rockets, his style of play was constantly criticized and made Rocket games "boring to watch." He's not a high-flyer who's going to dunk on people in games. That's what kids want to see, and that's what gets them begging their parents to take them to a Rockets game (speaking from a marketing perspective). Perception is everything. Even with all of that they still sold more tickets then. An arena is an arena. Amen and Cam for instance are super athletic. If the Rockets become contenders and one or both become stars in the league, they'll sell out every home game (not just when the Lakers, Nuggets or other top teams are in town) because fancy passes and high-flying dunks are what people want to see. Sengun has become more popular because of how entertaining he is. The Rockets just haven't had these types of potential All-Star level players who are this exciting to watch. Phase 3 is about to be craaaazy (in a good way). For fans and the organization.
I remember when the Rowdies were created courtesy of JVG. It would've been awesome to have them in the lower bowl to make us look good on TV, but they were placed behind one of the goals. They're so high up where you would never see them unless they're put on the big screen. Great idea by JVG, fail by Rockets marketing to put them there. I watch our SCHN feeds and never see them. Do they still exist?
are you talking about the 93/94 season? They averaged 15,005 per game that year...and The Summit only sat a little north of 16,000 as I recall (16,285 to be exact). They averaged more the following year, obviously. https://www.apbr.org/attendance.html
The rockets had Stevie Franchsie at his best and were still struggling to put butts in the seats. The comets games were more packed in attendance. That’s why Les was so excited to get Yao. Rockets needed Yao for his potential draw and popularity. We’re die hard fans but the arena fans are not boisterous and make the arena look empty although the numbers say the rockets are typically highly in attendance then it looks
The Rockets have been middle of the pack at best in attendance since going to the Toyota Center. Even with the ticket sales being better during the Harden years, the problem has always been the lower bowl. It just looks sad at tip-off every game, whether the team is good or bad. You see places like Milwaukee and Denver loud and rocking before the game has started when their team is good. The Rockets have only had that energy during the playoffs when all the seats are available, otherwise it's just a dead vibe in the building. It's a lot to do with the greed of the team wanting the guaranteed ticket sales and fans buying overpriced food and drink instead of enjoying the game in their seats.
This. The crowd looks dead unless GSW or the lakers come into town. I remember we played the lakers when they came to town and the crowd was goin crazy and Dwight said after the game that he was proud of the fans for how they showed up/out and that the team needs them to be like that every game. I don’t fault a fanbase for not being boisterous when the product on the floor isn’t good or exciting but we’ve had that and the crowd still looks dead. I have league pass and the only crowds that look deader then the TC are the hawks and Hornets. Even the pistons crowds looks on par or more live than the TC.
This city has a horrible sports culture. We are an entertainment culture city where we go to games to be seen and to post pics and take kids out for fun then leave at halftime. Our teams only have packs crowds when they win big. The folks with fat pockets are majority transplants because who the hell who stay in Houston their entire life if they could afford to live somewhere else? we have a fanbase of poor diehards and a team that sells tickets at big market prices.
I remember going to the game when Pippen returned to Houston after he was traded to the Blazers either 2001 or 2002. I had some tickets in the lower bowl at the Compaq Center where I got some nasty looks for booing Pippen along with the rest of the upper sections. That said, the vibe at Summit/Compaq Center was better than the Toyota Center, but we've always had some stuck-up quiet fans in the lower bowl at either arena.
What do you mean by this? Why do you say this? It’s not the first time I seen you post something like this and I assume you’re a native Houstonian…
Yea I didn't say the arena was full every night when Harden was a Rocket. I said they sold more tickets then. People not being there on time for tip-off is understandable since most don't get off work until 5 or 6. More people bought tickets and showed up to games than the last few years though. That was my point. Rockets have been getting more guaranteed tickets sells from corps/organizations because of the fact less people are buying tickets. The greedy folks you mentioned would rather be able to raise prices and sell to individuals than to corps/orgs who give tickets away - one of these reasons why Rockets FO publicly demanded players get better or they're gone. When people spend their own hard earned money for events, they tend to try to be there in time and stay until it's over. Better for profit and optics. Win-win. I agree that refreshments are too high, and that it's one of the reasons why people don't come. That's every NBA arena though and not the sole reason why people don't show up.
Man, on the heels of winning 2 titles and having star power like Barkley and Drexler along with the Dream, watching Steve Francis make the same dumbass mistakes repeatedly wasn't exactly inspiring. I get there's a generation that grew up with him a bit....but man, I hated that era of Rockets basketball. So frustrating.
For the most part, companies are buying those seats anyway. Houston has a ton of very wealthy people who've made their home here through retirement...but regardless, those seats are tax write offs for companies with big expense accounts.
I'll post it again just so everyone can be clear where I stand on it lol Deep playoff runs...followed by missing the playoffs because our star PG can't figure out how to run a fast break. It was mind-numbing.
those folks aren’t going to Rockets games. They may own seats to give away to their guests but if you wanna see where the money in this town fills seats go to Jones Hall.
I wish teams would try different stuff. I went to the Rockets game in DC and it was maybe 30% full. Still the same balls-to-the-wall, nonstop hype videos with dated music playing constantly. Why does this have to be the default experience, especially for bad teams?
Attendance picked up as the successful season went forward... but there were games beginning that year where they were drawn 9,000-10,000 (in the midst of the historic 15 game winning streak to start the year)... and that was sad coming off the awesome 92-93 season where you could see something special was happening. I'm also always a big fan of the season BEFORE a team becomes a true contender. 2015 Astros. This year's Texans. 92-93 Rockets. Just love seeing them start to "get it" before the rest of the casual fan base bandwagons on.
