Right now, people with a lot of disposable income are going to weeknight concerts at the rodeo... 70,000 sold out seats every night this month (and its jam-packed). This city wasn't selling out in the early 90's despite Olajuwon. They didn't sell out a playoff game during the 1994 playoffs (the year they freaking won it all). The Houston sports culture just isn't wired to rabidly support the NBA... unless you're dealing with a team that has already had significant success (and then, your shelf-life on the rabid crowd is about 3-5 years).
Come on, tallanvor. It's SA, it's a win, it's the freakin' Rockets and people are "right not to show up?" I find it hard to believe you're serious. We may disagree elsewhere, but I usually don't have a problem with your basketball takes. I ardently disagree with this one, however. I wish I had been at the game, instead of watching it in Austin on ESPN. If anything was boring, it was their coverage. I'll take a "boring win" over an exciting loss every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
What the hell is this? Lol Humans that don't matter? They are paying fans basketball that's all that really matters. They enjoy the sport and slow their support with their time and money. I'd prefer these fans that actually show up to the company's and rich people that buy the seats in Houston. They just chill and drink sit down late and leave early and hardly know what's going on. Still trying to figure out if this post was just some racist idiocy or just poorly worded.
Also, just to add, its a myth that the lower bowl is simply just "corporate". There's just a number of season ticket holders (upper middle class citizens, with disposable income) who will only go to the marquee games... and put up the rest of the games for sale on the secondary market (or to ticket brokers who will do it for them). Why is THAT a problem that persists more in Houston vs other markets? Because this city hasn't fully embraced this team yet. How does that happen? Real success or close/heart-breaking failure. Either one. The Rockets haven't had that since the late 90's.
That I can agree with! The tickets are more expensive than they should be, and the design of the Toy Box insures that the most "affordable" (I hate to use that word in this context) seats are way too far from the court. Whoever designed this place didn't do Rockets fans any favors, in my opinion.
Great idea but those seats don't remain empty through the first half. If you go to games, you know every seat is full by halfway through the first. Half the stadium is still getting to their seats by tipoff. Concessions, parking, etc.
It's going to get worse. Businesses can't write off 50% of entertainment costs like before. They will all be at restaurants since they can still write off food.
I would buy season tickets if I weren't in Ny. The prices do seem a bit steep and I also never liked the fact that the Toyota Center is located Downtown. I Loved it when they played at the Summit. With Houston Traffic going home getting dressed, then getting in your car to go Downtown can be a pain in the @ss. Also who on earth is going to pay to watch Houston vs a bunch of San Antonio bench Warmers.... this is what D'antoni is talking about. I get that Pops is a genious blah blah blah, resting players, blah blah blah... at the end of the day D'antoni is right for saying what he said about people buying tickets to see a player or players play and they should be able to watch him play. If I had gone to that game... I would be rooting for the Rockets, I would be happy to see Harden, Paul and the rest of the gang... but pissed that Parker, Kawhi, Aldridge, Ginobli, and everyone else that Pops is resting and is not playing. Guaranteed the tickets vs San Antonio were probably more expensive than say Houston vs Orlando. Jared Dudley, tell Pop and the Spurs he owes the people who had tickets to this game half their money back. Also Houston is a large enough city now where there should be better public transportation. That is something that needs to get fixed.
Ticket prices are far from the issue here. There are more teams who’s ticket prices trump that of HOU. GS, LA, BOS, NY, and even MIA have tickets that are more expensive than HOU so let’s throw the ticket price issue out the window. IMO the reason ppl don’t go to the games EARLY is because the location of the Toyota center is trash. There is ZERO attractions around TC for ppl to come and enjoy themselves before the start of games. No one wants to wait in the HOU heat or winter for 2 damn hours until TC doors open. There is literally NOTHING to do around there while you wait. Look at Staples Center, they have restaurants, shopping centers, arcade areas, and much more that you can do before the game starts instead of standing outside a stupid line for 2 hours. MIA, GS, NY, BOS, even SAC and MIL have things you can do around their arena before the game starts. Y’all remember the compact center and where is was located right? Richmond was popping around that time and that alone is already more options than anything TC has. No, Les gave us a stupid outside basketball court, who TF wants to hoop before watching a game? I think if Tilman wants ppl to come to the games he needs to build attractions around TC and I’m not talking about just high end restaurants, I’m talking about bringing in food trucks that ppl in HOU love, some damn music with GOOD music or even an outside bar where ppl can pre game before a game. Make something for the families and their kids, something like City Centre, build a damn world of beers there, and allow food carts and trucks to station themselves there. Why on earth would ppl go to TC 2 hours or even 1 hour early? Again, there is NOTHING to do but sit and wait until the doors open.
A heck of lot of people that might like to arrive as early as you're talking about simply can't do it because they work. They might be able to on Saturday or Sunday, but a heck of a lot of games aren't on Saturday or Sunday. The ticket prices? A lot of the cities you mentioned have a much higher cost of living than Houston has, so salaries are significantly higher. Relatively speaking, the tickets aren't as dear as they are here, in my humble opinion. I like the food truck idea (Austin has some great food trucks. It's a big deal here), but Tilman won't. He's going to want to sell food and drinks in the TC. Next year, there will probably be a lot of food available connected to his numerous restaurants, and it won't be cheap. Maybe good, but I doubt if it's cheaper than what we see today, in my opinion.
It looks half empty in the 3rd QTR. I don't think it's a work issue or a money issue - those seats are sold. They just are unoccupied. It's very strange.
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