<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Grizzlies' All-Star has noticed. "What's going on here?" Pau Gasol asks, hoping somebody has an answer. The Grizzlies' attendance is down -- in this, just the second season at FedExForum, and in this, just the third season that the team will go to the playoffs. Through 38 home games, the Grizzlies are averaging 15,744 fans -- 26th among the NBA's 30 teams and a drop of seven spots from their No. 19 ranking last season when the Grizzlies averaged 16,862 per game. From the players' perspective, however, this isn't just about average nightly attendance or where the Grizzlies rate in the league. But where they rate, given their 43-32 record, is puzzling. Every one of the teams behind them in attendance in 27th through 30th place -- Orlando, Houston, Portland and Atlanta -- has a losing record. Portland has ownership issues and Houston has been a major disappointment because it was a trendy pick to contend for the Western Conference title. The teams immediately above the Grizzlies, in the 21st through 25th slots, also have losing records and you have to go all the way up to 18th-ranked New Jersey to find the next team with more than 40 wins. So, what is going on here? Gasol would like to know. "The team has been doing well the last few years," says the 7-foot Spaniard, who has been with the Grizzlies all five of their seasons in Memphis. "I don't know if it's because the tickets are expensive or not. About a month ago I heard (the team) lowered prices ... "We appreciate everybody that comes," Gasol continued. "We're not trying to have a negative attitude about it. Everyone who comes here, we love them all. "Of course, we'd like to see our Forum packed every night and have sellouts. I wish I could do something about it, personally, physically, do something and get more people to come because there are games that you need that push off your fans." Obviously, Memphis is a small market. And the league rankings do have to be put into proper context. FedExForum seats 18,119. To be in the top 10 in attendance, the Grizzlies would have to average more than 18,200 per game. So there is a ceiling, if you will, that always keep them outside the league's leaders in attendance. But neither is the Grizzlies' nightly announced attendance an accurate accounting of fannies in the seats. Some seats are sold, but not filled. Often, many rows in the upper level of FedExForum are completely empty. Often, it is easy to see several empty seats in many rows of the lower bowl. What players notice is how good the atmosphere can be when the arena is jammed and the crowd fully engaged in the action on the court. "There's nothing like playing in a building where everyone's ramped up," says the Grizzlies' Shane Battier. Some nights -- or some Sunday afternoons -- the crowd at FedExForum seems much less than ramped up. Although center Lorenzen Wright says, "I haven't noticed a difference. If you wouldn't have told me we were 26th (in attendance), I'd have never known." Yet Battier, who like Gasol and Wright has been here all five years, seems to sense a change. "My solution to the problem, the loudness issues we may or may not have," Battier says, "is to lower the beer prices to five bucks a beer. That would solve a lot of problems." Battier laughs as he says this, but he means it, too. "If I was commissioner, that'd be my first league-wide mandate -- four or five-dollar Budweiser," he says. "I know what the people want." </div> Source I love Battier's line of thinking.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Avery:</div><div class="quote_post">Look for Mr. West to make a push for AI in the summer.</div> Hmmm, i'd love his desire but i don't know if he has the required nature to fit this team. Besides which, i can't see how we'd even come close to being able to match money unless you take Eddie Jones deal which expires next year. We've got about $10M spare, but that doesn't help us get Iverson.
Our attendance is decent. You have to consider that we're one of the smallest markets in the league. For the size of our city, we draw good crowds. Besides, March in the States is all about college ball, especially for us, being a city that didn't have a professional franchise for 20+ years.
And there's the fact that Memphis is a terrible city. Though that may be unfair because essentially everywhere sucks next to Vancouver. They averaged more fans when they were winning less than one in five than they do now...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Ezra:</div><div class="quote_post">And there's the fact that Memphis is a terrible city. Though that may be unfair because essentially everywhere sucks next to Vancouver. They averaged more fans when they were winning less than one in five than they do now...</div> Vancouver did have decent fan support..to bad sponsors wouldnt step up.
You'd think so, but as someone who's been to Vancouver almost every summer, I can safely say that people generally didn't care when the team left. They were waiting for the team to build a winner before becoming emotionally involved.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">Our attendance is decent. You have to consider that we're one of the smallest markets in the league. For the size of our city, we draw good crowds. Besides, March in the States is all about college ball, especially for us, being a city that didn't have a professional franchise for 20+ years.</div> Sacramento is same size if not smaller than you guy and look at them, even when they're doing bad they sell out everynight! Maybe you guy should have some kind of big event, like Gasol Bobble head night
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting J_Ray:</div><div class="quote_post">Sacramento is same size if not smaller than you guy and look at them, even when they're doing bad they sell out everynight! Maybe you guy should have some kind of big event, like Gasol Bobble head night </div> I've got a Gasol bobblehead sitting infront of me as we speak. We have promotions all the time. We even had a beard night. Sacramento's about the same size, but we're also one of the poorest cities in the United States. Ever since the collapse of the southern economy in the late 1800's, most of the towns and cities down here have been struggling to get back on their feet. It's a long, long process. Most of the seats in the lowerbowl here are sold to corporate sponsors for that reason, and the corporate sponsors divide them between their employees, who aren't really basketball fans so they only show up to weekend games. The next bowl at the FedEx Forum is too damn expensive. It's all luxury sweets, and seats with computers, personal waiters, and b.s. things like that which no reasonable person can afford. Then there's the upper bowl, which you can't see anything from and still have to shell out 20-30 bucks per seat for. The only real deal are the $5 seats, but you need to pack binnoculars for those, and those usually fill up fast.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">I've got a Gasol bobblehead sitting infront of me as we speak. We have promotions all the time. We even had a beard night. Sacramento's about the same size, but we're also one of the poorest cities in the United States. Ever since the collapse of the southern economy in the late 1800's, most of the towns and cities down here have been struggling to get back on their feet. It's a long, long process. Most of the seats in the lowerbowl here are sold to corporate sponsors for that reason, and the corporate sponsors divide them between their employees, who aren't really basketball fans so they only show up to weekend games. The next bowl at the FedEx Forum is too damn expensive. It's all luxury sweets, and seats with computers, personal waiters, and b.s. things like that which no reasonable person can afford. Then there's the upper bowl, which you can't see anything from and still have to shell out 20-30 bucks per seat for. The only real deal are the $5 seats, but you need to pack binnoculars for those, and those usually fill up fast.</div> Sacramento isn't that rich either man, it's all a bunch of farmers bring their cowbells. It's not about being poor, but Sacramento makes their seats cheap. Not online though, but they have different kinds of things on Kings Radio where you can win like a 20 ticket package and stuff. Maloof brothers are good at selling stuff, maybe you need to have more Gasol bobblehead nights, or have a Jerry West one
According to Wikipedia, the greater Sacramento has a population of 2,016,702. Memphis' is listed at 1,230,303. Median income for a family in Sacramento is $42,051. Memphis's is listed at $37,767. You don't have to be a math genius to understand that those numbers mean that there's a lot more people with a lot more money in Sacramento than Memphis. For the record, I didn't forget about Chutney; he's just an idiot: I'm not going to dignify him with a response. Even a fool could tell that Vancouver loved the Grizzlies. I'm not going to tell him that they averaged higher attendance than the Vancouver Canucks hockey teams was before the lockout, because that would put a hole in his ignorant little fantasy. Nor will I say that the team moved because everything that could have possibly went wrong (the lottery, Michael Dickerson, Steve Francis, Big Country, the lockout, and Michael Heisley, off the top of my head) did, and that it was only then that people stopped* supporting the team. *Should say "slowed" -- they had as many fans after all that at each game as they did their first year in Memphis, remember. And they averaged more fans as a last place team with an NBDL roster than they do at this point as a playoff team with an all-star. Even his puny brain could (maybe) manage to grasp the reality that support would fall off once the owner starts publicly insulting the fans and city, and announces the move. That guy's clearly incapable of intelligent thought or discussion, though; knowing that I'll just be beating my head against the proverbial wall and wearing the paint off my keyboard, I won't even get into it. I hate to say it but he, my friends, is a definite lost cause. I'll pray for him.
Well, regardless of the move from Vancouver to Memphis being a bad decision (which I agree it was), it's not going to be undone. The matter at hand is the team's current attendance, and it's perfectly understandable why the Memphis attendance numbers are towards the bottom of the league. I'd be much more surprised if they were towards the top given all of the variables. And watch the personal attacks, Ezra. I've got repsect for you, because a while back you and I were the only consistent posters in this forum, and I know how much you know about the team, but it's uncalled for to attack Chutney like that. He's actually a great poster, whether you agree with his thoughts on this particular issue or not.
