I've been a Nets season ticket holder since 1989 (see: my dad has and I have went with him) and I have also been to many Knicks games in my day, and unfortunately, the atmosphere at the Meadowlands is laughable compared to the Garden, or at least pre-2000's Garden. Here is my 5 step program to making the Izod center a more entertaining venue: 1. The court is lit while the crowd is draped in shadow. This helps to create a dramatic dynamic in the arena which is really successful. I also think that this makes the audience feel more anonymous, which allows them to be louder without possibly feeling embarrassed. 2. The Garden is an adult venue, I haven't crunched the numbers on this, but I assure you it is a fair assumption that there are much fewer fans under the age of 18 at the Garden. Ever since I started going to Nets games as a young pup, the goal has always been to provide a family experience. If you want a frenzied crowd, distracted mothers and uninterested children aren't going to provide that kind of hysteria. What you need is drunk men from the ages of 21 to 60, from what I've observed, this age range and state of mind makes for the most passionate conglomeration of fans. Which leads me to my next point. 3. Cheaper beer, allow tailgating. Sports and tailgating are synonymous, but at the Izod center this behavior is outlawed. There are ways around it, but the only people willing to park in the Giants lot and tailgate and then walk to the arena are probably under 21. However, the beer inside the arena is $8.00 a piece, and while this is ok for a successful franchise like the Yankees (who also strategically allows tailgating) it is causing a lot frustration for us impoverished college students who like beer with our basketball. If you lower the price of beer by $4.00 conservatively you could sell twice as much with the added attendance. 4. Cheaper tickets. The Nest often complain about fledgling ticket sales, however while the Nets are I think 21st in the league in ticket sales, they are also 4th or 5th in ticket revenue. The cheapest ticket you could get for the Dallas game was $15.00, which isn't ok. This is such a simple and profitable fix that I think I can just leave it at that. 5. Target our age range. No more kiddie nights, no more ladies nights, lets have some dood's and bro's nights. This means drink deals, ticket deals and food deals, things of that nature. The Nets have a real opportunity to access the college student population of New Jersey, before this generation everyone was a knicks fan, now the door is open on a young enthusiastic following and they are simply not capitalizing. So that’s my theory on how to make not only a more profitable Izod Center, but a louder, drunker and more enthusiastic Izod Center. Thoughts? Comments?
I was sold once I read cheaper beer. Paying $8 for a beer that you could get six of at a liquor store for like $5.99 kills me.
It's about $7-10 for beer at Oracle Arena (Warriors) as well, but I guess it's because it's usually packed.
I think #1 should be playing in a modern, state of the art arena in Newark, notwithstanding the hope for the same in Brooklyn that the Nets can all their own. I don't want to hijack the thread, so I believe everything you have is good working with the current limitations of the team where they are.
Cheaper seats and lighting are a nice touch. The dark, theatre-like atmosphere at the Garden is top notch. With cheap seats, you get blue collar fans to the game. And rowdy fans will buy beer no matter what; you just have to get them there first.
The thread starter made me smile. I don't know if the ideas suggested would work to improve the home court advantage, but they are funny as hell.
I agree with everything you pointed out. Unfortunately, I don't think the Nets organization is gonna cater particularly to men 21-60 like you said. I think the Nets organization was put up to provide a family-friendly alternative to professional basketball, and that is reflected in a variety of ways that the Nets are represented. Just look at all the advertisements as they do not really target a specific demographic (if anything, they like to cater to kids as kids brings families) and we have Nets dance teams from different age ranges (kids, adult, senior). Again, I agree with all you said to make the home crowd better. But that "better" is what we (men 21-60) think is better, not necessarily what the organization thinks is better. It seems like they would rather see a half-empty arena of groups of families watching than a packed arena of rowdy sports guys. Your point #1 would be an easy thing to do, though. I don't know why they won't do it. It is somewhat a rip of Lakers and MSG, but hey, whatever makes the crowd noisier and makes it less embarrassing to see our half-empty arena, I'd be up for.
Well, albeit subjective, if the organizations definition of "better" is "more profitable," than my more men theory still adheres to their definition of better.
Well, I am a regular at IZOD, and can agree with point number one. But I'm not sure that your other suggestions will increase crowd size or improve the experience in Northern New Jersey. Maybe this works at Knicks and Yankees games but doesn't fit what the Nets are trying to create. You can get tickets for $15, which is a bit more than the movie. You can get to the arena and back to Manhattan for $10 (train to Secaucus and then the bus to IZOD...a hassle but doable). I would be in favor of student discounted tickets...and would be happy to see the price of refreshments in general go down...even on a few nights on a promotional basis (not sure if the NETS execs even have a say in this). I actually notice the crowd is more into the game when there are lots of kids there. They make more noise than most of the adults in the crowd. I posted in another thread about this topic about what happens when people are invited down from the upper to the lower level. This makes the crowd louder and the energy from others feeds on each other. I think the Nets should invite 3 or 4 sections down every night when attendance is light (they did this one night recently) and this would help. Not sure there is really a long term solution at IZOD to bring up attendance...but I do believe that Brett Yormark and company have done an amazing job getting ANYONE to come to games, considering the lame duck status, the poor home performance and a team the fans need to get to know better with 11 new players. As for rowdiness of the crowd, we could start with better performance by the players on their home court...they would do more than any other suggestions you have. A bad mix: Drunk rowdy fans and really bad and frustrating play on the court. Recipe for lots of fights and throwing things onto the court.
