<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The place will be packed. All right, it won't be packed. It's Toyota Center. It will be crowded with Toyotas. Plenty of seats will be empty. But the place should be packed. Every ticket has been sold for today's game against the Mavericks. For that matter, the Rockets believe every home game left this season will be a sellout, a season-ending streak of 12. Not bad for a franchise that two seasons ago was last in attendance. But for the Rockets, the sellout streak is a curiosity, like a trivia answer. The Rockets will sell every ticket they have to sell, but they might not actually put people in the seats, much less build a real home-court advantage of screaming, sweaty, emotional fans hanging on the results of every jumper or floor burn.</div> <div align="center">Link</div> What's up with Houston fans? The game is sold out, but people who buy those tickets don't show up? Last night, there were about 1000 empty seats, but the game was sold out. I've never even been there, but the Toyota Center crowd from the games I've seen are always a passive bunch. It is no wonder we aren't good at home. What's good about home court advantage if no one shows up, and there are not a lot of cheers that support the team?
The only game ive been to was a last year during the playoffs against the lakers and that place was loud and packed, i stood like 80% of the time. Anyways, i think that houston fans dont care much about regular season games. Unless its a big match up like shaq vs yao or a playoff game i think then ppl will be interested. I would go to more regular season games but there's that whole money thing involved and I cant go often.
ive been to most of the games against the elite western teams, for instance San Antonio, the Spurs fans in this what it would seem to be a designated area, were louder than all the Rockets fans put together. mabye its because we are not sure about the ability of this team to go deep in the playoffs,unlike those fans whos teams have already won a championship or win the big games, playoff-like games, but its not considered a "playoff atmosphere" unless the fans do thier part.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">What's up with Houston fans? The game is sold out, but people who buy those tickets don't show up? Last night, there were about 1000 empty seats, but the game was sold out. I've never even been there, but the Toyota Center crowd from the games I've seen are always a passive bunch. It is no wonder we aren't good at home. What's good about home court advantage if no one shows up, and there are not a lot of cheers that support the team?</div> You must understand, that Corporate Sponsership is where a lot of tickets are sold. In the "Bowl Section" a lot of companies like Toyota and Exxon will buy tickets and give them out to employees. A lot of people do not care for the Rockets, hence, they feel there's no point in going. There has been a lot of debate, because some of the "diehard" fans want to sit in the empty seats, but security won't allow it. So a lot of people have to settle for the not-so-good seats, and because of that, they don't wanna come back for another game. Another thing, IMO, the food at Toyota Center is horrible. Compaq Center had some places where you could get a good meal, but they restaurants weren't too convinient. At Toyota Center, the appearance looks great, but the food isn't as good. Come playoff time, it gets loud. If anyone had been to an Astros Playoff game, it's like 5 times that, honestly. This team has to prove itself. If we had the same Roster as last year, more people might come, because they've seen that Steve and Co. could actually succeed in the Playoffs. But with McGrady, and all the new guys, the identity of the Rockets has yet to be established. People no longer see the McGrady they saw in Orlando.. The high-flying, atheletic freak that lobbed the ball to himself to dunk. I think once the city of Houston gets used to the new-look Rockets, more people will come.
I've been going to Rockets games regularly, meaning about a dozen per year for the last 11 years, which obviously includes the championship years, so I've seen the full spectrum of fan support. What it comes down to, is that the Rockets are in Texas and Texas is a football state. Why then, do Dallas and San Antonio not have the attendance problem? Dallas is competitive and exciting to watch, year in and year out, and on top of that Mark Cuban keeps things interesting at the games, so fans feel confident about dropping some money on tickets. San Antonio, as a result of David Robinson's injured season which allowed them to draft Tim Duncan, have been able to remain a force in the league for over a decade, and given that there's no other major sport in the city, it isn't hard to figure out why their fans show interest. Houston on the other hand, has 3 major sports teams, one of which is only 3 years old and happens to be the #1 sport by far in the state of Texas, and all of which have new facilities. With the hype the Astros stirred up last year by making their incredible run that nearly landed them in the world series, and the Texans nearly pulling off a winning season in just their 3rd year of existance, the Rockets just aren't most Houstonian's #1 sports team. The sports interest in this city is just too widespread over the 3 sports right now to get a die hard crowd in Toyota Center every night. The city was spoiled in the mid to late 90's with Rockets teams that featured sure-fire Hall of Famers and was consistantly making deep progress into the playoffs, amongst their two incredible championship runs. Every regular season game back in those years had a playoff atmosphere. Rivalry games like the Spurs, Jazz, and Sonics had fans on their feet the ENTIRE game chanting "DE-FENSE" until their voices were gone. Fans on the last row of the Summit (near my seats) would turn and slam their fists against the metal panels that lined the top of the arena, causing loud booms to echo through the upper deck. Every game mattered. Every patron was a FAN. Every fan cared about the players, and believed that the players cared about them too. The bottom line is that with the way the sports scene is in Houston right now, the Rockets will have to go out and prove something if they want to win the hearts of Houstonians. To quote the movie Gladiator: "He will bring them death, and they will love him for it."
Yea Houston is more of a football town. The Texans get great attendance even tho theyve only played 3 years and havnt been in the playoffs. The Astros have always had fan support and we showed it this year becauses it was the 1st time we had some playoff success so that exited the ppl even more. As for the Rockets. I know alot of ppl who love the rockets but I think being a whole new team does have something to do with the lack of attendance. Come playoff time im sure the Toyota center will be packed and loud but it wont be packed during the season until they become a serious title contender. I dont know if this is true but I heard that Mark Cuban lowers the ticket prices an hour before tipoff so the place can sell out. If the rockets did this I would go alot more often.
i think fans will come when playoff time comes around, but its not like we arent trying to fill up those seats, they give out bobble heads and they make those commercials guys night out and family pack althought i wouldnt mind them lowering ticket prices an hour before tip off
Houston is much more of a baseball and football stadium een though the rockets are by far the most successful team. A lot of times i cant get a good seat but when i go, it is completely empty. The fact that a lot of companies get great tickets is very true. My uncle hooks me up with tickets from other companies he has partnerships with all the time and they end up being the best seats. Like last year, i got tickets, row 1, seat 1, right at midcourt. These people never go to the games! Crappy food and crappy performances are a problem too.
yep companies buying out the damn tickets is the problem.........I haven't had a chance to check out toyota center yet, but I know me and my pops always get astros tickets, because my neighbor gets them from his company........those corporate pricks are too civilized to scream at the top of their lungs and bang on their seats......LOL
It's a known fact that we have fair-weathered fans...we're not a die-hard sports city, with maybe the exception of football...but I do think with as well as the team is performing we should all be more supportive...
