NBA ATTENDANCE WOES

Originally Posted by Burns1923

This is not surprising at all.

I think there's 3 reasons for poor attendance:

1.) Ticket prices are ridiculous league-wide... Just decent seats, not even great seats, cost far too much. Even the nosebleeds are getting to be at least $30+ for middle sections.


2.) The game experience is borderline aggravating... first you pay a premium to see a game, you get in the arena and have to pay $5.75 for a Coke or bottle of water, then once you get to your seat to actually watch the game, THERE ARE CONSTANT ANNOYANCES. People leaving and coming back 100 times forcing you to stand up and be interrupted 100 times, every stoppage in play (and even during play) the PA system BLARES some horrid techno garbage music. Then the time when you are watching, the quality of play is so hit-or-miss that you wonder why you paid to see it live. You leave the arena out $100-$200 and feel pretty much like you got nothing out of the whole thing.

3.) The NBA product is basically bad despite a solid core of young and older stars... despite the array of stars, team play and quality execution is virtually non-existent. Oftentimes it appears that there are no plays called, and that it's a 1-on-1 game with 5 individuals on each team. The NBA quality of 1988-1998 is long gone. This current generation of NBA players can only emulate that generation. And yes, there are too many NBA teams. Dissolve the Bobcats, Grizzlies, and Thunder (or dissolve 2 and move 1 of them back to Seattle). And don't get me started on the NBA rule changes, referees, or Stern's dictator-like stranglehold on the NBA in general.

With a league like this, I'm barely tuning in on TV, forget live games. As a whole, the NBA just isn't worth it.
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I agree with you.

I just can't watch the NBA anymore except the NBA finals. My favorite team used to be the Charlotte Hornets.
laugh.gif
tired.gif





JR5
 
The Grizz play in a city where nobody cares about basketball. Solution: move them to a city that actually is a basketball hotbed....SEATTLE
 
I agree with the stoppage of play. Theres way too much of that. Combined with TV timeouts makes it worse which leads to my question why do teams get 7timeouts? I think thats too many and just drags the game on with stops in play. Teams should only have 3.
 
I just can't watch the NBA anymore except the NBA finals. My favorite team used to be the Charlotte Hornets.

Man do I wish the Hornets were still in Charlotte. Glad I still have a lot of the 02 Charlotte-Orlando series on tape and my Champion Authentic Hornets Awayshorts. No more Charlotte Hornets or Coliseum... it's stuff like this why the NBA is where it is. Another icon of the NBA glory days gone.
mad.gif


But I digress.
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Why the hell would anyone want to spend $100 to go to a game when they can just watch it from their 52'' 1080p LCD HDTV, a comfy lazy boy recliner,cheap food, and cheap beer?
 
Originally Posted by AC4Three

It makes me very happy to see Memphis fail.
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<< See Avatar to understand why I agree with this statement. Except for Rudy Gay who I want to do exceptionally well because he is on myFantasy Team.
 
If your complaining about parking prices...take public transit. I was on the red line last night for the laker game and it was filed with laker fans and bulls fans.


You're proving my point. The NBA is becoming too big city, too oriented towards the affluent city dweller. The problem with that is that even a majority ofyoung people do ever live in a loft a few blocks from the down town arena. By the time you have the wife and kids, you usually do not live within easy reach ofyour city's mass transit system, if your city has any type of transit system at all. If your market consists of people within walking distance of theredline, you exclude the bulk of the country's buying power, suburban, middle class families.

I love LA and I hope to be moving downtown soon and able to use the redline but that is the hitch, the redline is great for 20 somes, living downtown with nokids but we are not a big enough demographic to fill up NBA arenas, every night in every city.


As far as the on the court product is concerned, one of the best things the league can do is call games like how they were 25 years ago. Call holding off ofthe ball, let players move without the ball. At the same time, stop pampering the star with the ball, allow hand checking and stop boring us with parades tothe free throw line. If you did that, it would more fruitful to execute instead of go 1-on-1 or run nothing but screen rolls with three of the teammates persquad standing on the weak side spectating. Also once it becomes apparent that crisp passing, great footwork, execution and mid range shooting are what getsyou lots of points, players and coaches would dedicate more time to those skills. Also because it would be harder to score in the half court, teams would lookfor more fast breaks or opportunities in semi-transition.
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Burns1923 wrote:
This is not surprising at all.

I think there's 3 reasons for poor attendance:

1.) Ticket prices are ridiculous league-wide... Just decent seats, not even great seats, cost far too much. Even the nosebleeds are getting to be at least $30+ for middle sections.


2.) The game experience is borderline aggravating... first you pay a premium to see a game, you get in the arena and have to pay $5.75 for a Coke or bottle of water, then once you get to your seat to actually watch the game, THERE ARE CONSTANT ANNOYANCES. People leaving and coming back 100 times forcing you to stand up and be interrupted 100 times, every stoppage in play (and even during play) the PA system BLARES some horrid techno garbage music. Then the time when you are watching, the quality of play is so hit-or-miss that you wonder why you paid to see it live. You leave the arena out $100-$200 and feel pretty much like you got nothing out of the whole thing.

3.) The NBA product is basically bad despite a solid core of young and older stars... despite the array of stars, team play and quality execution is virtually non-existent. Oftentimes it appears that there are no plays called, and that it's a 1-on-1 game with 5 individuals on each team. The NBA quality of 1988-1998 is long gone. This current generation of NBA players can only emulate that generation. And yes, there are too many NBA teams. Dissolve the Bobcats, Grizzlies, and Thunder (or dissolve 2 and move 1 of them back to Seattle). And don't get me started on the NBA rule changes, referees, or Stern's dictator-like stranglehold on the NBA in general.

With a league like this, I'm barely tuning in on TV, forget live games. As a whole, the NBA just isn't worth it.

on point
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Originally Posted by tSamShoX

Why the hell would anyone want to spend $100 to go to a game when they can just watch it from their 52'' 1080p LCD HDTV, a comfy lazy boy recliner, cheap food, and cheap beer?
Click to expand...


Exactly.
 
Originally Posted by BEATSLIM

Originally Posted by In Yo Nostril

Originally Posted by BEATSLIM

If your complaining about parking prices...take public transit. I was on the red line last night for the laker game and it was filed with laker fans and bulls fans.
Click to expand...

i live less than half an hour away from staples. it would take me an hour and a half on public transit. not to mention it probably wont be running after the game anyway
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Metro runs well past the end of the game. And where do you live that you can be LESS than 30 minutes from Staples and take 1hr 30min to get there? Something isnt adding up..
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i live in claremont dude. i can get to downtown in 30 minutes max on the freeway. metro doesnt run outside of downtown this way. only themetrolink does and it doesnt run late at night
 
It looks like the financial "crisis" will be the scape goat for low attendance in the NBA this year. The truth is that the NBA has, for years, built itself up to not fill up the seats.

First, the cost of attending a game is very high. If you want decent tickets, a parking spot less than a mile from the arena and a beer and a snack when you get inside, you are spending a hundred bucks. Take the wife and two kids and you are going to spend about 400 dollars for one night of entertainment. When you charge special occasion prices, you will have most fans, if they attend at all, attending on an occasional basis.

Second, you have HD TV and that is becoming a very good substitute for for going to the game. Live action is still the best but this is not the days of tiny TVs, fuzzy screens and rabbit ears. A good sound system and a big screen lets you really see and hear the game almost as if you were there. Plus, for most fans, staying in a watching the game in their own home is more comfortable and convenient than going to the game downtown.

Third, the new arenas' emphasis on luxury boxes makes half of the seats pretty mediocre. I remember at the Great Western Forum, any seat let you feel like you were part of the action. At Staples Center the distance from the court combinded with the elevation caused by the five stories of luxury boxes, really creates a barrier for half of the seats in the arena. I have sat below and above the boxes and above sucks and while the tickets are much less, you still got to pay for parking and you normally end up getting some concessions so you still spend about 100 for an experience that is not much better than watching the game at home.

Finally, the NBA is a late night league. The games start at about 8 now, the commercials strech it past 10 and since most fans don't live downtown, they have to drive home, plus it isn't a true NBA experience without getting a late meal or a drink so an NBA night usually means getting a few hours of sleep for a normal worker. That is cool for someone in his 20's but most fols are not up for that.

So basically the NBA cost a lot, it cost a fortune to bring a family, the games are usually played downtown, the luxury boxes make half of the seats in most arenas horrible, attending the games involves getting to sleep late and all of this competes with HD TV. I wonder why on Earth they do not attract the middle aged suburbanite and his family on any type of regular basis. If you are going to be oriented to the young, affluent and city dwellers, those will be the backbone of your at the game fan base and it is clear that there are much less yuppies compared to sub and exoburbanites.
Click to expand...


Bingo.

There are points in life where people stop being sheep and I dont blame them. You want higher attendance? Reduce parking prices, ticket prices, concession prices. Get a better basketball product. Get an overall sport that actually has a meaningful regular season where players care.

I'm actually surprised a lot of these teams (not all but some) have continued to find 10,000 people or more willing to spend a Monday night in the dead of winter going to a game after 8pm, paying 30 dollars to park, $200 for good seats, $9 for a beer....all to watch 2 teams go through the motions during a January game and end in a 78-72 finish. Again, at some point these people stop being sheep and you need to start changing things up.
 
i agree with most of the things said in here, but the fact of the matter is that professional athletes are paid too much. When you have guys demanding $18million per year of course the fans are going to pay for it. It's easy to look at the stadium and what they offer as expensive, but there's a drivingforce behind it and it's players' salaries, the union, and agents' negotiating power...ALL which have gotten excessive over the '90s.
 
Food and beer are a killer, that's why me and my friends drink up in the parking lots before the game.

Not spending $9 each on more than 1 beer.
 
Grizzlie tickets aren't high at all. I'm sure most people don't want to sit in nosebleed seats, but if you can see a live NBA game for $5 then youshould be happy. I don't know what's the story for the other NBA teams struggling, but Grizzlies tickets are very cheap.
 
Originally Posted by RyGuy45


It looks like the financial "crisis" will be the scape goat for low attendance in the NBA this year. The truth is that the NBA has, for years, built itself up to not fill up the seats.

First, the cost of attending a game is very high. If you want decent tickets, a parking spot less than a mile from the arena and a beer and a snack when you get inside, you are spending a hundred bucks. Take the wife and two kids and you are going to spend about 400 dollars for one night of entertainment. When you charge special occasion prices, you will have most fans, if they attend at all, attending on an occasional basis.

Second, you have HD TV and that is becoming a very good substitute for for going to the game. Live action is still the best but this is not the days of tiny TVs, fuzzy screens and rabbit ears. A good sound system and a big screen lets you really see and hear the game almost as if you were there. Plus, for most fans, staying in a watching the game in their own home is more comfortable and convenient than going to the game downtown.

Third, the new arenas' emphasis on luxury boxes makes half of the seats pretty mediocre. I remember at the Great Western Forum, any seat let you feel like you were part of the action. At Staples Center the distance from the court combinded with the elevation caused by the five stories of luxury boxes, really creates a barrier for half of the seats in the arena. I have sat below and above the boxes and above sucks and while the tickets are much less, you still got to pay for parking and you normally end up getting some concessions so you still spend about 100 for an experience that is not much better than watching the game at home.

Finally, the NBA is a late night league. The games start at about 8 now, the commercials strech it past 10 and since most fans don't live downtown, they have to drive home, plus it isn't a true NBA experience without getting a late meal or a drink so an NBA night usually means getting a few hours of sleep for a normal worker. That is cool for someone in his 20's but most fols are not up for that.

So basically the NBA cost a lot, it cost a fortune to bring a family, the games are usually played downtown, the luxury boxes make half of the seats in most arenas horrible, attending the games involves getting to sleep late and all of this competes with HD TV. I wonder why on Earth they do not attract the middle aged suburbanite and his family on any type of regular basis. If you are going to be oriented to the young, affluent and city dwellers, those will be the backbone of your at the game fan base and it is clear that there are much less yuppies compared to sub and exoburbanites.
Click to expand...


Bingo.

There are points in life where people stop being sheep and I dont blame them. You want higher attendance? Reduce parking prices, ticket prices, concession prices. Get a better basketball product. Get an overall sport that actually has a meaningful regular season where players care.

I'm actually surprised a lot of these teams (not all but some) have continued to find 10,000 people or more willing to spend a Monday night in the dead of winter going to a game after 8pm, paying 30 dollars to park, $200 for good seats, $9 for a beer....all to watch 2 teams go through the motions during a January game and end in a 78-72 finish. Again, at some point these people stop being sheep and you need to start changing things up.
Click to expand...

exactly. the only time i spend money on nba tickets is when kobe comes to town. even then i'll only buy nosebleeds. there are just too many teams andnot enough exciting matchups. cut down on the number of teams and shorten the regular season.
 
I agree with the statement about saving money and staying home and watching the game on HD.

Maybe in times like this, teams should pay players less, and maximum pays should be lowered. If you pay players less, then you can charge less for tickets andfood. Am I not right?

Athletes are waaayyyy overpaid to start out with, so why continue paying them so much if people aren't attending games???
 
bad refereeing, touch fouls, and softness have turned the NBA into a non-competitive free throw shooting contest...it's been said a million times here, butthe NBA in the 90s and maybe even a few years after the turn of the century was a much better league...it's not even the same sport anymore...the only timei watch games is the Knicks, and thats just bc i've followed them my whole life...

And now that basketball is no longer a contact sport, the league just isn't entertaining...There couldn't have been a bigger wake-up call when DanilloGallinari (knicks rookie) said the biggest difference here is that they call a lot more fouls...remember when Euro's were the 'soft' league of spotup shooters? That's what the NBA is now...The only quality basketball these days is in the NCAA

...and I'm someone guilty of hating on the WNBA but if you watch one of those games, the officiating is much better, and they are MUCH more physical...ican actually respect their league.

Combine a bad product with a struggling economy and u get failure
 
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