duncan228
12-21-2008, 12:42 AM
NBA attendance is up, but not everywhere (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/NBA_attendance_is_up_but_not_everywhere.html)
Mike Monroe
I got a text message from Express-News Spurs beat writer Jeff McDonald midway through the Spurs-Timberwolves Dec. 12 game at the Target Center wondering if the arena had been so tomb-like back on Nov. 5, when I was there covering Tony Parker’s 55-point explosion.
I assured him that one could have heard a pin drop that night, at least until things got dramatic in two overtime periods.
The Target Center is one of the NBA venues fans are avoiding in droves this season. Average attendance there is just 13,727, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, as of Wednesday. Official attendance on Nov. 5 was 11,112, but that had to be the count of tickets sold. If there were more than 7,000 inside, on a relatively balmy night, by Minnesota standards, well, let’s just say the crowd counter would also have reported, if asked, that I have a full head of hair.
League-wide, attendance is actually up this season, ever so slightly. In a recession so deep that a headline on the front page of Saturday’s Express-News declared that Christmas spending is expected to be down by about 23 percent this year, that is pretty astounding. It is explainable, in large part, by the resurgence of interest in Portland, the Thunder’s move from Seattle to Oklahoma City and the big increase in season ticket sales in New Orleans.
Attendance in Memphis has been so low that one rowdy group of fans with tickets in the cheap seats routinely are moved down near the court to pump up the volume.
Richard “Grits” Walker, who covers the Bobcats for the Gaston (N.C.) Gazette, reported that a recent Wolves-Bobcats game with a crowd count of 9,285 had an actual turnstile count of 4,003. In a nearly new arena that seats 19,077, that makes for an embarrassing abundance of empty space.
Even the Spurs are having more difficulty selling tickets than in recent seasons. Before Saturday night’s game against the Raptors, there had been only two sellouts in 13 home games.
At least you can’t hear a pin drop at the AT&T Center.
Mike Monroe
I got a text message from Express-News Spurs beat writer Jeff McDonald midway through the Spurs-Timberwolves Dec. 12 game at the Target Center wondering if the arena had been so tomb-like back on Nov. 5, when I was there covering Tony Parker’s 55-point explosion.
I assured him that one could have heard a pin drop that night, at least until things got dramatic in two overtime periods.
The Target Center is one of the NBA venues fans are avoiding in droves this season. Average attendance there is just 13,727, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, as of Wednesday. Official attendance on Nov. 5 was 11,112, but that had to be the count of tickets sold. If there were more than 7,000 inside, on a relatively balmy night, by Minnesota standards, well, let’s just say the crowd counter would also have reported, if asked, that I have a full head of hair.
League-wide, attendance is actually up this season, ever so slightly. In a recession so deep that a headline on the front page of Saturday’s Express-News declared that Christmas spending is expected to be down by about 23 percent this year, that is pretty astounding. It is explainable, in large part, by the resurgence of interest in Portland, the Thunder’s move from Seattle to Oklahoma City and the big increase in season ticket sales in New Orleans.
Attendance in Memphis has been so low that one rowdy group of fans with tickets in the cheap seats routinely are moved down near the court to pump up the volume.
Richard “Grits” Walker, who covers the Bobcats for the Gaston (N.C.) Gazette, reported that a recent Wolves-Bobcats game with a crowd count of 9,285 had an actual turnstile count of 4,003. In a nearly new arena that seats 19,077, that makes for an embarrassing abundance of empty space.
Even the Spurs are having more difficulty selling tickets than in recent seasons. Before Saturday night’s game against the Raptors, there had been only two sellouts in 13 home games.
At least you can’t hear a pin drop at the AT&T Center.