Home Crowd

[atlien]

LOL, there is actually an article on Yahoo Sports about this!

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont...?urn=nba,126800

[Dnice]

Of course Yahoo Sports uses the Grizzles-Hawks crowd to talk about attendance being down.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba;_ylt=AquqQLTqV...7TH99tuQ305nYcB

[atlien]

Whoa Dnice... im a little creeped out on the timing of this.

[Dnice]

Too crazy, man. lol

[PureGreatness]

heres the problem,

1.)games start at usually 7:00 or 7:00 correct? traffic is at it worst at about 7:00 so you will be in the road for about 20 minutes waiting to make a turn to get to phillips arena or where you want to go. plus phillips arena isnt easy to get to. its downtown in the middle og atl. people with jobs have to leave earlier toget their in time for the 2nd quarter.

2.) finding a parking spot aint a hoe. which means it aint easy. parking is about 20$, 25$ or 8 dollars when i was searching for one. which ties in to my third point.

3.) Atl is atleast top 3 in the african american population and i didnt need to look at statistics for that one. We(african americans) dont know how to get tickets and we arent going to go online and search for tickets. what we usually do is try to holla at one of our homeboys and/or homegirls to see if they got the hook up to tickets. my solutions is hawks have to send hawk support vans out threw the cities trying to sell tickets for 20 bucks or so.

Edited December 4, 2008 by hoodstar

[atlien]

2.) finding a parking spot aint a hoe. which means it aint easy. parking is about 20$, 25$ or 8 dollars when i was searching for one. which ties in to my third point.

When I went to games last year, the GA Dome/Congress Center parking deck was only $10! And its the closest one! (just not many people know to go there i guess).

[HalfHawk]

I think the tides will turn and people will start flowing into Phillips.

[hawkman]

I think the tides will turn and people will start flowing into Phillips.

Man, if I didn't stay 3 hours away(Augusta) I'd probably be a season ticket holder. But that's a long haul for a weeknight when you have to be at work by 6:30 the next morning. I have to save those trips for certain games like the home opener or good weekend matchups or Playoff game(s). I'm still trying to weigh going to that Boston game on the 17th versus watching one of our few games to air on ESPN in HD.

[Walker]

When I went to games last year, the GA Dome/Congress Center parking deck was only $10! And its the closest one! (just not many people know to go there i guess).

I go down to quite a few games during the week and park in a lot one street down from the Tabernacle for $6.00. I hope that one stays that way 'cause it's a steal.

[Admin]

I go down to quite a few games during the week and park in a lot one street down from the Tabernacle for $6.00. I hope that one stays that way 'cause it's a steal.

Well maybe we should put up a banner on the site advertising that lot and how cheap it is so that more people will use it and drive the price up :hush:

[Walker]

Well maybe we should put up a banner on the site advertising that lot and how cheap it is so that more people will use it and drive the price up :hush:

I'm not so sure I like that idea. Noted on the :hush:

[AtLaS]

There is more than 1 lot for $6, we never park for more than that when I go.

[Traceman]

There is more than 1 lot for $6, we never park for more than that when I go.

I know that parking in the State Bar Association deck which is only 1 block from Philips is only $10 for Hawks OR Falcons games. The CNN deck right across the street from Philips is only $10-$12 depending on the night. As otrhers stated, there are plenty of places to park for $6 or less if you walk just a little further.

[Dejay]

I put in a reply to that article. Tsk, tsk....

[dlpin]

Well, there are two things that work inherently against teams in the south. And it is not exclusive to Atlanta. Heck, people talk about Atlanta fans, but Miami fans are much, much worse, given the success they had.

#1- As most southern cities, Atlanta has poor public transportation. This makes getting to games much more cumbersome, especially since the arena is downtown. In most cities with great attendance, getting to the arena is very convenient.

#2- And this is the biggest reason: Nice weather + big metro area= lots of stuff to do for very cheap. I dont know if any of you have lived in the northeast or upper midwest during the winter, but you are inside so much that it gets to be a bit claustrophobic. No wonder people flock to events in big open arenas. More than that, there is very little to do on a consistent basis there for people who are into sports and such.

So, other than the few weeks when its cold down here in Atlanta, basketball fans have a few options: going home, firing up the grill outside given the weather, opening a beer and watching the game on HD with friends or family, or being stuck in traffic for almost one hour, watching the game with beer at 7 bucks, then being stuck in traffic for almost one hour on the way home. Even if you dont want to stay home, there are dozens of nice, upscale bars with hdtvs showing the game and affordable food. If you try to go to a nice bar in Boston (not a dump) or New York, you might end up spending more than at the game.

Places with great attendance are either places with nothing better to do (Salt Lake City, Oklahoma) or places that are very cold, with nice public transit and where other entertainment possibilities are ridiculously expensive (Boston, Detroit, Chicago). Orlando, Miami, Atlanta and New Orleans will never really compete in attendance. Too much to do at good prices, too much of a hassle to get to the arena.

[mrhonline]

my solutions is hawks have to send hawk support vans out threw the cities trying to sell tickets for 20 bucks or so.

Maybe I'm naive, but that sounds like an awesome idea.

[Iman]

Actually I think the latest arriving part of the crowd are the season ticket holder types. The corporate side of the arena is especially late filling up, lot's of those people are at the game but just hanging out in the nice concession areas until the game gets really going.

No doubt though, popularity of the Hawks is improving. Actually fans without tickets should be glad it's taking time because increased popularity will make tickets harder to get and more expensive, especially on craigslist, etc.

[DrReality]

When the Knicks made a big shot, sounded like they had a lot of fans in the crowd??