Marketing 101: Attendance

[Joker]

ESPN Attendance 10-11

What's your take?

We are 24th in the league in the amount of people who attend at home. We are 25th in attendance % at home. We are 29th in amount of people who attend by the away team. We are 29th in attendance % by the away team.

It's clear, no one likes watching this team. Atlanta doesn't, the nation known as the United States doesn't nor does Canada. This team doesn't have many supporters and is less popular than the Clippers and Kings.

What is your idea to make more fans show up? Or are these stats just proving to ASG that this roster doesn't excite anyone, including fans of other teams.

Edited November 29, 2010 by nbasuperstar40

[capstone21]

ESPN Attendance 10-11

What's your take?

We are 24th in the league in the amount of people who attend at home. We are 25th in attendance % at home. We are 29th in amount of people who attend by the away team. We are 29th in attendance % by the away team.

It's clear, no one likes watching this team. Atlanta doesn't, the nation known as the United States doesn't nor does Canada. This team doesn't have many supporters and is less popular than the Clippers and Kings.

What is your idea to make more fans show up? Or are these stats just proving to ASG that this roster doesn't excite anyone, including fans of other teams.

Move the Hawks to a city that will support an NBA team. The only time Atlanta comes out is for the playoffs

[Joker]

Move the Hawks to a city that will support an NBA team. The only time Atlanta comes out is for the playoffs

Its not just Atlanta this time, look at the away attendance. No one wants to see this team. This team is as popular to the casual fan as Sacramento is and Sac-Town is terrible right now. The bottom line is, no one on this team excites many fans. This is a roster problem, not another Atlanta doesn't support their teams. The metropolitan of Atlanta per TV ratings has one of the largest amount of Basketball fans in the nation. I can't find that statistic anymore so don't ask but it was done after the 2009 Finals.

Edited November 29, 2010 by nbasuperstar40

[Randy]

Hate to say it, but I think even the pathetic numbers reported are completely bogus. When I go to a Hawks game, I can't count the seats, but I can get a rough idea of what % of the arena is full. At the Detroit game a few weeks ago, it looked like about 2/3 empty, or worse. Yet the reported attendance number was much better than that.

Maybe they make enough money on sponsorship that attendance is not that important. (Though you would think sponsors would want to support a team with a more full arena.)

[Joker]

Hate to say it, but I think even the pathetic numbers reported are completely bogus. When I go to a Hawks game, I can't count the seats, but I can get a rough idea of what % of the arena is full. At the Detroit game a few weeks ago, it looked like about 2/3 empty, or worse. Yet the reported attendance number was much better than that.

Maybe they make enough money on sponsorship that attendance is not that important. (Though you would think sponsors would want to support a team with a more full arena.)

Of course that's the case. CNN and number of corporations sponsor the Hawks since Atlanta is an international hub and is a good tax write-off. If they didn't, we would have lost this team many years ago. The bad economy hurts some but the Hawks attendance would be bad in a great economy. This is something ASG really needs to take into account and looking at the roster and contract, they will have to take this into account sooner than later.

[Joker]

Just to mention, the road stats I wrote about are actually the overall stats. FYI.

[lethalweapon3]

ESPN Attendance 10-11

What's your take?

What is your idea to make more fans show up?

Human cloning FTW!

~lw3

[niremetal]

I would argue that early in the year, it's tough to assign meaning to road attendance rankings. Season and corporate ticket sales mean that home attendance is somewhat predictable even early in the year for many teams. Road attendance, on the other hand, can vary drastically based on the strength of your away schedule. Early in the season, when the sample size is small, a disproportionate number of your road games might have come against teams that always pack the house, or against teams that can't fill the mezzanine to save their lives. A comparison of my two "home" teams illustrates this. The 76'ers are 4th in away attendance, which makes little sense until you consider that they've played road games against the Thunder, Spurs, Mavs, Heat, Knicks (who usually sell out no matter how terrible the team is), and Cavs (who currently are second in home attendance - props to Cleveland fans). Likewise, the Hawks, 23rd in road attendance, have had a lot of road games against poor teams with poor home attendance (Grizzlies, Sixers, Wolves, Pacers, and Nets). Only 3 of our 9 road games (Cavs, Magic, Knicks) were against teams in the top 10 in home attendance. So I'm going to attribute the away attendance rankings, at least, to small sample size and suggest we check back midseason.

Edited November 30, 2010 by niremetal

[IHeartAtlanta]

The away numbers are bogus considering the fact that for the most part we've only played bad teams that already have lackluster attendance, as soon as we head to miami or to play the lakers it would boost it up immediately

[coachx]

I would argue that early in the year, it's tough to assign meaning to road attendance rankings. Season and corporate ticket sales mean that home attendance is somewhat predictable even early in the year for many teams. Road attendance, on the other hand, can vary drastically based on the strength of your away schedule. Early in the season, when the sample size is small, a disproportionate number of your road games might have come against teams that always pack the house, or against teams that can't fill the mezzanine to save their lives. A comparison of my two "home" teams illustrates this. The 76'ers are 4th in away attendance, which makes little sense until you consider that they've played road games against the Thunder, Spurs, Mavs, Heat, Knicks (who usually sell out no matter how terrible the team is), and Cavs (who currently are second in home attendance - props to Cleveland fans). Likewise, the Hawks, 23rd in road attendance, have had a lot of road games against poor teams with poor home attendance (Grizzlies, Sixers, Wolves, Pacers, and Nets). Only 3 of our 9 road games (Cavs, Magic, Knicks) were against teams in the top 10 in home attendance. So I'm going to attribute the away attendance rankings, at least, to small sample size and suggest we check back midseason.

Thanks for setting this thread straight. I was suprised it took so long to get a logical post here.

Good job !

Once we play the Heat and Lakers it will skew the #'s back up.

[Joker]

I would argue that early in the year, it's tough to assign meaning to road attendance rankings. Season and corporate ticket sales mean that home attendance is somewhat predictable even early in the year for many teams. Road attendance, on the other hand, can vary drastically based on the strength of your away schedule. Early in the season, when the sample size is small, a disproportionate number of your road games might have come against teams that always pack the house, or against teams that can't fill the mezzanine to save their lives. A comparison of my two "home" teams illustrates this. The 76'ers are 4th in away attendance, which makes little sense until you consider that they've played road games against the Thunder, Spurs, Mavs, Heat, Knicks (who usually sell out no matter how terrible the team is), and Cavs (who currently are second in home attendance - props to Cleveland fans). Likewise, the Hawks, 23rd in road attendance, have had a lot of road games against poor teams with poor home attendance (Grizzlies, Sixers, Wolves, Pacers, and Nets). Only 3 of our 9 road games (Cavs, Magic, Knicks) were against teams in the top 10 in home attendance. So I'm going to attribute the away attendance rankings, at least, to small sample size and suggest we check back midseason.

But wouldn't you suggest that if we were the #3 seed from the East last season that we should be much higher in away attendance. One would think that. Even when we play bad teams, those team draw well when Dallas, Miami, LAL, NYK, Chicago comes to town. It can go both ways but I agree that we should look at this again by mid-season.

[macdaddy]

Its still football season. That's the biggest factor in the south. If the Hawks are a top seed come January, February attendance will go up.

As far as marketing frankly they need to get the sports beat press in Atlanta to care about the team and not constantly bash them because we don't have Lebron.

They need to make affordable tickets easily available rather than the old 'well you could call the Hawks front office and say 'iso-Joe' and press the # key and someone will meet you on Marietta street with free tickets'.

One of the players (like maybe the one who said he didn't care if the fans showed up) could pull a Bogut and buy a block of season tickets for a group of rabid fans.

They could have free pregame concerts in Centennial Park on Saturdays to encourage people to get there early.

Give away hats and shirts to the kids at some games.

[Diesel]

ESPN Attendance 10-11

What's your take?

We are 24th in the league in the amount of people who attend at home. We are 25th in attendance % at home. We are 29th in amount of people who attend by the away team. We are 29th in attendance % by the away team.

It's clear, no one likes watching this team. Atlanta doesn't, the nation known as the United States doesn't nor does Canada. This team doesn't have many supporters and is less popular than the Clippers and Kings.

What is your idea to make more fans show up? Or are these stats just proving to ASG that this roster doesn't excite anyone, including fans of other teams.

Here's my gimmick.

First 10,000 fans get in for 1/2 price.

At this point, the ASG is losing money with empty seats. Then what do you do... Lower the price. A 1/2 price seat is better than an empty seat every day of the week.

Secondly, ASG need to work with local hotels to provide a Hawks package. I was recently in Atlanta and there was an Aquarium package, there was a package for a resort not even in the city.. but no Hawks or Falcons package. What?? Every upscale hotel ought to have a Hawks package. Just in case, you're in town over the weekend and you want to do something... It should be offered without a hotel patron having to think about it.

Third, local vendors sponsor Free _________ if the hawks score over 100 points to every person with a ticket. More than likely, if the Hawks do score over 100, the fans won't cash in. So it's a good draw and it helps fans to root for the team.

Fourth, Better Media coverage. IF all your sports radio personalities do when they talk about your team is complain complain complain, you will not sell out. Do like Redskins owner and Buy the media coverage. I know you can't buy the media coverage, but you have to have favorable media. When Turner owned the Braves, their thing was " America's team". It might not have been true, but it stuck. The Hawks need something that will stick.

Last but not least... Celebrity power. The thing that NY, LAL want right now is celebrities that come to the game and are behind the team. The Hawks need that too. People will flock to the team if their favorite celebrity is a fan. For instance, who does Ben Afflack support? Who does Spike Lee and P-Diddy follow? Point is that the Hawks should comp a few celebrities courtside seats. Hell, get Ciara, Usher, the Massey Brothers, and Jermaine Dupree courtside seats on the regular....

Finally....

JUST WIN BABY...

Edited November 30, 2010 by Diesel

[JackB1]

IMO, the Hawks lost a lot of steam with last year's playoff debacle. They built a lot of interest in the Boston series 3 seasons ago and then built on it the following year.

But last year, we took a major step back with our bad play in the playoffs. Also, I see very little in terms of promotion around town or on TV this year. The Marketing Dept

for the Hawks is doing nothing to promote this team this year.

Edited November 30, 2010 by JackB1

[Sothron]

Its not just Atlanta this time, look at the away attendance. No one wants to see this team. This team is as popular to the casual fan as Sacramento is and Sac-Town is terrible right now. The bottom line is, no one on this team excites many fans. This is a roster problem, not another Atlanta doesn't support their teams. The metropolitan of Atlanta per TV ratings has one of the largest amount of Basketball fans in the nation. I can't find that statistic anymore so don't ask but it was done after the 2009 Finals.

IIRC we're still the 7th largest (Atlanta is) NBA city in the country in terms of viewership and NBA related merchandise. They just don't support the Hawks.

[lethalweapon3]

Free Hot Dogs!

~lw3

[vext]

Free Hot Dogs!

~lw3

Sign me up for that one!

I think the major issue we have is mass media. We will always be nobodies in their eyes until we win at least one championship or get a superstar. If Smoove can play consistently at a high level (20 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast, 2-3 blks, and 1-2 stl) then he will start getting noticed on a national level (from the perspective of normal fans). Hopefully, he and Horf will make the all-star team and will actually make some noise. That is the key. There has to be something exciting for regular fans to go see. There has to be an Iverson type that will attract local fans no matter who is playing. Most fans go to the game to see a specific player and won't know any of the non-starters. I think that is the major problem here. Otherwise, we will land in the pitfall of being just good enough to always make it to the second round.

[WraithSentinel]

IMO, the Hawks lost a lot of steam with last year's playoff debacle. They built a lot of interest in the Boston series 3 seasons ago and then built on it the following year.

But last year, we took a major step back with our bad play in the playoffs. Also, I see very little in terms of promotion around town or on TV this year. The Marketing Dept

for the Hawks is doing nothing to promote this team this year.

I agree with this. This team is never going to draw more than 15,000-16,000 fans per game. Hawks got exposed for being pretenders/frauds. The excitement level going into the previous 2 seasons was gone for this year. We have seen this script before and know how it end.

[spotatl]

The Hawks have a major problem. I live less than 5 miles from the Arena and in my friend circle I would have a tough time giving away free Hawks tickets. No one thinks the team is a championship contender. There isn't a superstar that people feel like they are missing out if they don't go watch. My friends would definitely be in the category of only watching if there is a big name coming into town. To me its not a marketing thing, its a team success thing. Until people feel like the team is a threat to win it all then its just out of sight and out of mind.

[Guest]

What a worthless thread, there's only one response (from D) that even mentions price. You can't talk about attendance without also mentioning price, its completely ignorant to do so.