The 3 reasons no one goes to Kings games anymore

[ArcoKings]

Here's an article from examiner.com that I found. As the title states, the author gives three reasons why he thinks people stay away from Arco. Clickity-click:

http://www.examiner.com/recreation-in-sacramento/the-3-reasons-no-one-goes-to-kings-games-anymore

 

[kingsboi]

He's obviously entitled to his own opinion. I feel the "3 reasons" no one goes to the games is there is nobody on the team good enough to put people in the seats, the Kings are way too up and down and you never know if they are going to get blown out or compete & people are sick of seeing a losing product out there that has no identity. Those are just a couple of reasons, there are far too many to name. Again, my opinion.

 

[iowamcnabb]

As I said in another thread, the taste of a championship caliber team has spoiled the fans. It's hard to do go from playoff excitement to cellar dweller. Add that to the usual suspects (economy, arena status etc) and u have ur answer.

 

[mac]

It's not just that. I really think that people would go to the games if the team turned out as expected this season: if Tyreke was playing like last year, Cousins was putting up say 15 and 8 a night and the team looked better than it did last year, with better defense in the middle. instead we're playing horribly, Tyreke isn't playing well, Cousins isn't playing as well as other rookies (when we all thought he had a chance at ROY), Westphal's rotations have been weird ...

Then there's also the thing about visual appeal, highlight reel stuff. Even if the Clippers record is terrible, people want to see them play to see Griffin, and I feel it's as much about the dunks as it is about the numbers he's putting up. Our team rarely makes the highlight reel, and it's not like some ESPN bias. Have you seen the weekly or monthly top 10 plays posted by kings.com? It's embarrassing. Tyreke just hitting an outside shot can be considered as one of our top 10 plays. That doesn't reflect on the standard of the team by any means, but it does affect the entertainment appeal of the team, especially when it's not winning much. Tyreke may be a better player than Derrick Rose, but the general public would rather watch Rose because of the dunks, the speed.

 

[LWP777]

It's a perfect storm right now -- the team is terrible and not entertaining at all to watch, the economy is really bad and it's expensive to take your family to a game, and the arena is old and decrepit. Why would anybody want to go drop a few hundred on that? Heck, I've been offered FREE tickets 4 times this year and I declined. I'd rather just be home with my family.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

It's not just that. I really think that people would go to the games if the team turned out as expected this

I'm not so sure about that. The home opener was pretty full but after that there was already tons of empty seats even in the 2nd and 3rd home games.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think the uncertainty surrounding the team is probably the biggest factor when you couple that with the losing. The team is young and arguably could be great in 2-3 years and if people knew that they'd be playing in Sacramento in 2-3 years I think they'd be more excited about getting in on the ground floor so to speak. But nobody wants to invest in a stinky team that will leave them right as they get hot. Then throw in the economy and you've got a perfect storm.

With any luck though this means I can get good seats to a game when I am home for Christmas

 

[Big Cuz 15]

team continuity.. economy and personal budget.

 

[D13]

There is still an audience in Sac. I was at the Heat game the other night and it was packed to the ceiling with real Kings fans. People yelling, screaming and going crazy for the Kings. Now of coarse most all of it had to do with who was in town, but the fact is people were still there. I don't think the reason is ARCO that people aren't filling the seats. Sac can still support a team if we got something to be excited about. A new arena would be nice, but it's not the reason people aren't going to games.

I think the writer did touch on something though. The economy is tough, games are expensive, and the team is disappointing. Sac got a taste of a near championship winner at one time... and through all those losing years up till then, fully embraced the team. Many people felt ripped off and hurt when we were so close, then blatantly screwed by the league. The next few seasons fans were still going to games, but it dwindled when the team never responded, and then the bad economy hit. But now we are an embarrassment.. the league kicks us around, ignores us, and NBA commentators make fun of us. We aren't even close to ever redeeming ourselves. It's gets tiring.

Now, there are other teams struggling too. Half the games I see on TV are empty arenas. I check allot of NBA forums around the net, and fans are crazy over the same issues with their respective teams as we are. Believe it, it's not just us. There's allot of critical negativity all over. BBall fans don't appear too tolerant of a bunch.

 

[kupman]

It is humorous to me when people remark how expensive parking is. How many other big league games can you see while parking your car within a short walk for $10 or less?

I am pretty sure that there are at least 10 better reasons that people stay away than "expensive parking."


Oh yeah, this just in as well: Concessions have a significant mark-up when at the game. This happens everywhere - even the movie theater.

Good grief.

 

[Warhawk]

Why would anybody want to go drop a few hundred on that? Heck, I've been offered FREE tickets 4 times this year and I declined. I'd rather just be home with my family.

Why not TAKE the family with free tix???? I don't spend all that much on games - $10 seats and $10 parking and you can eat before you go if you need to. It's not all THAT expensive unless you just can't tolerate the upper deck for some reason......

 

[Alacron]

Yeah, "too expensive" is kinda dumb to put as one of the Three main reasons... considering for any sporting event you'd expect to pay parking and concession prices, as well as the fact that when Arco was sold out every game it was just as expensive. But what do you expect from an article whose title employs ridiculous hyperbole? NOBODY GOES TO KINGS GAMES ANYMOAR GUYS, THE PPL ON TV ARE JUST ADDED DIGITALLY I SWEAR.
~~

 

[kennadog]

I've never spent $250 on tickets to take my family, ever. I only buy merchandise on rare occasions and if I don't want to buy arena food, I eat before I go. Parking is cheap at Arco compared to a great many venues. I get that a lot of people can't afford tickets to Kings games. I've been there. Even $10 a seat was too much for me at one time. However, people can't afford a lot of entertainment choices now or even in good times.

I do think Sacramentans got spoiled by the good years. Now being mediocre or even bad like we were for years before, just isn't acceptable to people here anymore. I think having to watch a bad team in a now crappy arena doesn't help. But why are Sacramento fans like this? There are sports in cities that haven't had a good team in years and still are big fans.

 

[Bricklayer]

As I said in another thread, the taste of a championship caliber team has spoiled the fans. It's hard to do go from playoff excitement to cellar dweller. Add that to the usual suspects (economy, arena status etc) and u have ur answer.

I came to that same conclusion years ago as we started to go into decline. As long as we had never had success, people filled the building to watch the Kings n matter what their record. Once the bar was raised, all of a sudden that wasn't good enough anymore and the best fans in the NBA went the way of the dodo. We are a victim of our own success. That said, there is more to it than just that. No fans in basketball are harder on their teams than Philadelphia fans, and they have had several stretches of tremendous success in their history, but you never see the building get down to such embarrassingly empty depths as we have seen from Arco of late. There was a poison leaked into the fanbase in the mid 2000s. Some of it came from people like Voison. Some came from misguided marketing. Some came from the fans themselves, But the fnabase that always supported suddenly got a healthy sense of entitlement -- that is was owed something. That it had been lied to, mistreated somehow when we came up short. And so there has long been a sense of a child turning on its "tormentor".

 

[Arena Skeptic]

My income is down 15%, and I have to send my kids to college in the not-very-distant future.

I ain't forking over $200 so my family can see the current product. That's a week in the dorm, man.

 

[Arena Skeptic]

I've never spent $250 on tickets to take my family, ever. I only buy merchandise on rare occasions and if I don't want to buy arena food, I eat before I go. Parking is cheap at Arco compared to a great many venues. I get that a lot of people can't afford tickets to Kings games. I've been there. Even $10 a seat was too much for me at one time. However, people can't afford a lot of entertainment choices now or even in good times.

I do think Sacramentans got spoiled by the good years. Now being mediocre or even bad like we were for years before, just isn't acceptable to people here anymore. I think having to watch a bad team in a now crappy arena doesn't help. But why are Sacramento fans like this? There are sports in cities that haven't had a good team in years and still are big fans.

Simply put, this is not unique to Sacramento. It wasn't that long ago that selling out was average. You could rank the attendance at games by simply ranking arena sizes.

Not any more.

http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance

 

[LWP777]

Why not TAKE the family with free tix???? I don't spend all that much on games - $10 seats and $10 parking and you can eat before you go if you need to. It's not all THAT expensive unless you just can't tolerate the upper deck for some reason......

Honestly, I'm just not that interested in going. Keep in mind I've been a fan since day 1 too. The team just isn't at all entertaining to watch. I had a BLAST watching them last year despite not winning much. It's just easier to watch on TV but lately even that hasn't been happening. If they struggle and play badly I usually just turn it off now. That wasn't the case last year because I felt like I would miss something exciting.

 

[nickmcclure]

If anyone thinks it's not because of the following 3 reasons, you're delusional. It's pretty simple.

1. The economy is awful. People don't have extra loot to go to games (especially this time of the year).

2. The Kings suck (this year...so far...and for a while now...)

3. Arco is outdated.

 

[kennadog]

Simply put, this is not unique to Sacramento. It wasn't that long ago that selling out was average. You could rank the attendance at games by simply ranking arena sizes.

Not any more.

http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance

Uh, yes it was pretty darn unique to Sacramento. Sacramento has two of longest sell-out streaks in NBA history.

The Kings sucked for about 15 years and still sold out. Of course, tickets were cheaper then. Of course, that's why the city had to help keep the prior owner from declaring bankruptcy.

Sacramento fans want the old, cheapo tickets, but still have the type of team that had one of the highest payrolls in the league. Yes, we are spoiled. Do I find them exciting this year. No. I still go to an occassional game, because this is my team and I want to support them. And living in the region, I don't want the team to leave.

 

[pshn80]

THREE REASONS FANS WILL ALWAYS PAY TO SEE THE KINGS PLAY.

1. To see NBA teams play 41 times a year.
2. To see them play right here in SACRAMENTO.
3. Every star, every NBA player can't get out of playing here.
4. Arco Arena is a viewer friendly venue.
5. Slamson, Gary Gerould, Mario Elie, Bobby Jackson, Jerry Reynolds and several very nice ushers are there.
6. And I even like the team when they are not winning.
7. I'm a Kings fan since 1985 and I don't want to go anywhere else.
Please, everyone. feel free to enter your own special reasons for seeing the Kings play.

 

[Tetsujin]

Why not TAKE the family with free tix???? I don't spend all that much on games - $10 seats and $10 parking and you can eat before you go if you need to. It's not all THAT expensive unless you just can't tolerate the upper deck for some reason......

People tend to forget how intimate Arco's seating is. The upper tier is still closer to the court than in most other arenas

 

[bajaden]

When the Kings came to sacramento they were a middle of the road team. Talented, but not super talented. I think everyone knew it wasn't a championship team, but it was a start, and it was priced right. To be honest, I didn't even go with the idea that we would win. I went to see the other teams. Live, right here in sacramento. Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan. I was in the old wharehouse when Bird got a bigger ovation than the Kings team did. The people of sacramento were hungry for the big time, and sick of the sacramento Salons or whatever they were called.

All of us suffered through some miserable times. Just as bad as now, but longer. But yet we came and we watched and we cheered. And suddenly in one fell swoop, we emerged as one of the best teams in the NBA. And then the prices started to go up. After a few years, all the folks that I knew on a first name basis were gone. And they were replaced by fans that had the money but lacked the enthusiasm of the previous fans. Some didn't even arrive until just before halftime. Some spent half their time on their cellphone. Some spent the entire game talking to one another and not even watching the game.

I always thought that the kings were a blue collar team. And the blue collar workers got priced out. When the team started to decline, the causual fan lost interest and moved his money elsewhere. That only left the remaining blue collar guys. And when the economy went bad, some of them had to pack it in. I started in the red seats just 12 rows from the floor. From there I went to the blue seats and eventually to the upper tier front row, and then to the nose bleed sections. And finally nothing.

If I still lived there, and had the money I would still be going to games. If not to see my team win, then to see the best athlete's in the world do their thing. I would give my right arm for free tickets. I can honestly say that I have never turned off a Kings game, no matter how bad it is. Because I don't know how long I'll be able to have the luxury of seeing them. Tomorrow is promised to no one. I think Dirty Harry said that. He would know.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

. Some of it came from people like Voison.

How on earth would you attribute (even a small amount) of the fall-off of enthusiasm/support among Kings fans to Voison? I'd really like to here what you think is the connection there.

 

[swisshh]

Yeah, "too expensive" is kinda dumb to put as one of the Three main reasons... considering for any sporting event you'd expect to pay parking and concession prices, as well as the fact that when Arco was sold out every game it was just as expensive. But what do you expect from an article whose title employs ridiculous hyperbole? NOBODY GOES TO KINGS GAMES ANYMOAR GUYS, THE PPL ON TV ARE JUST ADDED DIGITALLY I SWEAR.
~~

Just because sports entertainment is overly expensive overall does not erase the fact that it is overly expensive.

Its all three factors combined, though I think there is more to it than those three factors.

I find the "Sacramentans got spoiled" nonsense to be absolute bull****. Sacramentans got jobbed by the league and then messed around with by the team owners in voting periods. THe fans still get more spin control from both of those sources than they get any real owning up to the issue that is like a white elephant in the room. That is enough to erase blind loyalty, and blind loyalty itself is problematic to begin with. There is a huge issue of trust with the ownership and the league that needs to be fixed. If that issue didn't exist, I think you would see higher attendance. Still below the wining years, but it would not be a quiet echoing arena.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

If anyone thinks it's not because of the following 3 reasons, you're delusional. It's pretty simple.

1. The economy is awful. People don't have extra loot to go to games (especially this time of the year).

2. The Kings suck (this year...so far...and for a while now...)

3. Arco is outdated.

3 is laughable. As if anyone is going, yeah....I'd really love to go to a Kings' game, but Arco is outdated, so screw it. LOL! 1 accounts for some of it but if 2 is improved, 1 can be overcome.

 

[SKRMOM6]

Honestly, I'm just not that interested in going. Keep in mind I've been a fan since day 1 too. The team just isn't at all entertaining to watch. I had a BLAST watching them last year despite not winning much. It's just easier to watch on TV but lately even that hasn't been happening. If they struggle and play badly I usually just turn it off now. That wasn't the case last year because I felt like I would miss something exciting.

I may be wrong but when the Kings first came to town and were bad they didn't have Comcast coverage (or any TV coverage). Even bad, if you wanted to see them you needed to do so in person. That is not the same now. Easier to watch TV and turn it off if the team isn't playing well then pay for tickets and parking and feel like you need to stay to get your money's worth.

 

[RookieOfTheDay]

but you never see the building get down to such embarrassingly empty depths as we have seen from Arco of late.

Actually, you do. Percentage wise, they're selling out less of their building than Acro is. There seems to be a pretty prevalent myth that the 76ers draw big crowds even when they suck but it's just that, a myth. This year they're ranked 27th in attendance with an average of 13800, just 400 more than The Kings (30th place) are averaging. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance. And last year, The 76ers actually had lower attendance than The Kings, 29th in the league, Kings, 27th. http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance/_/year/2010/sort/homePct In fact, the last time The 76ers weren't in the bottom 10 was 2005 when they were a lukewarm 16th.