The NBA preseason is upon us, with the NHL exhibition season having just wrapped. Of course, with preseason comes neutral site games, and the NHL cleaned up recently in Vegas, as the LAS VEGAS SUN and SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY report, “the September 27 Avalanche-Kings NHL preseason game at the 17,157-seat MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which took place on a Saturday night opposite a Nevada-UNLV college football game at Sam Boyd Stadium, drew an announced crowd of 12,013 fans.”
(NBA needs more of these … in seats that is)
Meanwhile, last Sunday in NBA preseason action in Vegas, the Lakers played the Sac Kings, who are owned by the Maloofs (who own and operate The Palms hotel in Sin City.
The attendance: A god-awful 11,090. The number is disappointing to say the last, considering the Maloofs’ presence in town and the city’s proximity to Los Angeles. So Kobe & Co. can’t draw in Vegas? But what about Lebron in Pittsburgh tonight - just a two-hour drive from Cleveland?
Uh, you don’t want to know about that one either.
The PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW reports that for tonight’s Cavs-Celts game, “tonight’s affair was expected to draw about 8,000 fans at the 12,500-seat facility (Peterson Events Center), which is considerably smaller than that of Mellon Arena’s approximate capacity of 17,000.”
So the NBA had to move the game from the Penguins home arena to Pitt’s smaller building because of anticipated paltry attendance? Uh-oh.
I’m not so sure this is a sign no one cares about the NBA outside of NBA markets. I think it’s more a reflection of outrageous ticket prices. People have just had enough. And with the economy now crumbling, we are finally seeing a very real backlash.
Instead of laying off 80 in the NBA office, David Stern & Co. better hurry up and figure out how to lower ticket prices (by backing down salaries, of course). That will be the long term answer to keeping people coming to the games - wherever they are staged.
5:56 pm on October 14th, 2008
Look at what you non-attending fans have done - the cheerleaders are hanging their heads in sadness. For shame.
5:58 pm on October 14th, 2008
No, Yes, Yes, No.
5:59 pm on October 14th, 2008
Or it could be that fans have wised up and refused to pay regular-season prices for games that don't count.
6:04 pm on October 14th, 2008
Guess the economy's so bad that cheerleaders can't even afford uniforms.
6:12 pm on October 14th, 2008
no way they'll ever lower ticket prices. maybe they should try some all-you-can-eat ticket deals.
6:13 pm on October 14th, 2008
the nba is off the map in non-league cities, as it should be. there's a disconnect because the quality of play is atrocious. people outside of the league can see it. those in nba cities are blinded by allegiance to the team.
6:14 pm on October 14th, 2008
If Kobe and/or Lebron can't draw, the league is screwed. This might be the start of something.
6:17 pm on October 14th, 2008
People in NBA cities don't even want to watch preseason basketball. I went to a preseason game the other day and had to sit through 2 hours of Shavlik Randolph and Luke Jackson.
6:18 pm on October 14th, 2008
If NBA teams really want to save money, they should just do away with all cheerleader clothing. Attendance would certainly go back up.
6:21 pm on October 14th, 2008
Fallen off a cliff? Cliff Robinson?
6:32 pm on October 14th, 2008
Pretty sad when NBA preseason can't outdraw NHL preseason. Maybe fans just wanted to cool off in the sweltering Vegas heat. Or maybe the NHL tickets were just cheaper.
And the NBA wants to put a team here?
6:46 pm on October 14th, 2008
Whoever starts winning, the fans will show up. The Celtics won't have any problems selling seats this year.
7:17 pm on October 14th, 2008
Pittsburgh hasn't been the same for basketball since "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh".
7:30 pm on October 14th, 2008
No one really cares about the T-Wolves, preseason or regular, since they let KG go.
8:00 pm on October 14th, 2008
The NBA needs a guy like Bruce Pearl. Entertaining, emotional - even more so when you beat him.
8:27 pm on October 14th, 2008
I can't fathom Pearl leaving UT unless he's "invited" to leave. But I agree the NBA needs coaches with more personality. Guys like George Karl.
5:30 am on October 15th, 2008
i gave up on the NBA a long time ago. supported the Nets, sat through many a 35-17 1st quarter deficet. when the got good, they announced they were moving to brooklyn. now, they are bad [again] the financing for brooklyn is a fantasy, and they expect me to pay rediculous prices to see a bad product. no more, i will stay home and watch 'law and order' reruns.
7:33 am on October 15th, 2008
Its about time people realized that the NHL is the better sport and the NBA is a shell of what basketball really should be. The NHL is the best live sport, and has athletes that people can *gasp* actually look up to.
12:19 pm on October 15th, 2008
Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
/hey, they all look good to me
2:59 pm on October 15th, 2008
Screw Brett Favre - use these girls in those Wrangler jeans commercials instead.