..Attendance is embarrassing.

[HawkItus]

The problem is the cheap real estate. Most people in the metro area have a nice home to go to after work and don't want to come out to go to a game. Why when you have a big HD tv in a nice comfy den with whatever you want to eat. No bathroom lines and if the game is a clunker you turn to something else. Many of the cities with the better attendance have larger populations that are looking to do something in the city. They want to get out of the house and into the arena.

[macdaddy]

Hawks have to really lower ticket prices if they want a packed arena vs. the likes of the Nets and Wiz.

These $15 seats "discounts", in the upper deck, that are behind the basket , should be going for more like $5 for games like this one.

Better to sale a few cokes, beers, and hot dogs, then have empty seats that sale nothing.

1.) What working person in their right mind is going to leave work at 5:30 and fight 5:00 traffic to get to a 7:00 Hawks / Wizards game where a decent seat is $70 (through the Hawks) ? Then they get home between 10:00 - 11:00, depending on how far away they live.

2.) Big screen HDTV hurts attendance vs. crappy teams. I'd rather go home...., park for free, eat a home cooked meal, and drink a Miller Lite that I invested all of $0.75 in. (12 pack for $9 = $0.75 a beer). Sure as heck beats $8 per beer at Phillips.

3.) Plus there were about 9,000 people at the UGA vs. #21 Ole Miss game last night. Two games within a 70 mile radias. More people drive to Hawks games from the Athens area then some Atlantans may think.

Now when we are playing the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics, Magic, Nuggetts, Spurs, Mavs, Heat, Thunder, Suns, Hornets, Blazers, Jazz, or even the Bobcats or Raptos.......I would say the inconvience is worth the live game expierence.........but not to see the Wizards, Nets, Kings.

Damn coach we may not agree on politics but we can agree on this AND Mark McLiar. I think the marketing effort isn't reaching people very well. have some promotionsl, post game concerts that kind of thing. I think this city depends on people in their 20s for single game tickets. When the people who were in their 20s now were in high school the Hawks really stunk and they didn't learn to love them as a team. So it'll take a couple seasons of consistent winning and player promotion to get people invested in the team.

[AUhawksfan]

The problem is the cheap real estate. Most people in the metro area have a nice home to go to after work and don't want to come out to go to a game. Why when you have a big HD tv in a nice comfy den with whatever you want to eat. No bathroom lines and if the game is a clunker you turn to something else. Many of the cities with the better attendance have larger populations that are looking to do something in the city. They want to get out of the house and into the arena.

Agreed. Add that to the fact that Atlanta is so spread out, and a lot of people don't want to have to drive into the city and deal with traffic (especially on weekdays).

[coachx]

1 important factor that no one is mentioning is that this is the 1st of 2 games, in 3 nights, Phillips.

Wed night has the Wizards / Bullets in town.

Fri night has the Suns in town.

Hmmmmmmmmm.........which of these 2 games would fans want to see the most ?

Edited January 14, 2010 by coachx

[spotatl]

Honestly- I don't know that its a ticket price problem. Tickets are CHEAP on craigslist. I'm absolutely sure you could have gotten in the door for $5.

Edited January 14, 2010 by spotatl

[Johnnybravo4]

Its hard to sell out when you have no superstars and your flagship radio station is talking about Tennessee football and the newspaper is talking about UGA's D-coordinator.

[coachx]

Honestly- I don't know that its a ticket price problem. Tickets are CHEAP on craigslist. I'm absolutely sure you could have gotten in the door for $5.

Not everyone knows about that and the ASG sure as heck don't want every fan finding that out.

Now that the cat is out of the bag...........every ticket I buy, other then playoff tickets and Lakers tickets, come from a site like Craig's List for half price or better.

[f_town]

What? We boo the s*** out of Wade and Lebron. Kobe is another story for some reason.

The only ways the Hawks draw good numbers against crummy teams on cold, weeknight games is:

a. Win a championship

b. Get a superstar

And Atlanta isn't even close to the worst sports town. Miami has a superstar and can't even draw.

at the Lakers games, everyone was cheering Kobe at first, but after the hawks pulled away in the second, they switched over to the Hawks side lol

Go Hawks!

[Joker]

The only team that sells in Georgia is UGA football, everyone else struggles. In reality, demographics hurts GA/ Atlanta. A lot of our white fans are only UGA football / NASCAR fans. Our black fans are Hawks fans but don't always have the money in a majority, especially in a down economy. The Hispanic fans are busy watching the Mexican Liga on Univision and the Asian are too small of a % to really matter. The Braves do not even have the white fans it used to have as well as the black fans. Facts, this is a transplant STATE, not too many ppl are fans of the home team.

The Falcons are the only team that gets love from all spectrum but they have problems selling out games as always. Except for the Michael Vick era.

[jy23]

Not everyone knows about that and the ASG sure as heck don't want every fan finding that out.

Now that the cat is out of the bag...........every ticket I buy, other then playoff tickets and Lakers tickets, come from a site like Craig's List for half price or better.

ticketliquidator.com

[RedDawg#8]

As a 20-something born and raised in Atlanta (Stone Mountain) the biggest thing I notice with ppl my age is awareness. I tell them that Hawks are doing well this year and they go "Really". I say, "yeah they just beat the Celtics the other day" and they go "For real, wow, didnt know that, thats wassup" and proceed to talk about Lebron vs. Kobe.

Bron and Kobe to my age group are like Politics to older ppl, every party I go to the first sports question is Kobe or Lebron. I say, "how bout those Hawks?" and then there is an akward silence.... and everybody Im talking to lives in Atlanta. So yeah I would have to agree that marketing is the biggest issue. So many ppl who have lived here the past 10 years only know the Hawks as losers. They have to re-reach the fans through-out the state.

[cameron]

as much as I hate the lack of energy Im feeling at games. I must admit I love getting these $70 dollar seats for $10

[coachx]

As a 20-something born and raised in Atlanta (Stone Mountain) the biggest thing I notice with ppl my age is awareness. I tell them that Hawks are doing well this year and they go "Really". I say, "yeah they just beat the Celtics the other day" and they go "For real, wow, didnt know that, thats wassup" and proceed to talk about Lebron vs. Kobe.

Bron and Kobe to my age group are like Politics to older ppl, every party I go to the first sports question is Kobe or Lebron. I say, "how bout those Hawks?" and then there is an akward silence.... and everybody Im talking to lives in Atlanta. So yeah I would have to agree that marketing is the biggest issue. So many ppl who have lived here the past 10 years only know the Hawks as losers. They have to re-reach the fans through-out the state.

Shallow minded people.