Just had to post this one...
The Shock's first game is sold out, and they're selling standing room only tickets.
Remember all the grumpy naysayers? "Nobody will come. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to see women's basketball...etc, etc..."
It appears that the grumpy naysayers are wrong again.
Shocking.
I don't recall the post now, someone else please link, but it was just mentioned earlier.
They sold out the lower bowl. The upper bowl will be curtained off. I think it was reported a Shock sellout is 7700 or 7800 seats. I don't know whether to be excited about this or not, Ponder. I hope the team is supported but it sounds like they lowered the bar for what's considered a sell-out. Do they curtain off the upper bowl for the Oilers? I've still not been to an Oiler game so I don't know.
IMO, 7000 to 8000 is really good attendence for our level of pro sports in this town. I'm not beating down their number, just not sure if you were aware what a sell-out was for the Shock.
Does anyone know if they are selling lumberjack shirts and birkenstocks at the merchandise booths (just kidding!)
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/article.aspx?subjectid=413&articleid=20100513_29_B7_TheTul670814
Quote from: Conan71 on May 14, 2010, 01:59:12 PM
I don't recall the post now, someone else please link, but it was just mentioned earlier.
They sold out the lower bowl. The upper bowl will be curtained off. I think it was reported a Shock sellout is 7700 or 7800 seats. I don't know whether to be excited about this or not, Ponder. I hope the team is supported but it sounds like they lowered the bar for what's considered a sell-out. Do they curtain off the upper bowl for the Oilers? I've still not been to an Oiler game so I don't know.
IMO, 7000 to 8000 is really good attendence for our level of pro sports in this town. I'm not beating down their number, just not sure if you were aware what a sell-out was for the Shock.
Does anyone know if they are selling lumberjack shirts and birkenstocks at the merchandise booths (just kidding!)
Yes, they curtain off the upper bowl for the Oilers unless it's a special event game (BOK opening, a near sellout; Doug Lawrence retirement jersey ceremony, kids night, some other promotions).
I can only recall four or five occasions when they don't curtain it off, and in a lot of cases, the overflow warrants them only selling one side of the upper, so they open that side up and leave the other side closed.
Here are some photos demonstrating it:
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3369/3195408151_fdb026ebaf.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfan/3195408151/)
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3533/3195405677_eb5463889d.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oilerfan/3195405677/)
Quote from: PonderInc on May 14, 2010, 01:52:51 PM
Just had to post this one...
The Shock's first game is sold out, and they're selling standing room only tickets.
Remember all the grumpy naysayers? "Nobody will come. Nobody cares. Nobody wants to see women's basketball...etc, etc..."
It appears that the grumpy naysayers are wrong again.
Shocking.
I hope they succeed. But 1 game isn't exactly enough to make money. I think season 2 will be where we get to see what the normal numbers are going to be.
I bet they gave away 70 percent of those tickets....
Let's see how many of those seats they "sold" are occupied. The Oilers had a massive announced crowd their first night at the BOK (due to freebies?), but half the seats were empty. I have a feeling the Shock might be the same way.
Quote from: TheTed on May 14, 2010, 09:24:32 PM
Let's see how many of those seats they "sold" are occupied. The Oilers had a massive announced crowd their first night at the BOK (due to freebies?), but half the seats were empty. I have a feeling the Shock might be the same way.
Wrong, not half. There were alot of empty seats, but half is incredibly wrong.
And I know the front office. There were few freebies. There were a lot of group sales. Plus the newness of the arena had people coming in.
I wasn't there. I just saw this photo from the beginning of the game. Unless a lot of people arrived late, half is not far off.
(http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2848/20081026b9b1oilerscrowd.jpg)
Quote from: TheTed on May 15, 2010, 01:04:20 AM
I wasn't there. I just saw this photo from the beginning of the game. Unless a lot of people arrived late, half is not far off.
(http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/2848/20081026b9b1oilerscrowd.jpg)
This was admittedly taken during the pre-game ceremonies. TONS of people were in concession lines at this point.
Believe me when I say (I know, I was there) it was WAY more than half.
If you've been to any NHL games, especially St. Louis, they report ticket sales, not butts in seats, for attendance. Nearly every league does this. Why do you think the NHL doesn't allow wide angle shots during games in smaller markets?
Quote from: Hoss on May 15, 2010, 02:24:05 AM
If you've been to any NHL games, especially St. Louis, they report ticket sales, not butts in seats, for attendance.
With premium seating (club seats, luxury boxes) you have a certain amount of built-in paid attendance, whether or not the seat owners show up.
If I'm not mistaken, the Convention Center Arena's basketball capacity is bigger than the lower bowl of the BOK Center. Of course, you still have to heat and cool the curtained-off volume plus run the outer areas designed to handle more than twice the size. If the two arenas were in competition with one another, I wonder how many events the Convention Center would win by being able to turn lower operating costs into lower facility rental fees.
Quote from: MichaelBates on May 15, 2010, 09:28:57 AM
With premium seating (club seats, luxury boxes) you have a certain amount of built-in paid attendance, whether or not the seat owners show up.
If I'm not mistaken, the Convention Center Arena's basketball capacity is bigger than the lower bowl of the BOK Center. Of course, you still have to heat and cool the curtained-off volume plus run the outer areas designed to handle more than twice the size. If the two arenas were in competition with one another, I wonder how many events the Convention Center would win by being able to turn lower operating costs into lower facility rental fees.
Oilers actually come out ahead between their CC era and this. Although their rent at the highest was $2500 per game in the CC vs $20000 in the BOK, they are now guaranteed suite revenue of $22300 per game that they didn't have in the CC. Thus they come out ahead when you look at in that light.
Plus, they now get a larger percentage of concessions than they did at the CC.
Quote from: MichaelBates on May 15, 2010, 09:28:57 AM
With premium seating (club seats, luxury boxes) you have a certain amount of built-in paid attendance, whether or not the seat owners show up.
Sure wish those club seat owners would sell their tickets. I expected to see lots of bargains for those seats for Oilers/Talons games, as I'm sure many of those seat owners aren't too interested in Talons/Oilers games. But aside from what looks like the same guy constantly posting on craigslist wanting $60/seat for Talons games, there's not much. Guess those people don't need the money.
Quote from: TheTed on May 15, 2010, 12:35:09 PM
Sure wish those club seat owners would sell their tickets. I expected to see lots of bargains for those seats for Oilers/Talons games, as I'm sure many of those seat owners aren't too interested in Talons/Oilers games. But aside from what looks like the same guy constantly posting on craigslist wanting $60/seat for Talons games, there's not much. Guess those people don't need the money.
That was my big concern having the club seats in the common lower bowl..when club seat holders didn't go to games (Talons or Oilers) it would make a big hole and appear to be empty. I guess I was right.
So, did anyone on here go to the game last night? How did the actual attendance compare to the paid attendance? From the photos I've seen, it looks like that lower bowl actually was pretty much full.
Saw it on HLN this morning due to Jones being on the team. It looked great on tv.
Hate to be Debbie Downer.... but....
WNBA Opening Day
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Attendance:
1. US Airways Center, Phoenix – 14772
2. Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis – 9752
3. AT&T Center, San Antonio – 9409
4. Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville – 8072
5. BOK Center, Tulsa - 7806
****on the glass half full side, guess they can say they only expected 5-6k per game this year, then insist midseason that "by popular demand," they've been forced to open certain upper sections... this opening night "sellout" seemed pretty choreographed, IMHO... can anybody compare this crowd to the Talons attendance so far this year?
Quote from: JeffM on May 16, 2010, 03:52:20 PM
Hate to be Debbie Downer.... but....
WNBA Opening Day
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Attendance:
1. US Airways Center, Phoenix – 14772
2. Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis – 9752
3. AT&T Center, San Antonio – 9409
4. Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville – 8072
5. BOK Center, Tulsa - 7806
****on the glass half full side, guess they can say they only expected 5-6k per game this year, then insist midseason that "by popular demand," they've been forced to open certain upper sections... this opening night "sellout" seemed pretty choreographed, IMHO... can anybody compare this crowd to the Talons attendance so far this year?
Rather surprised at the big number in Phoenix. Were the Diamondbacks home this weekend? Otherwise, the numbers look about right for Metro MSA's to form a proportion with Tulsa's attendance.
Quote from: Conan71 on May 17, 2010, 09:39:05 AM
Rather surprised at the big number in Phoenix. Were the Diamondbacks home this weekend? Otherwise, the numbers look about right for Metro MSA's to form a proportion with Tulsa's attendance.
Hey #5 isn't half bad. They just have to keep it up.
Quote from: Conan71 on May 17, 2010, 09:39:05 AM
Rather surprised at the big number in Phoenix. Were the Diamondbacks home this weekend? Otherwise, the numbers look about right for Metro MSA's to form a proportion with Tulsa's attendance.
No the Dbacks were in Atlanta. I think the high number for Phoenix is attributable to the WNBA Champioship last year, and the fact that the Suns are riding high.
We went to the game on opening night and had a great time. Talked to the head of SMG before the game. He said there were very few comp tickets...so it was a paid sell out. As mentioned before, some of the club seats and many of the suites were unfilled (but paid for). Otherwise, the lower bowl was pretty full. Amazingly diverse crowd: Little kids, silver-haired seniors, everyone in between. Men, women, black, white...everyone was there! Great crowd and very enthusiastic!
It was a fun game, even though the Shock were struggling to make their shots (opening night jitters, plus several players just returned from European leagues last week...so very little time to practice as a team). They were playing great defense--they forced tons of turnovers--and had terrific ball movement. Once the team settles down and the shots start falling, they're going to be great.
Halftime entertainment was cool. They had a bunch of guys on stunt bikes...doing all kinds of crazy jumps, flips, etc. (Very X-games). Cool mascot (not sure why Volt is a red fox, but for old TU alums, anything is better than Huffy the, uh, golden carrot...)
Saw Kurt Budke and Sherri Coale at the game...plus just about every bigwig in the city and state. Quite the event!
I think this team has all kinds of potential and lots of passion and energy. It's an affordable night out, so give it a try and see what you think.
I'll definitely be back.
They said 2600 there for todays game. Mostly school kids. Have to wonder how much broadcasting games on Cox channel 3 and some on Fox sports will hurt them at the gate. Also noticed the camera angles were different. Showing court angles from above the club seats instead of the other side. Guess so you won't see how many empty club seats there are.
Did anyone else notice they seemed to try to put a little art deco-y element in the logo?
The old logo, when they were in detroit, had nothing representative of the city in it.
(http://www.insidehoops.com/wnba/pictures/tulsa-shock.jpg)
^^^That's actually pretty cool. Somebody gave it some real thought.
Quote from: bmuscotty on May 20, 2010, 01:45:59 PM
They said 2600 there for todays game. Mostly school kids. Have to wonder how much broadcasting games on Cox channel 3 and some on Fox sports will hurt them at the gate. Also noticed the camera angles were different. Showing court angles from above the club seats instead of the other side. Guess so you won't see how many empty club seats there are.
Why was there a game at 11:30 am anyway, to build support among school kids on a 'field trip' to the game?