Tag: Rockets Fans

Stephen Silas: Rockets feeding off presence of home fans in Houston

With up to 3,500 fans per game, the Rockets are one of a small number of NBA markets allowing fans early in the 2020-21 season.

Unlike the majority of NBA markets, the Houston Rockets are allowing a limited number of in-arena fans to begin the 2020-21 season at Toyota Center. With between 3,000 and 3,500 fans per game, the fans are spread out and subject to a variety of rigorous safety protocols.

That’s nothing close to the arena’s usual capacity of more than 18,000 fans, of course. But it’s also far more than zero, which is what’s occuring in many arenas due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before Monday’s home game versus Dallas, Silas was asked what the presence of games with fans has felt like. Here’s how he replied:

We feel it. We feel the Rockets’ fans.

It’s very different than it used to be with a packed house, obviously. But it’s starkly different from an empty arena. It’s hard to play in an empty arena, and it’s hard to get yourself up. You hear the squeaks, and you hear the ball, and all that.

When you have people, and energy, kind of filling the arena as much as possible — even though it’s just a limited amount of people — it helps. It really does help. We feel it, and we’re appreciative for the people who come to the games. Because it’s not an easy thing. There’s obviously places where you’re not even allowed to come to games. So we’re very appreciative to the people who do come. We feel it, we feel their energy, and it’s good for the guys. They feed off of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ6AGDZiSXY

Entering Monday, Houston was 2-0 in its home games with fans, and 0-2 in empty arenas on the road. Fortunately for the Rockets, seven of the team’s initial 10 regular-season games are at Toyota Center.

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Rockets plan to host no preseason fans, but some in regular season

Houston will not have fans at Toyota Center for preseason games on Dec. 15 and Dec. 17, but they are expecting some for the regular season.

The Houston Rockets are not planning to host fans for their two home preseason games at Toyota Center on Dec. 15 and Dec. 17, according to a new story from Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

But when the NBA’s 2020-21 regular season begins later in the month, the team is hoping for that policy to change — at least to some extent.

Those preseason contests will represent the first NBA games at Toyota Center since March 10 — a day before the 2019-20 season was halted for months due to COVID-19. The season finally resumed in late July, but at the NBA’s neutral “bubble” complex in Central Florida.

Here’s what Tad Brown, longtime CEO of both the Rockets and Toyota Center, told Feigen regarding the organization’s challenge of potentially hosting fans amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

We look forward to getting going, but it’s going to be with the highest safety protocols in place. It’s changing by the day and I think it’s going to be a fluid situation throughout the year. We are planning of having fans at games. So much of this is going to be based on the information we have as we go forward. …

It’s going to be a challenge but one we’re looking forward to. It’s very important that we continue to build proper infrastructure, especially to make sure that we’re following all safety protocols as directed nationally, as directed from the league, as directed from our local health professionals and city leaders and county leaders.

Brown said it remains premature to outline the amount of fans that might be allowed to attend regular-season games or detail the safety protocols in place, since those can potentially change in the coming weeks.

For comparison, the NFL’s Houston Texans have hosted fans at 20% of usual capacity for most of the 2020 football season. That arrangement was approved by officials with both the City of Houston and Harris County. Should a similar rate of “social distancing” be in place at Toyota Center, that would make for a crowd of under 4,000 fans per game.

It’s possible, of course, that the initial capacity limits could increase as the season moves along, thanks to improved medical data or the potential availability of COVID-19 vaccines or superior treatments.

The “first half” of the NBA’s regular-season schedule is expected to be released next week, around the same time as Dec. 1 launch of training camps. The regular season officially kicks off on Tuesday, Dec. 22.

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Study: Rockets among NBA leaders in lost fan revenues from COVID-19

Only the Lakers, Warriors, and Knicks lost more potential fan revenue than the Rockets ($35 million), according to a new report.

The Houston Rockets rank No. 4 among the 30 NBA teams in potential fan revenue lost due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a new study by business intelligence firm Team Marketing Report (TMR).

As broken down by Bill Shea of The Athletic, the Rockets lost an estimated $35 million from the nine remaining home games (with ticketed fans) at the time of the 2019-20 season’s suspension on March 11.

Only the Los Angeles Lakers ($52.7 million, 10 lost home games), New York Knicks ($45 million, eight games), and Golden State Warriors ($42.5 million, seven games) lost more in estimated revenues than the Rockets.

Overall, the NBA lost an estimated $694 million from a total of 258 canceled regular-season games. The average loss in fan-based income was $22.9 million per team, according to TMR data. The study did not measure potential losses from home playoff games, which would add to the millions in lost revenue for good teams, such as the Rockets.

Teams with the least potential revenue lost — between $10 million and $12 million, each — were the Memphis Grizzlies, Charlotte Hornets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Phoenix Suns.

Here’s how The Athletic describes the formula used for those estimates:

TMR extrapolated the lost team income using a weighted formula, which it calls gross game day fan revenue, that accounts for each team’s Fan Cost Index (see below), premium versus regular ticket prices, and attendance. The math shows that in 2019-20, the Warriors generated the most income from fans at $6 million per game, followed by the Lakers at $5.6 million and the Knicks at $5.2 million. At the bottom are the Hornets, at $1.1 million per home game.

Commissioner Adam Silver has said that about 40% of the NBA’s revenue comes from ticket sales and other gameday fan spending.

By resuming the 2019-20 season without fans at a “bubble,”, the NBA and its teams were able to fulfill television contracts with both national and local partners — which spared them from further losses. However, revenues were well short of expectations from prior to the season.

That’s why a clear goal for the 2020-21 season is to hold games in home arenas (in front of fans), and thus try to recoup some of those usual revenue streams. It isn’t yet clear what percentage of traditional arena capacity will be targeted to meet physical distancing recommendations.

As for the Rockets, owner Tilman Fertitta said in May that the team hadn’t had any layoffs or pay cuts due to the pandemic. However, like many NBA owners, he’s certainly feeling financial pain this offseason from revenues that came in far short of earlier expectations.

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How to become a courtside Rockets ‘virtual fan’ at NBA restart

In collaboration with Microsoft and Michelob ULTRA, the NBA is offering you the chance to be a virtual fan inside the restart arenas.

When the Houston Rockets resume their 2019-20 regular season on Friday night from the NBA “bubble,” it will be hard to miss the hundreds of virtual fans along one side of the court and behind the baskets.

That new initiative results from partnerships the league has with Microsoft, as well as beer brand Michelob ULTRA. While no fans can physically be present at the bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual experience offers fans a unique way to react to game action in real-time, all in a format that’s visible to players and coaches in Florida.

In a blog post, here’s how Microsoft describes the experience:

In partnership with the NBA, we are announcing a reimagined fan experience powered by a new feature in Microsoft Teams called Together mode. Together mode uses AI segmentation technology to bring people together into a shared background like a conference room, coffee shop, or arena.

Using scientific principles of cognition and social perception, Together mode is more than a virtual background — it makes being together virtually actually feel like being together in-person. It’s easy to maintain natural eye contact, for instance, or register fellow participants’ emotions as they react to what’s happening — whether it’s a meeting announcement, a class presentation, or the sight of a favorite NBA player about to score a 3-pointer.

Starting with Thursday’s games, the NBA is outfitting each game court with 17-foot-tall LED screens that wrap three sides of each arena. These “stands” are populated with more than 300 cheering fans who will join using Together mode in teams, Microsoft explains. Alongside a view of their fellow fans, participants can watch a live game feed within Teams.

Here’s how Microsoft describes the objective:

This new experience — the first to go live as a result of the NBA/Microsoft partnership — gives participating fans the feeling of sitting next to one another at a live game without leaving the comfort and safety of their homes.

Players, meanwhile, will experience their energy and support as they dribble down the court and see fans’ real-time reaction. And viewers tuning in to the game from home will feel the crowd’s energy as well as they see the virtual stands filled with fans.

But how can you become one of the 300 or so lucky fans to take advantage? That’s where Michelob ULTRA comes in. The easiest way is to register to win at the official website of UltraCourtside.com, where each registrant is asked to select the NBA team of their choice.

ULTRA is also doing occasional giveaways on its social media channels of on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

The first virtual Rockets fans to take part will be seen on Friday night, with tip-off between Houston and Southwest Division rival Dallas set for 8:00 p.m. Central. The regular-season game, which is the first for both teams since the season’s COVID-19 suspension in March, will be televised on AT&T SportsNet Southwest regionally and ESPN nationally.

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Led by an All-Star backcourt of recent NBA MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Houston will play a total of eight regular-season games at the restart before advancing to the 2020 NBA playoffs. All games will feature opportunities for the virtual fan experience.

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