I was looking up the Thunder's attendance figures for this year (2 games)on ESPN, and we are just over 17k? is this right? I know espn had the % of capacity wrong for a while!

Didn't have great attendance for Sunday's game, unfortunately. So yes, we're just over 17K. Percent capacity doesn't really matter, though, unless you sell out. It's kind of a worthless piece of data, although I know people look at it.

Here is the lastest on NBA attendance:

NBA Attendance - National Basketball Association - ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance)

Attendance Rank: 12
Location: Oklahoma City
Season: 2nd

Not too shabby for a turd-kickin hick filled dusty old cowtown that no one outside its borders gives a rat's arse about unless they escaped from there (or so they tried to say).
B-BALLERS, young and old, stand up and gives yerselves a mighty mighty YEEEE-HAWWWW! and sritch ol' Rumble behind the ears next time ya see him.

Not bad, not bad at all.

wonder where it was when the hornets was here...

wonder where it was when the hornets was here...

11th in attendance in 2005-06 - Hornets season 1
15th in attendance in 2006-07 - Hornest season 2
11th in attendance in 2008-09 - Thunder season 1
11th in attendance in 2009-10 - Thunder season 2 (will pick-up once football season ends)

(will pick-up once football season ends)

Unfortunately, football has already ended this year.

Unfortunately, football has already ended this year.

nah, still lots of football left. Oh, did you mean good football? Still a passle of that left too, though not for everyone of course.

As you can see, with 98.2% capacity, we are ranked 11th. Short of the teams above us not filling their arenas, that's about as good as we can do, based on the size of our arena. However, considering we are the 3rd smallest city in the league, 11th is excellent. However, we've got to remember that we've only had a few home games. It's what we're ranked at the end of the year that matters. But, hopefully we'll have good attendance. The team is definitely better than last year, and the home games have been good. So, I'm hoping we'll stay at least 11th in the league for ticket sales.

I was in the Atlanta airport this morning, and had a Thunder shirt on (since we have a game tonight). One of the people at the airline counter said, "I've been seeing a lot of those Thunder shirts lately." I considered that a positive sign.

....had a Thunder shirt on (since we have a game tonight). One of the people at the airline counter said, "I've been seeing a lot of those Thunder shirts lately." I considered that a positive sign.

isnt it nice when a customer service driven person compliments ones' clothing with no ulterior motive?


rofl

Percent capacity doesn't really matter, though, unless you sell out. It's kind of a worthless piece of data, although I know people look at it.

How is it worthless?

Did anyone watch the Thunder game last night versus Sacramento? The box score listed 10,000 and change but there did not look to be that many people there. This from a team that once had the record for most consecutive sell-outs. If you have a bad team, people don't show up, especially if they are playing another bad team. (Sorry, I love them but they are not yet a good team although they are on their way to being good).

How is it worthless?

If you sell out an arena, then you really don't know how many people would have attended the game, had there been limitless seats. You do know that there was a person for every seat. If you don't sell out an arena, then the number of people attending the event is far more valuable information.

For instance, let's say that New York City had an arena that seated 18,000 people, and Oklahoma City had an arena that seated 20,000. If 17,000 people bought tickets to a game in NYC, they would have 94.4% capacity. If OKC sold 17,000 seats, they would have 85% capacity. But, on that night the identical number of people were attending a game in each city. NYC has about 10 x the number of people in it that OKC does. So, you might say, "Oooh. NYC had a great crowd for their game and OKC didn't. But, if you look at tickets sold per capita, Oklahoma City actually did far better than NYC. So, the information you get from percent capacity isn't really useful.

Did anyone watch the Thunder game last night versus Sacramento? The box score listed 10,000 and change but there did not look to be that many people there. This from a team that once had the record for most consecutive sell-outs. If you have a bad team, people don't show up, especially if they are playing another bad team. (Sorry, I love them but they are not yet a good team although they are on their way to being good).

I watched it and thought it was sad. Part of it was the fact that the Thunder doesn't draw like some of the big name teams, but a lot of it represents the disconnect that seems to have occurred between the city and the team. Considering the fact that they were a great crowd in the past, it's a shame.

OKC hasn't falen in love yet. We immediately took to the Hornets and haven't made the connection to the Thunder yet...not really sure why. Maybe because with the Hornets, we knew they used to be really good, and there were a few rivalries to work off of. I don't know.

The Thunder is still losing those 3-4 point games, and i think that drives people batty. If they would just push through and actually play the whole game (the whole team too) and win some of those close games, I think people would be more likely to go. It's hard to get motivated to go when you expect to lose. If there's at least a chance of winning against a good team, it's far more exciting. A injury stricken Sacramento isn't much of a game. Did we really play that well? No...we just did well against a bunch of 2nd stringers.

Adding another 10 wins in the season would do wonders for the Thunder. Not only for the morale of the players, but the interest of the city in the team. Hell making playoffs would be amazing.

I think people fell in love with Chris Paul as much as anything. Kevin Durant has a different sort of personality, and he's not got that fiery demeanor that people can connect with. But this is a great bunch of guys. We're 4-4, and although it's early, that's an amazing record considering where we were last year. Yes, we're losing 3 to 4 point games, but last night we won one. Although I'm an OU fan, probably the best thing that could have happened to the Thunder this is year is an OU team that doesn't give the fans much to look forward to. I'm hoping people start to bond. Personally, I'm not sure I saw any crowds respond any more positively to the Hornets than the crowd did at the Thunder-Lakers game so I think there's hope.

Did anyone watch the Thunder game last night versus Sacramento? The box score listed 10,000 and change but there did not look to be that many people there. This from a team that once had the record for most consecutive sell-outs. If you have a bad team, people don't show up, especially if they are playing another bad team. (Sorry, I love them but they are not yet a good team although they are on their way to being good).

It is California - those people are out of money at every level. The literally can't pay their mortgages. Their unemployment rate is getting close to 13% and the ones that are working are taxed beyond their ability to pay. I am surprised anyone shows up to any games.

I think the Maloofs want to move them to Vegas, or it at least was rumored that they wanted to. Even if not true, that was a rumor that may have affected the fans along with the quality of the team.

The reality is that the Thunder games here are well attended given their production. If they matter in the playoff race at all, they will be better attended here as well as on the road. I think the Hornets lived off Chris Paul, the novelty, and the city's desire to show it can support major league sports. This Thunder team, however, has great character from top to bottom and I think if they can turn some heads with a better record by New Year's, people will start learning more about them. And, really, the Hornets were here at a very good time economy wise. It's not as bad here as it is in the rest of the country, but it's still not nearly as good as it was two years ago.

That being said, I like Thunder games much better. They just don't ooze the cheese that the Hornets games did. There's still some goofiness, but it's not as much a circus, in my opinion, as the Hornets games. However, I think a lot of people liked that.