Wolves Game Attendance : (

[Krapinsky]

I picked this up from the Trade Thread Board and found it concerning.

When talking about next steps for Minnesota, might be worth pointing out:

26th in the league in home attendance average.
27th in the league in home attendance % of stadium.

an 8.5% drop from last season, or 1,400 a game.

Are there any justifications? I know you guys have had a rough winter up there.

This concerns me for a team that is right up against the lux and wants to keep its superstar.

[LaViggins]

Target Center is so nasty, roads suck to drive on. yesterday was a high of 0, low of -20 with wind chill up to -39. Right now its -9 with -20 wind chill. When its this **** out, all you want to do is sit inside and try to wait it out.

[MinneOOPalis]

Nobody wants to watch this soft ass team. If the team was better the attendance would be fine.

[Klomp]

I think its a combination of the team's struggles, the winter, and the fact that Target Center is kind of a dump right now. The renovations will help (I hope).

[Krapinsky]

Our road average is 7th, higher than the Spurs, Rockets, Clippers, Warriors and Knicks.

[Jukeness]

Target Center is so nasty, roads suck to drive on. yesterday was a high of 0, low of -20 with wind chill up to -39. Right now its -9 with -20 wind chill. When its this **** out, all you want to do is sit inside and try to wait it out.

It was not that cold in the twin cities yesterday. The high was like 20, it didnt get that cold until way later at night.

[Klomp]

The interesting thing to point out is that the attendance percentage this year (77.2%) is actually lower than the 09-10 (78%) and 10-11 (78.8%) seasons when we won 15 and 17 games. The years since, attendance has jumped to 90.4% (14th) in 11-12 and was 84.4% (19th) last year.

I definitely think the weather has to be a factor in this.

[Calinks]

It's mostly that the team sucks. People already don't care about Pro basketball here so the fact that the team has been wallowing in mediocrity doesn't help anything. You can get 120,000 people to stand around the Saint Paul cathedral in 10 degree weather for 2 hours to see crashed ice where 90 percent of the people wont follow the sport outside of that one day but that's still an easier sell than a wolves game.

The wolves have to be really good to get fans to come out, especially during a bad winter. Remember we rank on the low end of the totem when it comes to sporting events people are interested in seeing live here.

[C.lupus]

Crappy winter and a brand of basketball that isn't that exciting. I mean just go through the threads here and look at the number of posts about how (insert poster name here) isn't as excited about the team this year as last year. Hell, even Rubio was depressed earlier in the season. The constant "Love is going to leave" crap doesn't help either.

[LaViggins]

Target Center is so nasty, roads suck to drive on. yesterday was a high of 0, low of -20 with wind chill up to -39. Right now its -9 with -20 wind chill. When its this **** out, all you want to do is sit inside and try to wait it out.

It was not that cold in the twin cities yesterday. The high was like 20, it didnt get that cold until way later at night.

My bad meant 2 days ago, guess it wasnt as bad as my iphone weather said but still terrible. And yeah usually go out late at night so im in the worst of the worst.

[C.lupus]

It's mostly that the team sucks. People already don't care about Pro basketball here so the fact that the team has been wallowing in mediocrity doesn't help anything. You can get 120,000 people to stand around the Saint Paul cathedral in 10 degree weather for 2 hours to see crashed ice where 90 percent of the people wont follow the sport outside of that one day but that's still an easier sell than a wolves game.

The wolves have to be really good to get fans to come out, especially during a bad winter. Remember we rank on the low end of the totem when it comes to sporting events people are interested in seeing live here.

Well, to be fair, that isn't a great comparison. Crashed Ice is a newer thing and only happens once per year. If they did it 41 times during the winter, I'd bet good money that by the 25th event, the attendance would be one hundredth of that.

[Worm Guts]

Crappy winter and a brand of basketball that isn't that exciting. I mean just go through the threads here and look at the number of posts about how (insert poster name here) isn't as excited about the team this year as last year. Hell, even Rubio was depressed earlier in the season. The constant "Love is going to leave" crap doesn't help either.

Why isn't this brand of basketball exciting? We're one of the highest scoring teams. I've heard others say it, so maybe there's truth to it, but why? Or are people just disappointed because this was the year we were supposed to make the playoffs? It's been a long time of being bad.

[Klomp]

Crappy winter and a brand of basketball that isn't that exciting. I mean just go through the threads here and look at the number of posts about how (insert poster name here) isn't as excited about the team this year as last year. Hell, even Rubio was depressed earlier in the season. The constant "Love is going to leave" crap doesn't help either.

Why isn't this brand of basketball exciting? We're one of the highest scoring teams. I've heard others say it, so maybe there's truth to it, but why? Or are people just disappointed because this was the year we were supposed to make the playoffs? It's been a long time of being bad.

People don't think its exciting because Ricky doesn't have the ball 95% of the time

[Jukeness]

Crappy winter and a brand of basketball that isn't that exciting. I mean just go through the threads here and look at the number of posts about how (insert poster name here) isn't as excited about the team this year as last year. Hell, even Rubio was depressed earlier in the season. The constant "Love is going to leave" crap doesn't help either.

Why isn't this brand of basketball exciting? We're one of the highest scoring teams. I've heard others say it, so maybe there's truth to it, but why? Or are people just disappointed because this was the year we were supposed to make the playoffs? It's been a long time of being bad.

Compared to last year, this team kicks ass. I really was disinterested in a lot of games down the stretch last year, that team was just downright boring. I think this is a fun team to watch.

[criteriado]

When you've been through so many seasons of mediocrity, it's understandable. But we don't have crap players(well, the bench). I mean watching Love and Rubio play, it's fun. It's not like this is a defensive team that struggles to score or something.

[C.lupus]

Crappy winter and a brand of basketball that isn't that exciting. I mean just go through the threads here and look at the number of posts about how (insert poster name here) isn't as excited about the team this year as last year. Hell, even Rubio was depressed earlier in the season. The constant "Love is going to leave" crap doesn't help either.

Why isn't this brand of basketball exciting? We're one of the highest scoring teams. I've heard others say it, so maybe there's truth to it, but why? Or are people just disappointed because this was the year we were supposed to make the playoffs? It's been a long time of being bad.

It's been a lot better lately. Earlier in the season it just seemed like a lot of half court set plays and a lot of two-man plays between Love and Martin. It isn't bad basketball but it isn't necessarily exciting to watch for the casual fan, either. You could hear it on the tv, too. You can tell when the crowd is into the game and when they are sleeping.

[Mattya]

Combination of awful winter(people just don't understand), increased ticket prices, and disappointing season.

[LordBaldric]

Didn't they jack up ticket prices this year after the last couple years of heavy discounts?

[Saltine]

I think the price increase (~10% to %40), combined with winter, are the main reasons. I doubt it has much to do with the team. It's been too damn cold, the roads are caked in ice, it gets into your head...
I'd rather camp out at home and watch on TV than drive downtown, and I only live 5 minutes away from the parking ramps. That's assuming my car doesn't get stuck in the 6 inch ice ruts in the alley...not worth the hassle.
And our owner is a fricking billionaire, he doesn't need the cash, they aren't going anywhere.

[Calinks]

It's mostly that the team sucks. People already don't care about Pro basketball here so the fact that the team has been wallowing in mediocrity doesn't help anything. You can get 120,000 people to stand around the Saint Paul cathedral in 10 degree weather for 2 hours to see crashed ice where 90 percent of the people wont follow the sport outside of that one day but that's still an easier sell than a wolves game.

The wolves have to be really good to get fans to come out, especially during a bad winter. Remember we rank on the low end of the totem when it comes to sporting events people are interested in seeing live here.

Well, to be fair, that isn't a great comparison. Crashed Ice is a newer thing and only happens once per year. If they did it 41 times during the winter, I'd bet good money that by the 25th event, the attendance would be one hundredth of that.

I'm just saying Minnesotans aren't afraid of the weather, yes it is probably a factor but they will brave anything if they want to. People will stand outside and freeze their asses off for two hours without thinking twice. If the wolves were a desirable product the fans would show up regardless.