BOYCOTT WIZARDS TICKETS!

[montestewart]

Arena has no energy

[montestewart]

Man! There's NOBODY at this game. Can't be more than 6000 there.

EDIT: Buck just said there's 12,500. I don't believe it.

[montestewart]

There was no one in the arena

Embarrassing for Ted

[dobrojim]

It's been really noisy in the Phone Booth this year but virtually all the noise
has been from the PA system. I'm pretty sure they're using fake crowd noise.
Fans are definitely not excited, that is the fans that are actually there.

[pineappleheadindc]

It's been really noisy in the Phone Booth this year but virtually all the noise
has been from the PA system. I'm pretty sure they're using fake crowd noise.
Fans are definitely not excited, that is the fans that are actually there.

My daughter and I sat at club level ledge seats and could clearly hear the pumped in crowd noise from above us and to the right, where there were no live people sitting. It's pathetic that Ted has to fake enthusiasm for this roster put together by his ever-failing GM.

[nate33]

A heartening column in the Post yesterday by Dan Steinberg:

“I love basketball,” said Stephen Eberhardt, a Wizards die-hard whose passion hasn’t waned. “But for some of my friends, they’re more casual fans, and they’re already checked out.”

That’s not supposed to happen before Thanksgiving. But there were dozens of $6 seats to Monday night’s game available on the secondary market. At that price, if you win a free fourth-quarter chicken sandwich, you’ve almost broken even. Yes, that’s a Monday night, before Thanksgiving, against a bad opponent with a negligible following. But the Wizards are now 27th out of 30 NBA teams in the percentage of seats filled and 25th in total attendance.

He also confirmed that the upper deck was empty during the Phoenix game.

I’m just sensing a fan base teetering between apathy and fury; see Monday night’s mixture of a near-empty upper deck with a sign of protest in the lower level.

Hit Ted in the wallet, Wiz fans! Don't let up!

[dobrojim]

see my post in the wiz in the media thread (email to Steinberg)

[CobraCommander]

I finally have joined this thread..and today may have been my last game till Erine goes! And I love going to games

[montestewart]

From the FIRE GRUN-FELD!!! FIRE GRUN-FELD!!! thread:

This issue has been covered in the Boycott Wizards Tickets thread. Ted is the problem. EG won't get fired unless Ted feels enough financial pain.

I think EG as the problem has to become a story that the national media takes up. This way Leonsis can no longer pretend to be unaware of Grunfeld's deficiencies as a GM.

I think it's a lot easier to get fans to express their discontent with the Wizards' product by asking them to hashtag it versus asking them to not buy tickets --- which rarely happens regardless of how bad a team is.

As far as Ted is concerned, EG has done a great job for 12 years. Profits are up. Ted is making money.

But this year, things may change. The payroll has ballooned to $103M (and will rise next year to $115-125M if Porter is resigned). Meanwhile, ticket sales are down and the arena is half empty.

Terd apparently has little reaction to repeated on court failures through the years. We've all heard through the years his grasping at straws spin: "a new big 3," "consecutive second round appearances," "The Plan," etc. As long as he's making money, he can rationalize that he's smart and The Plan is working, and "hashtag this," would be his clever response to criticism.

If Terd's losing money on the Wizards, he might question The Plan, or at least question the person he has implementing The Plan. Financial loss may be the only criticism he can't ignore.

[ptptpt]

From the FIRE GRUN-FELD!!! FIRE GRUN-FELD!!! thread:

I think EG as the problem has to become a story that the national media takes up. This way Leonsis can no longer pretend to be unaware of Grunfeld's deficiencies as a GM.

I think it's a lot easier to get fans to express their discontent with the Wizards' product by asking them to hashtag it versus asking them to not buy tickets --- which rarely happens regardless of how bad a team is.

As far as Ted is concerned, EG has done a great job for 12 years. Profits are up. Ted is making money.

But this year, things may change. The payroll has ballooned to $103M (and will rise next year to $115-125M if Porter is resigned). Meanwhile, ticket sales are down and the arena is half empty.

Terd apparently has little reaction to repeated on court failures through the years. We've all heard through the years his grasping at straws spin: "a new big 3," "consecutive second round appearances," "The Plan," etc. As long as he's making money, he can rationalize that he's smart and The Plan is working, and "hashtag this," would be his clever response to criticism.

If Terd's losing money on the Wizards, he might question The Plan, or at least question the person he has implementing The Plan. Financial loss may be the only criticism he can't ignore.

Gotta stop watching Wizard games for that to happen. That TV contract got all the owners caking a bit so Ted might not be so worried about ticket sales. Viewership of the franchise was down last year. If folks were to not watch the Wiz again on TV this year, it would wake Ted up a bit. But, Ted in one of his articles stated a small desire to move the Wiz, especially since he has the "worst" contract with his stadium venue. Ted is a jerk, in a whole lot of ways, and if you get into his pockets, I wonder if he will change his ways or just say forget it and pack up and leave. I think the best way for Ted to get the picture is if news media outlets thoroughly embarrassed him, and embarrassed him on a consistent basis.

[BigA]

A quick ticket update for the Orlando game, 12/6:

This is a red game (lowest price). As usual, much of the 400 level is unsold, and it's pretty easy to find seats up there for $5-6.

Seen on Ticketmaster at 6:45 AM:

Section 112, Row P, Seats 5-6 - $21 apiece
These are very nice seats in a lower center section, gate price is $121, 13-game plan price is $119, full season plan price is $116.

Section 116, Row K, Seats 5-6 - $10.35 apiece
Lower end zone halfway up, gate price is $60, 13-game plan price is $53, full season plan price is $50.

[dobrojim]

Can't go tonight. My single seat in Sec 104 is being offered for $15 on NBA.com.
I do not expect it to sell.

[pineappleheadindc]

I have extended family coming into town over the holidays. They want to go see a Wizards game.

Yet again, I may be violating my pledge to not buy tickets to a Wizards game. (Although I'm gonna buy the on the secondary market and not newly enrich Ted and Ernie.)

[montestewart]

With 15 home games played (the highest number of home games for any team so far this season) the Wizards now have the lowest attendance since ESPN began tracking that stat in the 2000/2001 season.

The team that year:

Courtney Alexander
Calvin Booth
Hubert Davis
Obinna Ekezie
Richard Hamilton
Juwan Howard
Popeye Jones
Gerard King
Christian Laettner
Felipe Lopez
Tyrone Nesby
Cherokee Parks
Laron Profit
Mitch Richmond
Michael Smith
Mike Smith
Rod Strickland
David Vanterpool
Loy Vaught
Jahidi White
Chris Whitney

That's right, this rag tag group of has beens and never was's had a better attendance record than Grunfeld's 13th year anniversary roster.

[montestewart]

I have extended family coming into town over the holidays. They want to go see a Wizards game.

Yet again, I may be violating my pledge to not buy tickets to a Wizards game. (Although I'm gonna buy the on the secondary market and not newly enrich Ted and Ernie.)

[BigA]

I have extended family coming into town over the holidays. They want to go see a Wizards game.

What kind of masochists do you have in your extended family?

[queridiculo]

A quick ticket update for the Orlando game, 12/6:

This is a red game (lowest price). As usual, much of the 400 level is unsold, and it's pretty easy to find seats up there for $5-6.

Seen on Ticketmaster at 6:45 AM:

Section 112, Row P, Seats 5-6 - $21 apiece
These are very nice seats in a lower center section, gate price is $121, 13-game plan price is $119, full season plan price is $116.

Section 116, Row K, Seats 5-6 - $10.35 apiece
Lower end zone halfway up, gate price is $60, 13-game plan price is $53, full season plan price is $50.

Incredible, that's a bargain to watch professional basketball and the fans reaction?

The arena was at 60% capacity with 12166 people showing up to watch game.

Washington now has the 4th worst attendance percentage, only the Timberwolves, Pistons and Nuggets are worse, and they have now slipped to the 5th worst attendance average in the league at 15231.

[BigA]

Incredible, that's a bargain to watch professional basketball and the fans reaction?

The arena was at 60% capacity with 12166 people showing up to watch game.

Washington now has the 4th worst attendance percentage, only the Timberwolves, Pistons and Nuggets are worse, and they have now slipped to the 5th worst attendance average in the league at 15231.

Right, it's ironic that seeing a Wizards game is the most affordable it's been in many years. Some of the best seats in the Verizon Center are available at prices comparable to going to a movie.

The 12,166 attendance figure is the number of seats that they sold, so the actual number of people in the building was likely quite a bit lower.

In addition to mismanagement of the team (the on-court "product"), Monumental's pricing and marketing strategy has led directly to this collapse in attendance. By squeezing all the value out of owning full and partial plans (a few pages back I went through this in detail), they've reduced the number of plan holders. Fewer plan holders means that the team has fewer allies in making sure that seats are filled. There's enormous unsold inventory for almost every game at inflated gate prices, with lower priced tickets available on the secondary market, and no real floor under those prices. Technically, once you get below $5-6 you aren't covering the StubHub fees, so selling isn't really worth it.

The Monumental strategy would maximize profits if the team was winning and there was real demand (maybe it's working for the Caps?), but it really whipsaws against them when the team is bad and they don't have the plan holders as a buffer.

It's going to be worse next year. And now that they've alienated such a large part of the long-term fanbase, it's going to take some doing to build it back up again.

[mhd]

Hey, longtime since I've posted. Have heard tickets are dirt cheap. When is the best time to buy them, and from where (Stubhub, Seatgeek, etc)?

[TGW]

Hey, longtime since I've posted. Have heard tickets are dirt cheap. When is the best time to buy them, and from where (Stubhub, Seatgeek, etc)?

go to BF...they have a section for ticket swapping/selling. you'll get a good deal there