Pistons covering the (empty) red seats

flow · Post #1 » by **flow** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:51 pm

Last week the Pistons entered into a sponsorship deal with Art Van for, among other things, black seat covers for the lower bowl so that the empty seats don't stick out quite so much. Embarrassing.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2018/02/13/detroit-pistons-art-van-seat-covers-little-caesars-arena/332874002/

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20180214/news/652901/new-art-van-deal-with-pistons-includes-branded-seat-covers-at-little

bballnmike · Post #2 » by **bballnmike** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:06 pm

It is pretty sad, I mean think about actually being able to sell ad spots that usually should be completely obstructed by people lol.

That said, watching our last couple games before the AS break, I think it actually did look better than the bright red empty seats fwiw.

During yesterdays Wings game their red empty seats did seem more noticeable compared to the black ones.. but the red also blends in more for Red Wings games since most people wear red.

Maybe the lesson here is that if you're building a stadium, maybe don't make the seats a super bright color that will stand out when empty. Or find a way to make sure they're filled.

Laimbeer · Post #3 » by **Laimbeer** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:16 pm

I always thought multi-color was the way to make empty seats look fuller.

ChuckVanBrown · Post #4 » by **ChuckVanBrown** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:49 pm

I know the overall product isn’t great, but most cities can still get better attendance rates with a mediocre team. Been going to Sixers games for the past several years, and the crowds always seemed bigger than Pistons games now. The team stunk, but the prices were low. Figured moving downtown would naturally draw more business from casual fans, but doesn’t seem to be the case.

They need to figure something out fast though. Whether it’s lowering the price of tickets or giving out discount packages, there’s no excuse why they can’t draw a bigger crowd. At the very least, people should show up when superstar teams visit.

Could be wrong, but maybe winning/lower prices isn’t the answer? A decade of lousy basketball may have shrunk the NBA market in southeast Michigan for the foreseeable future. If that’s the case, they’ll have an extremely tough time filling that arena over the next few seasons.

MotownMadness · Post #5 » by **MotownMadness** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:01 pm

Those bright red seats really did standout like crazy. It seems like a desperate attempt to make it look better but it works I guess

potatoaim · Post #6 » by **potatoaim** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:07 pm

Still have no idea why the powers to be thought moving downtown would magically solve attendance issues as if Auburn Hills was the culprit. It didnt seem to be a problem in the 2000's when they sold out like 6 straight years or whatever it was when they were a top 5 team every year. Its almost as if high attendance and product quality are directly correlated with one another... LOL.

bstein14 · Post #7 » by **bstein14** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:12 pm

Even if this team starts winning down the stretch and makes the playoffs we're going to have playoff games that aren't sold out as well. Its been absurdly empty all year and the reported attendance numbers are no where near how poor the actual attendance has been.

According to the numbers they've been selling 17,139 tickets per game on average but to be honest on a good night the arena only looks half full at best. I'd guess 10 - 13 thousand are showing up most nights.

sfballa13 · Post #8 » by **sfballa13** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:34 pm

potatoaim wrote:Still have no idea why the powers to be thought moving downtown would magically solve attendance issues as if Auburn Hills was the culprit. It didnt seem to be a problem in the 2000's when they sold out like 6 straight years or whatever it was when they were a top 5 team every year. Its almost as if high attendance and product quality are directly correlated with one another... LOL.

Gores underestimated the paying fanbase

Most Pistons fans' esp the big spenders come from Oakland County where the Palace is located

It wasnt because of the location that the Palace was empty it was because the team was and still is a mess

Move the Pistons downtown where the seat prices are jacked, where parking goes from $10 to $50-60, where driving in massive amounts of traffic on 75 is the norm.

An even dumber move considering the money Gores poured into the Palace

ComboGuardCity · Post #9 » by **ComboGuardCity** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:36 pm

bstein14 wrote:Even if this team starts winning down the stretch and makes the playoffs we're going to have playoff games that aren't sold out as well. Its been absurdly empty all year and the reported attendance numbers are no where near how poor the actual attendance has been.

According to the numbers they've been selling 17,139 tickets per game on average but to be honest on a good night the arena only looks half full at best. I'd guess 10 - 13 thousand are showing up most nights.

I bet they’ve given a ton to local businesses as part of a deal and they’re just never used.

The biggest problem is cost. Pistons games are overpriced. I don’t live in Detroit and try to fly to a game every year. Almost every time, the other teams tickets are cheaper for decent seats. They price lower bowl and floor seats like a coast team. It’s ridiculous.

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MotownMadness · Post #10 » by **MotownMadness** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:16 pm

Honestly until they really get going and show something to catch people's attention consistently it's going to stay like that. It felt like they were starting too add to they're fan base after that playoff series but lost them by coming out the next year like crap.

Myself personally I just don't like to go to games and would rather save a ton of money relaxing with a 12 pack or a bowl on my couch with my big screen for less then they want for a beer .

DCintheD · Post #11 » by **DCintheD** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:24 pm

lower the damn prices. these seats are literally double the price of the Palace. Why?? makes no sense when you consider you completely abandoned your fan base. You want people to show up and watch your sh^t product? LOWER THE DAMN PRICES.

potatoaim · Post #12 » by **potatoaim** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:24 pm

sfballa13 wrote:
potatoaim wrote:Still have no idea why the powers to be thought moving downtown would magically solve attendance issues as if Auburn Hills was the culprit. It didnt seem to be a problem in the 2000's when they sold out like 6 straight years or whatever it was when they were a top 5 team every year. Its almost as if high attendance and product quality are directly correlated with one another... LOL.

Gores underestimated the paying fanbase

Most Pistons fans' esp the big spenders come from Oakland County where the Palace is located

It wasnt because of the location that the Palace was empty it was because the team was and still is a mess

Move the Pistons downtown where the seat prices are jacked, where parking goes from $10 to $50-60, where driving in massive amounts of traffic on 75 is the norm.

An even dumber move considering the money Gores poured into the Palace

Absolutely.

Oakland County is one of the richest counties in the country, or it was at least. Moving to a poor area, jacking up the prices and alienating the part of the fan base that can actually afford to go to games was an idiotic decision. I live in Clarkston, which is in Oakland County, and I sure as **** arent driving to Detroit to go to a game. If they still played at the Palace, I would of been to multiple already. This was a huge misstep from Gores.

CoachD · Post #13 » by **CoachD** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:44 pm

So spending thousands on seat covers to make empty seats look less obvious is a better use of resources that grassroots marketing?

Hell, If I was the FO, I'd rather give seats away for free! Fill the house and hope you can make money on concessions and merchandise and reignite people's interest.

bballnmike · Post #14 » by **bballnmike** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:56 pm

CoachD wrote:So spending thousands on seat covers to make empty seats look less obvious is a better use of resources that grassroots marketing?

Hell, If I was the FO, I'd rather give seats away for free! Fill the house and hope you can make money on concessions and merchandise and reignite people's interest.

Well it's a sponsor, so Pistons didn't spend anything on seat covers, they got paid to put them up.
But yes, there's definitely other things they could be doing to fill the seats with actual butts instead.

Kilo · Post #15 » by **Kilo** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:08 pm

CoachD wrote:So spending thousands on seat covers to make empty seats look less obvious is a better use of resources that grassroots marketing?

Hell, If I was the FO, I'd rather give seats away for free! Fill the house and hope you can make money on concessions and merchandise and reignite people's interest.

Do you refund the season ticket holders who are paying for those seats beside the person you are giving the free tickets to?

buzzkilloton · Post #16 » by **buzzkilloton** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:22 am

If they actually have a product worth paying money to see, they'll sell out like they used to in Auburn Hills. Expecting Detroit fans who've lived through the badboys and 03-08 6 consecutive eastern conf finals pistons teams to pay money for this current mess of a product they've put together for us isnt going going to happen. People will watch a pretender on TV but their not going to spend time going downtown and cash for their family's to watch a pretender.

Its going to take alot more then a 14-6 start or a trade for a big name to gets fan in the building longterm, its going to take competing at the highest level. Build a real contender and people will come. Detroit fans might put up with the lions crap 8 days a year regardless but nba is a diff story.

Gores has his work cut out for him to fill that building.

MotownMadness · Post #17 » by **MotownMadness** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:43 am

Kilo wrote:
CoachD wrote:So spending thousands on seat covers to make empty seats look less obvious is a better use of resources that grassroots marketing?

Hell, If I was the FO, I'd rather give seats away for free! Fill the house and hope you can make money on concessions and merchandise and reignite people's interest.

Do you refund the season ticket holders who are paying for those seats beside the person you are giving the free tickets to?

I never even thought about that and that could have something to do with it.

I've always doubted Gores ability to own a team not having much knowledge about the sport itself but never felt he was stupid to what he does in business with his team of super geeks. So just lowering prices seemed to obvious to think he was too stupid to realize it without there being something stopping him.

TheNewEra · Post #18 » by **TheNewEra** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:18 am

Why not work with after school programs or military or any foundation to fill empty seats? Get brownie points and makes the arena look better.

Billl · Post #19 » by **Billl** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:40 pm

Eh, going to the games is fun. Even when the team isn't particularly good, I always enjoy it.

The problem is that I don't enjoy it nearly as much as they are trying to charge for it. The cheapest seats are over $40 and anything decent is over $100. So to take my family, that is $400 bucks on tickets and then add in parking, food, a beer or 2 and I'd easily drop $500. I might consider that if it was a playoff game, but it's not something we are going to do on a random Tuesday.

ChuckVanBrown · Post #20 » by **ChuckVanBrown** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 2:15 pm

I also noticed a lot of home games start at 7 pm now. Didn’t they used to start at 7:30 in previous seasons?

I have trouble sometimes catching the beginning of a 7pm game on tv, let alone if I was going to the arena. The early start times might be necessary for traffic and stuff, but doesn’t make it easier for people to catch a game if they’re leaving work after 5pm