Attendance Numbers Up

[Klomp]

There have been plenty of discount Wolves tickets available this season, and the team attendance is averaging 14,502 through its 26 home games. That's 25th in the 30-team NBA.

"You know what? I've been traveling with the team, and without naming names, I've been in a lot of arenas that are far worse (attendance) than (Target Center), if you can believe it," Kahn said. "Far worse! I've actually felt, very strongly, that with the exception of a few nights, the crowd has not been bad.

"I thought it would be slimmer."

Wolves attendance, in great part because of discounted tickets, was up 11 percent from a year ago through December, according to the NBA.

"We can't manufacture that (number)," Kahn said. "We're on a very, very slight upswing. I realize that that still pales to where we need to be."

http://www.twincities.com/ci_14365376

[horaceworthy]

The crowd sounded a lot louder than I expected for the Memphis games. I was worried when Al started waving his arms to get the crowd hyped, because I didn't think there would be enough people to up the volume and Big Al would end up getting embarrassed. Luckily, I was wrong.

[Casperkid23]

Wachovia Center must be one of the arenas that Kahn was talking about. However, I can't blame them for only having 4000-5000 people in the seats since these are two of the worst draws in the NBA.

[dunkonu21]

The crowd sounded a lot louder than I expected for the Memphis games. I was worried when Al started waving his arms to get the crowd hyped, because I didn't think there would be enough people to up the volume and Big Al would end up getting embarrassed. Luckily, I was wrong.

Haha my friend was at the game and I told him to scream on my behalf for the exact same reason.

[southern wolf]

Only 11,000 in Philly tonight. I don't think it's ever been that bad at the Target Centre this season.

[TheFranchise21]

The crowd sounded a lot louder than I expected for the Memphis games. I was worried when Al started waving his arms to get the crowd hyped, because I didn't think there would be enough people to up the volume and Big Al would end up getting embarrassed. Luckily, I was wrong.

This is sad and funny at the same time.

[casey]

Of course the attendance is going to be low on the road, what fans are going to be excited to watch the Wolves come to town?

[jade_hippo]

i got to go to a Laker game like 5 years back, the crowd didn't start filing in till midway through the 2nd, and they were all gone by the end of the 3rd. Crappiest crowd I've ever seen or been a part of even. I'd say 2/5 people in the crowd couldn't name 4 of their own players. A far cry from the RedSox fans whom I overheard arguing about what Nomar's OPS vs lefties during his American Legion days mean in regards to playing games when the humidity is greater than 60% and the day of the week starts with a "T"... f'ing hardcore.

[shrink]

Wolves attendance, in great part because of discounted tickets, was up 11 percent from a year ago through December, according to the NBA.

"We can't manufacture that (number)," Kahn said. "We're on a very, very slight upswing. I realize that that still pales to where we need to be."

Discounted tickets is exactly how you manufacture that number.

Despite low attendance, MIN's average ticket revenue last year was much better than many other teams. This is encouraging, and suggests that if the Wolves put a good team on the floor in the future, the market will allow them to make money. This is not true for a handful of teams (NOH, MEM, MIL etc), where they make so little/ticket that they need sell-outs to hope to break even,