Grading the Hawks Fans (2011-2012)
In this entry I’ll be
grading the Atlanta Hawks fans for the 2011-2012 season. The fans are included
for a few reasons. First of all, they are the reason the franchise exists in
the first place. They also have a stake in the success of the team. They are
share holders, not in a sense that they lose or gain financially based on the success
of the team, but they are obviously affected by the team’s success or failure
on the court. Finally, the level of interest and dedication shown by the fan
base can affect the team in many ways, either positively or negatively.
The
Fans
Grade:
C
Comments:
If you know me, you know that no one is as committed and loyal to the home
teams as I am. You also know that no true fan is as honest about Atlanta fans
as I am. I do not go easy on my fellow Atlanta/Georgia fans. I’m not going to
give Atlanta fans a break for things like “well, there’s just so much to do in
Atlanta” or “well, Atlanta fans just aren’t as passionate about pro sports as
other fan bases.” In fact, those are the very things that make Atlanta fans—as
a group—some of the worst fans in the country. However, I’m going to be fair on
both ends of the spectrum. I don’t expect fans to be mindless devotees.
Attendance may have
been impacted by the unusual format of this year’s schedule, which had 8 fewer
home games and 8 Western Conference teams never coming to Atlanta (including
the Lakers). However, there’s no way to spin it so that Hawks fans (at least
those living in Atlanta and the surrounding areas) look great this season. The
Hawks averaged 15,199 fans per game this season, ranking 23rd of 30
in the NBA. Philips Arena was 81.2% full on average during the 33 regular season
home games (24th out of 30).
Attendance at Hawks
games isn’t awful. The Hawks drew about 1,000 more fans per game than the
Pacers, who figured to have lots of things going for them (the Colts lost
Peyton Manning and were terrible; Indy has no NHL or MLB team; Indiana fans
love basketball; the team was likeable and coming off their best season in
years; and the team was better this season than it had been in years). But the
Hawks still aren’t doing as well as you would expect if you came into it
without any knowledge of Atlanta sports fans. For example, the Hawks drew 1,636
less fans per game than the Toronto Raptors, who figured to have lots of things
going against them (they weren’t any good; there is an MLB team in Toronto;
Toronto fans care more about the Maple Leafs than anything in the world).
This was the 3rd
straight year that average attendance at Hawks home games dropped. Attendance
was down about 450 fans per game this season, and the Hawks drew about 1,550
less fans per game than they did in 2008-2009, when they drew their highest
average attendance ever at Philips Arena (16,748). For perspective, they were
still just 20th out of 30 in attendance that year. Also, the Hawks
were in good position for high attendance that year, as they were coming off of
the first playoff appearance in a decade, and were having their best season in
a decade. Yet they still only drew about 20 more fans per game that year than
the sorry Washington Wizards did this season.
This was the Hawks
worst year in average attendance since 2005-2006. Even in 2006-2007, when the
Hawks went 30-52 and had their 8th straight losing season, they
still drew about 400 more fans per game than this year. In fact, only about 130
more fans attended Hawks home games on a nightly basis this season than they
did in 2005-2006, when the Hawks were coming off of a 13-69 season, and ended
up 26-56 for a 7th straight losing season.
I think we can say that
whatever momentum bump the Hawks got from their return to being a competitive
team is over and they are now trending downward again in terms of interest in
Atlanta. They are still doing better than they did in the early 2000’s when they
were a horrible team, and they are also drawing better than they did when they
were a decent team during the last few years of the Omni. However, NBA
attendance in general has risen over the years, so it’s hard to compare against
earlier eras.
I do think playoff
attendance is a good measure of interest among potential fans for various
reasons that don’t need to be pointed out here. The Hawks had 3 home playoff
games this season. In Game 1 against Boston they drew 19,292. In game 2 they
drew 19,308. And game 5 drew 19,319 fans. Those are respectable numbers in my
opinion. I was only there for game 1, and at least on that night, Hawks fans
were very loud and into the game.
There were of course
plenty of Celtics fans there, but I was at game 1, and at least on that night
it was nowhere near the 60-40 ratio that has been reported. I really only
noticed Celtics fans as I was coming into the arena, although I’m sure I would
have noticed Boston supporters more if the Hawks hadn’t won. But more to the
point, I’m not really sure how much opposing fans matter towards the total
number in the playoffs. The actual crowd size seemed to be smaller than the
announced attendance, meaning a lot of tickets must have been sold to groups or
bought by ticket brokers. I’m sure some of the Celtics fans bought tickets at
the box office, but many of them probably went through Stubhub or other
scalpers, and thus bought tickets which had already been sold.
The largest crowd for a
playoff game at Philips Arena was for game 6 of the 2008 first round series
against the Celtics, with 20,425 fans showing up. That makes complete sense for
a number of reasons that don’t need to be discussed here. But for the most
part, Hawks playoff games have drawn around 19,000 fans per game, regardless of
opponent.
To be honest, I’m not
sure what to make of attendance figures at NBA games. The “percentage full”
figure is based on the stated capacity of each team’s home arena, yet several
teams have percentages higher than 100% every year. That kind of makes the
whole “percentage full” thing and the stated capacity irrelevant right?
I said earlier that
playoff attendance should be a good measure of local support. In other words,
if you can’t get more than 75% of the arena full in the postseason you are in
trouble. But there are times where you really have to question what is going
on. For example, during the 2010 playoffs the Hawks had 6 home games. The
official attendance for 3 of the 6 games was 18,729 and that just happens to be
the official capacity for Hawks games at Philips Arena. The announced attendance
at the other 3 games was higher than that number. In other words, it would
appear that the smallest the crowd could possibly be was 18,729. If that is
true, one has to wonder how those tickets are being sold, or if they even are
being sold at all.
Getting back to the
subject matter at hand, I don’t think local fans can be criticized too badly
for their support this season, but certainly it wasn’t great. I don’t think it
could be said that the Hawks are doing well right now in terms of drawing fans.
More than half of the 30 NBA teams drew at least 17,000 fans per game this
season, something the Hawks have never done in their 13 years at Philips Arena.
The Hawks have never finished better than 18th in the NBA in
attendance during their 13 seasons at Philips, and they’ve been 20th
or worse in attendance in 12 of those 13 seasons.
There are many reasons
for the lack of support, but I truly believe that the biggest reason—as well as
one of the more valid reasons—is the feeling that it’s all very pointless to
root for the Hawks because they aren’t going to make it past the 2nd
round no matter what. If the question was directed at the average fan the
answer might not be that specific, but the main point is that there is a very real
(and reasonable) sense among local sports fans that the Hawks aren’t
contenders. The Hawks have been in Atlanta for 44 years, and in 28 of those 44
years they have made the playoffs, yet they have never once been as far as the
conference finals.
You just aren’t going
to get more of a boost from merely being competitive than the Hawks already
have. It may be that a fall back to the bottom of the standings would cause
attendance to plummet, but one wonders how far it really could fall considering
that the Hawks only drew 900 fans less per night in 2004-2005 (when they won 13
games) than they did last year. The only thing--in my opinion--that could cause
a significant bump in attendance at least for a short time would be an extended
playoff run. Until that happens, I think regular season attendance will
continue to drop slightly and playoff attendance will stay about the same.
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