Would people stop leaving early?

[betts]

Especially when the game is close? I stay until the end of every game, and did with the Hornets. Trust me, the traffic is not bad at all, and if you park anywhere but the parking garage adjacent to the Ford Center (which is too expensive anyway), it takes no time to get out.

It looks really bad on television to see so many people leaving, and it's bad for team morale. We need people to chill out about the traffic (We live in Oklahoma City, for heavens sake, not LA!) and stay until the end of the game. I've seen games won in the last 15 seconds, and this one could have been. Who wants to miss that?

[SWOKC 4 me]

I couldn't agree more! When the game is well within reach and there is a steady flow of people leaving that must kill morale for the team. That is when they need the crowd behind them the most! I was thinking the same thing tonight.

[OKC4me]

I was shocked when the arena started emptying out! In BB, all it takes is a couple of 3's, and you're back in the lead, and a win! We stayed for the whole thing. We were really bummed out because we should've won this one. We had a chance to win it, but just blew it there in the last 5 minutes.

[venture]

If this isn't stopped, how is it going to look a few years down the road when people just flat stop coming to games?

Did the Hornets ever have this issue when they were here?

Are people just not worrying about it because this team is ours? NBA Giveth...NBA Taketh. Kansas City is hovering waiting for their shot.

[ultimatesooner]

I was shocked when the arena started emptying out! In BB, all it takes is a couple of 3's, and you're back in the lead, and a win! We stayed for the whole thing. We were really bummed out because we should've won this one. We had a chance to win it, but just blew it there in the last 5 minutes.

thats gonna happen a lot with this team

[CCOKC]

This is one of my pet peeves. I mean don't assume you are going to stay for a whole game before you leave for the arena? If you are an early leaver I suggest you stay away from my section if my mother is with me. She calls people out for leaving early.

[Karried]

I feel the same way. I hate when people interrupt the game, stand up gather their belongings, (blocking the view of everyone) and take their time strolling out ... I try to be patient.. but one of these days, look for a flying fan being flung from above.

I sound like Dr Seuss on steroids. lol

[raw98682]

People need to realize that these games are on national tv and it makes us look so bad! This is our first pro team and we need to set a good pressident if we want more.

[VintageRacer]

Fans are shortchanging themselves by leaving early. The tickets are expensive, they need to get their money's worth and stay in their seats. We stay til the buzzer sounds, did that for the Hornets and now the Thunder. Eventually, one of these games will end at the buzzer David West style and I want to be there to see it and yell with the crowd.

[oneforone]

Many of the people of OKC could care less about the NBA much less the Thunder. The OKC Thunder is a novelty at best. Kind of like platform shoes, rubix cubes and the macarena.

The only thing people follow here is football. There is one reason for that, it is played on weekends (In most cases the game is played before 7pm).

Most of the people in OKC have job obligations and family obligations that prohbit them staying late at ball game on a weeknight.

In my opinion, you need a large population of singles to make an NBA team successful. Oklahoma City just does not have that.

[OKCMallen]

Dude. It's entertainment. The game was basically out of reach barring a complete miracle. You guys will complain about anything. Just be glad so many tickets were purchased. It wasn't far off a completely full house.

[Richard at Remax]

I always wait until there is a minute left. if it is out of reach ill head out. especially since I am next to the aisle. it really doesnt bother me. and these games are NOT on national TV. The hornets game and heat game are the only two. if the games are close, NO ONE is going to leave.

Id rather have a full house and have a few thousand leave early if we dont have a chance than having just over 10,000 in attendance like they did in Indianapolis last night.

[Luke]

Id rather have a full house and have a few thousand leave early if we dont have a chance than having just over 10,000 in attendance like they did in Indianapolis last night.

No kidding.

That was pitiful looking.

It made me thankful for the Ford Center and its fans.

[betts]

I always wait until there is a minute left. if it is out of reach ill head out. especially since I am next to the aisle. it really doesnt bother me. and these games are NOT on national TV. The hornets game and heat game are the only two. if the games are close, NO ONE is going to leave.

Id rather have a full house and have a few thousand leave early if we dont have a chance than having just over 10,000 in attendance like they did in Indianapolis last night.

All the games are on NBA League Pass for most subscribers in the US, so technically all of them are on national tv. I agree that it's better to have a full house and have people leave early, but I don't understand why people would spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and then walk out during what is frequently the most exciting part of the game, especially when they seem to believe that we as fans give the team home court advantage. Leaving means they're shutting off that home court advantage right when the team may need it most. And people do leave when the game is close. I noticed a fair number of people leaving at five minutes prior to the end of the Timberwolves game. Anyone who was at the David West buzzer beater game, or the game when Chris Paul scored 7 points in about 15 seconds to tie the game and send it into overtime knows that rarely is a game with a five point differential lost prior to the last minute or two.

There's virtually no traffic of significance post NBA games here. The games let out quite early. What's a few minutes to support our team and clap at the conclusion of the game? That's what I don't understand. If it were an NFL game and people ran the risk of sitting in a parking lot waiting to get out for a couple of hours, or were going to spend two hours on I-35 going home from an OU game, it would be more logical.

[OKCisOK4me]

All the games are on NBA League Pass for most subscribers in the US, so technically all of them are on national tv. I agree that it's better to have a full house and have people leave early, but I don't understand why people would spend hundreds of dollars on tickets and then walk out during what is frequently the most exciting part of the game, especially when they seem to believe that we as fans give the team home court advantage. Leaving means they're shutting off that home court advantage right when the team may need it most. And people do leave when the game is close. I noticed a fair number of people leaving at five minutes prior to the end of the Timberwolves game. Anyone who was at the David West buzzer beater game, or the game when Chris Paul scored 7 points in about 15 seconds to tie the game and send it into overtime knows that rarely is a game with a five point differential lost prior to the last minute or two.

There's virtually no traffic of significance post NBA games here. The games let out quite early. What's a few minutes to support our team and clap at the conclusion of the game? That's what I don't understand. If it were an NFL game and people ran the risk of sitting in a parking lot waiting to get out for a couple of hours, or were going to spend two hours on I-35 going home from an OU game, it would be more logical.

I wouldn't really call that National TV Exposure. Most people don't pay the extra bucks for NBA League Pass. It's like uo football. Yeah, all their games have been televised but a few of them have also been on Pay-Per-View and to anyone outside the interest of uo football there's just no reason to call that a national broadcast.

[Mr. T in OKC]

I also have a problem with people leaving early. I've seen it in every game I have attended. I've seen it when the game was within 10 points and over 7 minutes left! That's ridiculous. If you can't stay at a game past 9:30pm because of work obligations, then give your ticket to someone who cares about sports. And don't even get me started about the people who have tickets in the lower bowl and don't even bother to show. I don't care if they were free coporate tickets. Give them up to someone. I hate looking at the empty seats. People are already starting to take this team for granted.

[SWOKC 4 me]

[Turanacus]

yeah, it is idiotic to leave early. people did it with the hornets too. it sucked.


what does flat stop mean?

[betts]

I think more people are leaving early at the Thunder games than left at the Hornets' games. I watched the Chicago-based Bulls-Hawks game last night, which was similar in scoring to our game with the Hawks, the Bulls ending up losing, and didn't see noticeable numbers of people leaving. I think it would be safe to say that traffic and parking is more of a concern in Chicago than in Oklahoma City. To be fair, though, in Dallas the place emptied out at least five minutes before the end of their game with the Rockets. Maybe Chicagoans are either better fans, or more used to losing.

[Easy180]

Look for this to continue tonight as the Thunder is down about 30 at the half

Excited the team is here and all but they are ridiculously bad

Maybe we should have let them play out their lease

[southernskye]

Maybe we should have let them play out their lease

At least now people will quit asking me what I think about the sonics moving here everytime I wear my sonics shirts. LOL

Just because they moved here and changed names doesn't mean they are going to play any better.

[andy157]

How did the fans do tonight? Did your plea have any affect?

[OKC4me]

From the tv tonight, it looked like there were still alot of fans at the game tonight. They did play better in the 3rd to tighten up the score, but the Magic made sure there was no come back tonight.

It seems like they could't buy a basket in the first quarter. Not even even layups, or slam dunks. Crzy.

[betts]

Actually, as bad as the score was, people stayed a little longer than I expected. There was a mass exodus with a little over 2 minutes to go, however. There were diehards (me included) who stayed until the end of the game, but not a lot. I did notice that a lot of the people leaving early were older. Maybe you're more likely to obsess over traffic if you're older, or maybe younger people weren't planning on going straight home.

[kevinpate]

> they could't buy a basket in the first quarter

Some college pigskin teams experienced similar issues recently. Not sure where first perioditis comes from