To those who say there's a parking problem in Bricktown

[Steve]

Sold out Thunder game just started. And there are still 200 free spaces open at the Bricktown parking garage right now, and it includes a free shuttle ride to and from the arena. I will laugh at anyone who tells me they had trouble finding affordable parking tonight.

[metro]

Sold out? They didn't announce a sell-out at the game, they announced actual attendence of 18,200 something, and I think that was a stretch and probably the actual tickets sold number. Sadly, it didn't have the hype one expects from a Season Opener and frankly there were wayyyyy too many empty seats. The guy I sat next to brought his family from Florida to the game, and also had the same observations, thought the atmosphere was kinda dead. I agree, it wasn't Loud City last night despite the fact we had double digit leads almost the entire game and won by considerable margin.

[Steve]

Alright Metro, I took tv at their word on the sell-out. I'll be sure to check in with you on everything before I post from here on out...
(geez)
I've talked to others who were there who say there were a few hundred empty seats but still a large crowd.
Point is, there were thousands of people downtown and parking wasn't a problem.

[betts]

I agree the sell-out was tickets sold, however, at almost every sell-out there are empty seats. Although this was the season opener, our opponent was Sacramento, which doesn't have a single player with a name that excites the casual ticket buyer. I had to laugh, because I'm a big basketball fan, and during the pre-season game when he was missing, I could not remember Kevin Martin's name, and he's the star of the team. We'll have a chock-full arena when LA, Cleveland, etc come to town, but this will not be the only "sell-out" with empty seats. Also, the one thing I have observed is that it is close games that get crowds fired up. When you lead from the first tip all the way to the end of the game, crowds tend to be a bit complaisent. People were leaving in droves anytime there was a timeout in the fourth quarter. Now, I'm a "you stay until your team leaves the floor" kind of person, and so I've noticed that anytime the game result is in question, a far greater number of people stay until the end of the game as well.

There is always plenty of room in the Santa Fe garage as well, even during true sell-outs. I realize that is not strictly Bricktown, but you can stroll to Bricktown rather rapidly from there.

[tuck]

Agree Steve, parking downtown/Bricktown in general is never a problem. What is a problem: being able to park right in front of your destination. I think this more of a personal problem. Get out and walk a few blocks.

Did you know that it is the same distance from Red Primesteak to The Ford Center as it is from The Bricktown Parking Garage to The Ford Center...both take less than 10 minutes.

[Pete]

It's a simple matter of perspective.

Every time I come to town, I never have a problem parking downtown or in Bricktown. In fact, I'm always amazed at the amount of free or nearly free lots.

[kevinpate]

Rumor has it RedPrime also has way better snarfies than the BT garage.

Just something to think about folks.

[OSUFan]

They announced a sell out at the game. There were a lot of empty seats but I thought the crowd was good. Most Wednesday night games I've been to are never full (probably because of church).

[Doug Loudenback]

They announced a sell out at the game. There were a lot of empty seats but I thought the crowd was good. Most Wednesday night games I've been to are never full (probably because of church).

I also heard and agree that it was announced during the game that it was a sellout. It also appeared that a good number did not use the seats that had been purchased.

Thanks to Steve's article, I used the free parking & free drive to the arena (it was actually to the front of Cox Convention and a walk through the building was needed. The same guy delivered us and picked us up. He said that very few had used the service.

[Doug Loudenback]

Sold out? They didn't announce a sell-out at the game, they announced actual attendence of 18,200 something.

Yes, they did.

[BDP]

I think people here also need to realize something about basketball. Rarely is everyone in their seats until the 4th quarter and that's only when it's close. Last night during the invocation and player introductions it was pretty full and that was before the game started and not everyone is there yet. You can turn on a Laker game half way through the first quarter and not every seat will be full even at a sell out, especially as the arena continues to add more restaurants, club areas, and lounges.

Sure, while it was a sell out, it wasn't a full house, but if you look around at any given point what you see is in no way all the people that were there. And, hey, we blew them out. The crowd was in it until there was a 23 point lead. When there's 41 home games and 82 total, you're not going to have everyone that's there in their seats for any blow out game. In the end, we're still going to have one of the best crowds in the NBA especially for a team that won just 23 games last year.

As for parking, I can't really believe we even still talk about it. Parking will be full on the weekends when there are more people down there in general, but even then you almost always find a park. The irony is that the full lots always seem to be the pay lots, even when there's usually free parking on the street just a few blocks away.

[metro]

Alright Metro, I took tv at their word on the sell-out. I'll be sure to check in with you on everything before I post from here on out...
(geez)
I've talked to others who were there who say there were a few hundred empty seats but still a large crowd.
Point is, there were thousands of people downtown and parking wasn't a problem.

Don't get the panties in a wad, it wasn't a rip on you. Just thought it was funny the Box Office was announcing before and even during the game that there was still tickets for sale, and the most empty seats I've ever seen for a Thunder game. Especially in Loud City. It was depressing, especially for the Season Opener after the new arena renovations. I get the point you were making though and do agree, Parking is NOT and never has been a problem downtown. I had to debunk that myth with about 3 people last night.

Yes, they did.

I stand corrected, I must have missed the announcement, but don't see how when the box office was still out front selling tickets after the game had started. Oh well, I'm just glad it's Thunder season again, despite me not liking the cold weather.

[OKCMallen]

Agree Steve, parking downtown/Bricktown in general is never a problem. What is a problem: being able to park right in front of your destination. I think this more of a personal problem. Get out and walk a few blocks.

Did you know that it is the same distance from Red Primesteak to The Ford Center as it is from The Bricktown Parking Garage to The Ford Center...both take less than 10 minutes.

Why walk when Red offers limo service on game nights and a new VIP promotion on game nights that is, apparently, awesome.

[johnnyincog]

Yes, they did.

thirded. announced at the game. we all clapped for ourselves. sacremento is SI's unanimous pick to be the worst team in the league so im not surprised not everyone showed up.

[Richard at Remax]

Remember, attendance figures are for tickets sold, not turnstile attendence. Plus I walked around for a bit during the game and there was many people in the concourse areas.

[Larry OKC]

Sold out? They didn't announce a sell-out at the game, they announced actual attendence of 18,200 something...

Have to remember, with the reduction in seating capacity 18,203 IS the new sell-out number. Also, at least 2 articles in the Oklahoman said it was sold-out too. Not slamming you and agree how can the box office still be selling tickets to something that is sold out? Unless this is part of there tickets they reserve for every game and even if those don't sell it is still a sell-out??? Anyone know?

Empty seats isn't a new thing for the Thunder, archived article said that on average they have over 4,000 no shows a game. I don't know if that is high or low.

[SoonerBent]

We went to a St Louis Cards game a few weeks ago. We were in a hotel that was walking distance. Good thing. Parking is much, much harder to find in downtown St Louis. And what parking there is ranges from 20 to 30 dollars! Not the 5 to 10 dollars it is here. The only time I pay for parking here at all is if it's cold or raining and I want to get really close. We don't have a parking problem.

[nighttrain12]

I stand corrected, I must have missed the announcement, but don't see how when the box office was still out front selling tickets after the game had started. Oh well, I'm just glad it's Thunder season again, despite me not liking the cold weather.

They don't announce until the 4th quarter what the attendance (tickets sold/distributed) were. I usually head to the team shop at halftime and if I walk by one of the entrances, there are always people still coming in and getting their tickets scanned.