What does last nights wispy Pepsi Center crowd say about Denver fans?
“Denverites have always prided themselves on their fortitude as sports fans. We’re the kind of folks who stick by our teams through thick and thin. But if that’s the case, why were there thousands of empty seats at Pepsi Center last night for a critical elimination playoff game for which seats could be purchased on StubHub for pocket change?“
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The NBA playoffs were in full swing. The hometown Denver Nuggets who’s exhilarating brand of fast-paced basketball had thrilled audiences throughout the season were struggling in the playoffs, down three games to one to the Warriors but returning to their home floor for a critical game six at Pepsi Center. After having won 57 games in the regular season and having earned the third seed, it was unlikely that the Nuggets were going to fade into the night. They were one big win away from pulling to within one game in the series. All they needed was a solid effort and wild support from their dedicated fans. But what they found when they hit the court was a half-empty arena.
It was around 1pm yesterday when South Stands Denver broke the story that game five tickets were being dumped for pennies on third party web sites. We found third level seats available for as little as three dollars and premium seats for as little as $25. The local media picked up our story and it exploded. Nobody could recall having seen such ticket availability to a premier event. Denverites have always prided themselves on their fortitude as sports fans. We’re the kind of folks who stick by our teams through thick and thin. But if that’s the case, why were there thousands of empty seats at Pepsi Center last night for a critical elimination playoff game for which seats could be purchased on StubHub for pocket change? What went wrong – and what does it say about Denver fans?
Have we become spoiled sports brats? Have the Nuggets simply been too good for too long to the extent that we’ve grown tired of near misses? Is this just a basketball thing – or can this happen to the other local teams, too? Are we such frontrunners that not even the playoffs are good enough for us? Do we not remember the long Nuggets dry spells? Have we simply begun to take success for granted? What gives, Denver?
Ironically, it was only a year ago that Denver fans were roundly criticized by the Denver media for continuing to attend Colorado Rockies games in droves even though the club was terrible. How can the contrast between too many people showing up to see a bad team and too few people showing up to see a good one possibly be explained?
It comes down to fatigue.
The Denver Nuggets have continuously dangled the carrot of a potential championship run in front of their faithful for a decade now. After witnessing three straight blowout losses, Nuggets fans simply reached their breaking point. Many of them threw their hands in the air and said “to heck with this”. Another year – another broken promise. The Nuggets managed to wait out the “Lakers era” and now their getting beaten up by Golden State. The sense that they will never, ever win it all has never been as palatable as it was on Tuesday morning, when folks started listing their seats for sale – cheap.
It’s about George Karl. It’s about futility. It’s about a franchise for which consistency is its worst enemy.
Sports fans feed on hope. Even bad teams are rallied around if they are providing some sense of hope. Nuggets fans have run out of it. Many of them believe that the team would be better off today if it hadn’t been “just good enough” for so long. We’re tired of running on the treadmill. For once fans made a statement by not showing up. Hopefully Kroenke Sports Enterprises is smart enough to recognize that. Other franchises should take notice, too. Not even the Denver Broncos are immune to having fans hit them in the pocketbook by refusing to come to games. It hasn’t happened yet but it almost did toward the end of the McDaniels era. The Broncos nipped that in the bud, though. The Nuggets just keep on plodding along.
Our entertainment options are many in this modern world. Sports teams can no longer lean on being the “only game in town” to put butts in seats. Sure, people will show up to Coors Field regardless of how bad the Rockies are because watching baseball games is as much about being at the ballpark as it is about anything. That’s not the case with the other big three sports. They have to serve up excitement.
If the Nuggets can bring the Warriors series back to Pepsi Center for a game seven it will mean that they have won two in a row. The thrill will be back and the arena will be packed to the rafters again. That game will be on a Saturday night instead of on a Tuesday and those tickets that were selling for three dollars yesterday will be banking for $50 plus. But, if the Nuggets advance to the second round and deliver the same type of lackluster performances that they have in this series, tickets will be available at fire sale prices all over again.
Fans wield a great deal of power. They are consumers, purely and simply. The onus is on sports franchises to give people a reason to come to games and to pay way, way, way too much for bad concessions served by surly ex-inmates. When crowds are thin they have only themselves to blame. Lots of people in the Denver media were harshly critical of Nuggets fans for what happened last night, but hopefully a message was sent.
