Empty seats have been a chronic problem for the Sixers even before Allen Iverson left town. Now, even off last season's playoff run and the offseason signing of Elton Brand, those low numbers are creeping back into the picture.
Through four games, the Sixers are averaging 12,601 in attendance, ranking them 28th out of 30 NBA teams. That they started by losing five of their first seven hasn't helped. Neither did that shadow the size of Yao Ming cast by the Phillies and their world championship.
"Definitely, there was so much attention and so much money spent on the Phillies," Jeremi Conaway, of Wanamaker's Tickets in Center City, said yesterday. "People weren't thinking about basketball at all. There's only so much money to go around, and a majority of that definitely was going to the Phillies. At the same time, the Sixers' attendance would be much better if they were playing better basketball."
Attendance peaked in 2001-02, when the Sixers drew an average of 20,560, then steadily decreased thereafter. While last season's final number of 13,870 was the lowest since 1995-96, the final season at the Wachovia Spectrum, it actually languished below 12,000 well into December before better opponents and a run to the playoffs drew much bigger crowds.
This season's opener conflicted with Game 5 of the World Series, and the second game occurred a few hours after the parade, on Halloween night. Their third home game was scheduled on Monday, the day before the election. Not excuses, said Sixers exec Lara Price, just facts. And they are working to change it.
"We're still doing a lot of those individual ticket offers, trying to get different people in the building," she said. "That's our challenge, that's our job, to find a way to reach those consumers." *
- Paul Vigna
