RECESSION, SCHMESSION

Rockets mark ticket sales milestone, Texans raise prices

By Sarah Rufca

January 21st, 2010 at 11:08 AM

Sports teams in Houston have been winning love from fans, and it's showing in ticket sales and prices.

The Rockets announced that they have been recognized by the NBA for selling 2,000 new full season ticket packages this year, one of only eight NBA teams to reach that mark. The strong new full season ticket sales place them closer to an elite circle of eight teams with 10,000 full season ticket sales.

On the pigskin front, the Jan. 3 Texans home victory over the New England Patriots marked the franchise's 80th consecutive sell-out crowd in Reliant Stadium, a record for any Houston sports team. Perhaps marking a strong level of interest or a confidence from their first-ever winning-record season, Texans are raising average ticket prices by 6.7 percent, almost double the 3.7 percent hike before the 2009 season. At an average of $71.86 per ticket, the Texans expect to stay among the lower half of NFL teams in terms of ticket prices.

“We have worked hard to maintain a pricing structure for 2010, which keeps our prices about average for the NFL, but still allows us to continue our progress both on the field and off,” Texans vice president of ticketing and event services John Schriever told the Houston Business Journal.