Kings Game

Kings Game, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

Jess and I went to the Kings game on Friday night. Thanks to SKK we had great seats. It was my first Kings game in probably two years. I will say that I remember going to the Kings games in the early 1990's to watch Joe Klein, Spud Webb and of course my favorite Jim Les. Those games were exciting; every player for the Kings was a hustler and despite losing almost every game, the crowd was totally into supporting their team and trying to help them pull off a win.

Friday's game was sad. The stands were empty. The crowd was quiet. The game lacked any sort of real passion. Don't get me wrong - we will take a King's win anyway we can get it - but it just seems to me that the whole dynamic of professional basketball has changed here in Sacramento. I am not kidding you, but the fans didn't get really excited until the little kids who dance hip-hop came out and got the fans totally pumped. If the players had the same sort of energy, we'd be winning a lot more games - or atleast keeping some of the matches interesting.

The bigger issue for me, as I thought about my NBA experience, is how does a brand (in this case The Kings) continually try to exceed customer's expectations in a world where everyone wants everything for nothing. Take me for example, I had a great time going to the game with Jess, and I had no problem paying $8 for a beer and $5 for a hotdog, but I can't say that I am going to run out and buy season tickets for the Kings. The experience left me saying that I'd rather go watch an intense high school game or a college game at Stanford or Cal. How can the King's improve upon their brand and create a better customer experience for their ticket holders? At the end of the day, its not so much about whether they win or not, its about the transformation that needs to happen once you enter Arco Arena. In the 1990's we knew that the Kings were going to lose, but we didn't care because we knew that we were going to have a great time for the next 2 hours and our team was going to bust their butts.