NBA: Power Ranking the 10 Worst Fan Bases in the NBA

The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia has seen more than its share of empty seats over the past five seasons. The 76ers are last in the league in percentage of capacity over than span–filling just 78.1 percent of the seats for home games. (Wikimedia Commons)

It’s been a couple of years since the unthinkable happened. In 2011, Major League Soccer passed the NBA and moved into third place as the best-attended American sport, behind the National Football League and Major League Baseball.

NBA teams have been struggling to fill arenas for several years now, with more than a third of the league’s teams failing to reach 90 percent capacity at home this season, according to ESPN.com.

The Detroit Pistons had the most problems, averaging just 14,782 per game at the cavernous, 21,000-seat Palace of Auburn Hills, just 67 percent of the building’s capacity. But 11 other teams also failed to reach the 90 percent capacity mark and two—the Sacramento Kings and Cleveland Cavaliers—couldn’t even fill 80 percent of their seats.

The Chicago Bulls led the league in home-court percentage of capacity at 104.6, while the Miami Heat were the biggest draw overall. The Heat’s 82 games, home and away, were played to 100.5 percent of capacity.

According to Time magazine, teams are drastically slashing prices and still not gaining much momentum at the turnstiles. The Milwaukee Bucks have been hosting promotions such as “Buck Night,” when tickets for fans 14 and younger are only $1 with hot dogs reduced to the same price.

On the secondary market, Charlotte Bobcats’ tickets were available this season for as little as $1. The Bobcats even slashed season tickets for their upper deck, offering 500 of them at special prices based on their position in the draft lottery. Since the Bobcats picked second, those tickets were available for just $2 per game.

So which are the worst fan bases in the NBA? Some of these results—based on average percentage of capacity over the last five seasons—will be surprising, but many of them reflect teams’ relative position in the standings over much, or all, of that time frame.

10. Atlanta Hawks (84.7 percent)

The Hawks haven’t generated much interest at Phillips Arena, as attendance has fallen in each of the last five seasons, from 89.4 percent in 2008-09 to just 80.8 percent this season.

The slide has come even as Atlanta has established itself as a perennial playoff team. The Hawks have made the playoffs every year since 2008.

On the other hand, the Hawks have failed to get out of the first round each of the last two seasons and haven’t reached a conference final—ever. The last time Atlanta was in the NBA’s final four was in 1970, when they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Division Finals.

That sort of sustained mediocrity might have a tendency to turn off a fan base.

9. Washington Wizards (81.9 percent)

The Wizards’ haven’t done well at the gate the last five years, which coincides with the number of seasons Washington has missed the playoffs.

The Wizards filled the Verizon Center to 80.6 percent of capacity in 2012-13, down from 82.9 percent the season before. Their high-water mark was an 83.2 percent mark in 2010-11, which was up from the low mark of 80.3 percent in 2009-10.

This is another instance where being bad—or mediocre at best—has turned off a fan base. The Wizards haven’t been out of the first round since 2005 and the franchise hasn’t advanced beyond the second round since the Washington Bullets made the NBA Finals in 1979, a year after the franchise’s only title.

Since 1989, the Bullets/Wizards have only made the playoffs five times.

So there really hasn’t been a lot to root for.

8. Minnesota Timberwolves (81.3 percent)

The Timberwolves haven’t reached the postseason since 2004 and attendance has only started to rebound since the franchise traded away Kevin Garnett in 2007.

Last season, the Target Center was 84.4 percent full during an injury-plagued campaign for Minnesota. That was down from the 90.4 percent mark in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. But prior to that, the Timberwolves could only post marks of 74.9 percent in 2008-09, 78 percent in 2009-10 and 78.8 percent in 2010-11.

In 24 seasons, Minnesota has only been a playoff team eight times. Seven of those eight appearances were done after the first round.

That doesn’t seem like a way to turn out basketball fans in a hockey-mad state.

6 (tie). Memphis Grizzlies (80.8 percent)

The Grizzlies have made a leap forward, reaching the playoffs three straight years and winning a franchise-record 56 games in 2012-13.

That success translated to 91.8 percent of the seats being filled at the FedEx Forum, the highest mark for the franchise over the last five years. That followed an 86.7 percent mark in 2011-12.

The first year of the most recent period of success in 2010-11 had the Grizzlies playing to 80.9 percent capacity, but the two years prior showed marks of 74.4 percent (2009-10) and 70.3 percent (2008-09).

The franchise has been in Memphis since 2001 and has made six playoff appearances, but this year marks just the second time the Griz have gotten out of the first round.

6 (tie). Milwaukee Bucks (80.8 percent)

The Bradley Center has been a pretty lonely place lately. The best the Bucks have been able to muster over the last five seasons was 82.3 percent of capacity in 2010-11 and the low mark was 2011-12 at 78.6 percent.

That said, Milwaukee hasn’t exactly been a juggernaut. The franchise has only gotten out of the first round once since 1990, last made the NBA Finals nearly 40 years ago (1974) and won its only title in 1971.

The Bucks had a few years of promise under George Karl around the turn of the century, but a 46-36 mark in 2009-10 has been their best record since.

5. Charlotte Bobcats (80 percent)

The return of the NBA to North Carolina in 2004 has not exactly been a hit, either on the court or at the gate.

The Bobcats debuted in 2004 and the franchise has one winning season and one playoff appearance since.

On the other hand, Charlotte has lost at least 50 games five times, has gone 28-120 the last two years and set an NBA record with a .106 winning percentage in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign.

So for horror fans, the Bobcats might be a popular ticket. For basketball fans, not so much—even in their lone winning campaign in 2009-10, Charlotte only filled Time Warner Cable Arena to 82.9 percent of capacity.

4. Indiana Pacers (78.6 percent)

The Indiana Pacers have been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference the last two years. It would be hard to determine that based on the crowds (and I use that term lightly) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Pacers filled the arena to just 84.1 percent of capacity en route to winning 49 games this season and that was a huge uptick from the 78 percent mark in 2011-12.

But while the Pacers were not doing so well the three previous seasons, fans in the basketball-mad state stayed away in droves—74.5 percent in 2010-11, 78.2 percent in 2009-10 and 78.1 percent in 2008-09.

3. Sacramento Kings (78.5 percent)

And for this, the NBA decided to keep the Kings in Sacramento rather than recommend approving a move to Seattle (OK, so the move isn’t official yet, but a 7-0 vote of the relocation committee doesn’t bode well for the Seattle ownership group’s bid).

Sacramento hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006. The Kings haven’t left the first round since 2004. The team’s only appearance in the conference finals was in 2002 and the last time the Kings won even 30 games was a 38-44 mark in 2007-08.

So there hasn’t been a lot to bring fans to Sleep Train Arena … except perhaps the sleepy performance of the home team.

2. Detroit Pistons (78.4 percent)

The Palace of Auburn Hills has been a very empty place of late—the Pistons made this list despite playing to 99.1 percent of capacity as recently as 2008-09, the last time the team made the postseason.

Since then, the team has gone just 111-201 and the fans have stayed away in large numbers. Detroit’s 67 percent of capacity mark this season was actually an improvement from the 65.3 percent figure from 2011-12—the lowest in the NBA over the last five seasons.

It turns out that 35-minute drive from the city to suburban Auburn Hills isn’t nearly as enticing for a team that is lousy.

1. Philadelphia 76ers (78.1 percent)

Philadelphia fans have a reputation for being some of the roughest, toughest in the nation. But the 76ers have met mostly apathy for the last five years, anyway.

It was its worst in 2009-10, when the Wells Fargo Center filled just 70 percent of its seats. In 2011-12, the 76ers played to an average of 86.1 percent of capacity.

Philadelphia shocked the top-seeded Chicago Bulls in the first round of last year’s playoffs after Chicago star Derrick Rose went down with a knee injury in Game 1 and the Sixers took the Boston Celtics seven games in the conference semifinals.

But the franchise hasn’t made the Finals since 2001 and its last title was 30 years ago in 1983.

Philly loves winners. The 76ers haven’t fit that description well for quite a long time.