If You Build It, They Won't Come

This summer gave way to the biggest free agency signing period in any sport's history. The Miami Heat received the services of three of the NBA's biggest stars in Dwyane Wade, Lebron James, and Chris Bosh. However, Miami fans don't seem to care all that much. While 18,000+ packed the arena for the Heat's "Yes. We. Did." signing party, the team now only has an audience of a few bored fans who decide to show up on any given night. According to attendance records for this season thus far, the Heat should have a full house for every game. These numbers only reflect the amount of tickets sold, not how many people actually attend, so it is therefore easy to identify that people have tickets, they just don't wish to show up. The simple truth is that Miami, and the fans, don't deserve this all star team that the Heat has put together.

Recently, the team issued a series of public service announcements under the slogan "Fan Up" to try and resolve this issue. Their campaign to have fans in their seats before tip-off and to stay to the final buzzer falls short. It also has tied this into a marketing opportunity by giving passwords to fans that arrive early in order to receive discounts on food and merchandise. The problem isn't that fans are showing up late and leaving early, which most do anyways, or that the food is overpriced (which it is), the issue is that fans just don't care all that much about the team. It would probably be better if the heat started issuing maps to the arena so people knew where it was.

It is disappointing to see such a great team with such potential being disrespected by fans who don't understand what they have. Perhaps it’s a problem of entitlement or just arrogance; however I think that people just don't care. In the end, if this team doesn't win championships as promised by the players, the only person to blame is you. You weren't there when they needed you, because you didn't need them either.