Staples' favorite sons?

I can see the Lakers getting preferential treatment. But not the Clippers. That Sad Sack franchise is even sadder that the Kings.

I like an occasional afternoon matinee game -- on Sunday. Saturday games should be night games.

I used to work at the forum during the Showtime and Triple Crown era. The switch to basketball involved two Zamboni cuts of the ice, dropping the boards and glass, laying down insulated covering for the ice, placing extra seating and then the basketball court.

Going from basketball to hockey (or concert to hockey) was a little tougher. Invariably, the seating over the ice had spillage. This meant multiple heavy cuts and conditioning afterwards. Because of the surprises, it was easier and more common to go from hockey to basketball.

The Lazers (indoor soccer) also played during this time but they used the entire rink - changeover involved the insulated boards and end boards only. Lazers always played matinee.

And then there was the Ice Capades. Two weeks of show on SOFT ice that took a month to recover from.

Afternoon games with basketball in the evening is not as bad as a basketball afternoon with hockey in the evening.

The Clippers - Warriors game will be NBCs game of the weak?

I would think the Kings would want the early game for the sake of the ice, rather than having it covered for however many hours with people running and sitting on it.

With the early game, the ice can stay uncovered overnight before the cover it up for basketball.

I do prefer night games, though. The Kings never seem to have quite as much energy during those 1pm starts.

I think the question isnt the time of the game but why the Kings have the most home games during the first two months?

I was at the breakfast when this question was aksed and I thought I heard that if you do better in the standings you get a better schedule. Shouldnt it be the other way around? If you want more parity the worst team should get the best schedule. And it really isnt fair to the fans to have to run run run to all these games in october and november and then get nothing for the rest of the season.

I don't care who is on first. The only thing that should make a difference in scheduling is the QUALITY of the ICE. I would think that the ice would be better BEFORE a basketball game then after.

Makes sense that it would be easier to get rid of an ice surface quickly than to create it.

But so what if they give teams/sports preferential treatment. They should maximize their audience and if that means the Kings play in the afternoon because they draw less of a crowd, so be it. I don't think we need to socialize sports scheduling.

When Tim Leiweke was pitching Staples Center to Kings fans before it was built, one of the primary selling points was that the Kings would finally have their own building and that they would ALWAYS have first priority.

So much for that....

Since the Kings historically are very bad team in afternoon games, I would hope they do what they have to in order to avoid getting the short end of the scheduling.

simonsez: They don't get rid of or create the ice during hockey season. They just cover it up for other events. That being said, the ice is better when it hasn't been covered up for hours. Better ice = better game, so I would say that is the preference even though I think the players and fans would prefer to have the game at night.

I think Jim Fox covered this last year. It has to do with the ice conditions. They've found over the years that the ice is much better before a basketball game, than after.

I travel 190 miles round trip to all games -- and I missed zero last season. I despise 1 pm games!! Because of weekend traffic patterns, a 90-100 min Sat evening commute becomes 2-3 hours heading up there. I don't even aim to get to day games until the second period -- I am not a morning person, and getting up at 8 on a day off is not my idea of fun! Hockey is a night game -- if Sat night is unavailable, let's play on weeknights. Sat night is the best time for a game IMO -- sat aftn maybe the worst!!

If you are an east coast kings fan, you want the game earlier on the west coast so you're not up so late.

Afternoon games are terrible. Nobody gets into the game, not the fans or the players. It disrupts everyone's routine. Don't the players are normally take a nap around 1pm after the morning skate on a regular game day? It looks like the players are half asleep anyway during the 1pm Saturday games. No intensity at all. Lets go back to the Forum if Staples Center is too crowded. Better atmosphere there anyway.

Didn't the Kings get bumped a few times by Team Tennis their first season or so at Staples?

Yes they did (a womens event). I think they went on the longest road trip in their history, for a tennis tourney that only 2 of the top 10 women players played in. Average attendance was less than 1000.

A big plus for the matinee games is being able to take young kids to the game. Arrive at 12:30, game at 1:00, out by 2:30, home by 3:30, and you have the rest of the day to do other family events. Great way for the Kings to market to young families...