SFGATE.COM — The Warriors’ exhilarating and improbable playoff run not only is the hottest ticket in Bay Area sports in the past several years, but online ticket brokers say Warriors prices are outstripping those of every other NBA team.
“They’re far and away the winners as far as the No. 1 seller in the last seven days,” said Jennifer Swanson, a spokeswoman for TicketsNow in Chicago. “To see Golden State at the top of the list is pretty much an anomaly.”
Sean Pate, the head of public relations for StubHub, a San Francisco company that is owned by San Jose’s eBay Inc., said, “The sales have even astounded us, and we’re in the biz of looking at high-value teams and demand. The Warriors have doubled that of the next highest selling NBA team.”…
The Warriors, who slipped into the playoffs last week for the first time in 13 seasons — and then toppled the heavily favored Dallas Mavericks in their first game before stumbling in Game 2 — are commanding an average of $227 a seat in high volumes of trading on the StubHub.com Web site. The next most popular tickets are going for an average of $180 for the Los Angeles Lakers’ series with the Phoenix Suns.
StubHub says it has sold more than 2,000 Warriors tickets so far, and courtside seats command as much as $1,700. One seller is seeking $5,000 a seat for a courtside pair for next Thursday’s Game 6 if the series goes that far. Such prices exceed those of the San Jose Sharks’ ongoing NHL playoff series, last month’s NCAA basketball tournament games in San Jose and last year’s Oakland A’s baseball playoffs. (Full Story)
