Tickets on the secondary market for Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Los Angeles tonight, June 17, between the Boston Celtics and the Lakers are fetching a pretty penny, but surprisingly are not among the three highest sports tickets of the year so far.
Tickets to see the historic basketball rivals play at the Staples Center today were averaging about $1,755 a piece on several major secondary ticket Web sites, such as StubHub, TicketsNow and Barry’s Tickets Service, according to ticket search engine FanSnap.
“In one row [at the Staples Center], we are seeing tickets for nearly double the price of other tickets in that same row,” Christian Anderson, head of corporate communications for FanSnap, told TicketNews of tonight’s game. “In Row 16 (Loge Side 110) there are tickets listed for $1,950 each. In that same row, there are tickets listed for $3,000, $3,220, and $3,640.”
On StubHub, the nation’s largest secondary ticket exchange, according to TicketNews’ exclusive industry rankings, fans were paying an average of $1,105 per ticket for Game 7, and some tickets were listed for well above $8,000 a piece.
Yet, despite the lofty totals, tickets to a few sporting events this year sold for significantly more money.
Perennially, the Super Bowl is the year’s most costly ticket on the secondary market, and this year the average cost reached $3,200. But, this year that was eclipsed by an event with national pride on the line.
Tickets to see the Gold Medal hockey game between the U.S. and host nation Canada during the Vancouver Winter Olympics were the year’s most expensive, reaching an average price of $4,300 per ticket, according to FanSnap.
Coming in third were tickets to see Game 5 of the Stanley Cup in Chicago, between the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and the Blackhawks, which were selling for $2,400 a piece.
When all finals games are averaged for both the NBA and NHL championships, the average price of the NHL title games dwarfed the NBA’s this year, $1,379 to $853, respectively, on the secondary market.
“While $1,755 for a Game 7 is up there, the average ticket price of a Stanley Cup Finals game was $1,379 (all the games), which ranks third to the Olympic Gold Medal Game (USA-Canada) and the Super Bowl,” Anderson said. “The average cost for an NBA Finals game is $853 (all games), which is almost 40 percent lower than those for the Stanley Cup.”