The New York Knicks, already a darling of ticket brokers due to a respectable record and the MVP-caliber exploits of Amar’e Stoudemire, added superstar Carmelo Anthony to its roster last night, February 21, and as a result ticket prices are rising significantly on the secondary market.
According to ticket price tracker TiqIQ.com, Knicks ticket prices were averaging about $217 a piece Monday night before the trade was announced, and as of this afternoon, February 22, the average price has shot up nearly $100 to $311.55. TiqIQ arrives at its estimates by crunching numbers from several of the nation’s leading ticket resale companies.
And, for the Knicks’ home game Wednesday night, February 23, against the Milwaukee Bucks, which could be Anthony’s first game, tickets were averaging $571.39, “with a get in price of $260,” said Chris Matcovich, business development director for TiqIQ.
To sit in the celebrity filled courtside seats at Madison Square Garden will cost even more. Two center courtside tickets for the Bucks/Knicks game sold today for $2,555 each on StubHub, according to corporate communications manager Joellen Ferrer.
“Knicks tickets have been the top-searched and top-selling ticket on StubHub over the last 24 hours,” Ferrer told TicketNews, adding that in November, tickets to the Bucks/Knicks game were listed for as low as $15 each. Today, fans are paying an average of $262 per ticket on the site for the same game. “Up until yesterday, Lady Gaga tickets were the talk of the town. Now the ‘Melo excitement has trumped that.”
The Knicks gave up a boat load of players to acquire Anthony, which radically changes the team’s identity, but the team landed one of the league’s top 10 scorers, whose presence with Stoudemire instantly makes the Knicks a championship contender within the next few years.
“We saw a huge spike overall in sales for Knicks tickets,” said Tom Patania, president and CEO of New Jersey-based Select-A-Ticket, “and even for the New Jersey Nets vs. Knicks game on April 8 at Prudential Center.”
According to CNBC’s Darren Rovell, the Anthony deal could have a positive impact on shares of Madison Square Garden stock, which trades under the symbol MSG. Not only could the team see an added jolt of excitement at the Garden each home game, the Knicks could generate more than $100 million in season ticket sales next year. See the video below.
