SAN ANTONIO – The first game of the NBA Finals is in the books, but for many basketball fans, simply getting through the arena doors remains out of reach.
As excitement builds around the championship series between the Spurs and the Knicks, soaring ticket prices on the resale market are making attendance increasingly unaffordable for average families.
A review of ticket listings on Ticketmaster shortly before Game 1 found the least expensive seats selling for more than $700, while courtside seats ranged from approximately $8,000 to as much as $25,000.
Consumer advocates say those prices reflect a growing trend in the secondary ticket market, where high demand and limited restrictions can drive costs far beyond face value.
“They are going to go as high as they possibly can if there are no caps or controls put on the resale market,” said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative.
To put the costs into perspective, Jacquez compared the price of a single lower-cost Finals ticket to several everyday expenses:
- For roughly the same amount, more than 500 students could visit the San Antonio Zoo
- A vehicle could be filled with gas 75 times
- A renter in San Antonio could cover about three months of housing costs.
The rising cost of attending major sporting events has left many longtime fans priced out of experiences that were once considered attainable family outings.
“It’s really pricing out normal fans who would want to be able to take their family for a special outing to a game, and it’s increasingly getting worse,” Jacquez said.
He noted that many households are already struggling with higher costs for essentials, including housing, utilities and fuel.
“So many people today are struggling with those high costs, whether it’s their energy bills, their mortgage or rent, or those high gas prices,” Jacquez said. “It’s really hard to find $850 to $2,000 in the budget to go and take the kids to a basketball game.”
The dramatic rise in ticket costs is not limited to this year’s Finals. Jacquez pointed to an analysis by The New York Times that found courtside seats for the 1999 NBA Finals featuring the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden sold for about $2,000. Comparable courtside seats today can command prices approaching $200,000.
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