2022 Finals Ticket Demand

[JohnBoy65]

Look - I get it. It's the NBA Finals. It's supply and demand. First time since 2010. I get all of that, but how is the average fan expected to attend something like this when the lowest ticket price right now is over $800. I was even willing to spend $350+ to go (while accepting I need to sit up top) all for the experience.

I just wish these major events had the average fan in mind.

[johnnygreen]

I've been of the mindset, if I'm willing to spend that much, then why not put that money towards upgrading your TV/entertainment set up instead. Plus, there have been far too may blowouts this postseason, and you wouldn't know if the team your seeing has the chance to be on that losing end. That would be a miserable experience.

[jbpats]

Look - I get it. It's the NBA Finals. It's supply and demand. First time since 2010. I get all of that, but how is the average fan expected to attend something like this when the lowest ticket price right now is over $800. I was even willing to spend $350+ to go (while accepting I need to sit up top) all for the experience.

I just wish these major events had the average fan in mind.

How can they keep the average fan in mind if there are 2 million average fans that are trying to get the allocation of 3-4k available seats? Assuming there are even that many for any home game.

They reward season ticket holders with the lower cost buy in to the bigger games, and to be honest my cost is $360 which is over 3 times my regular season ticket cost. I'd be furious if the average fan got in for my cost. Guess the moral of the story is, if you want to go to the finals for a fair price you need to get on the STM wait list. There needs to be some give and take.

[Celtics2021]

Look - I get it. It's the NBA Finals. It's supply and demand. First time since 2010. I get all of that, but how is the average fan expected to attend something like this when the lowest ticket price right now is over $800. I was even willing to spend $350+ to go (while accepting I need to sit up top) all for the experience.

I just wish these major events had the average fan in mind.

How can they keep the average fan in mind if there are 2 million average fans that are trying to get the allocation of 3-4k available seats? Assuming there are even that many for any home game.

They reward season ticket holders with the lower cost buy in to the bigger games, and to be honest my cost is $360 which is over 3 times my regular season ticket cost. I'd be furious if the average fan got in for my cost. Guess the moral of the story is, if you want to go to the finals for a fair price you need to get on the STM wait list. There needs to be some give and take.

Yeah, if the Celtics gave them away for free, the secondary market would make them obscenely expensive.  Demand far outstrips supply, and thus tickets will be purchased by those who have a greater budget, either because they have more money or love the Celtics that much.

And literally as I was about to post Ticketmaster emailed me to buy finals tickets.  Sorry Ticketmaster, not this time.

[JohnBoy65]

Look - I get it. It's the NBA Finals. It's supply and demand. First time since 2010. I get all of that, but how is the average fan expected to attend something like this when the lowest ticket price right now is over $800. I was even willing to spend $350+ to go (while accepting I need to sit up top) all for the experience.

I just wish these major events had the average fan in mind.

How can they keep the average fan in mind if there are 2 million average fans that are trying to get the allocation of 3-4k available seats? Assuming there are even that many for any home game.

They reward season ticket holders with the lower cost buy in to the bigger games, and to be honest my cost is $360 which is over 3 times my regular season ticket cost. I'd be furious if the average fan got in for my cost. Guess the moral of the story is, if you want to go to the finals for a fair price you need to get on the STM wait list. There needs to be some give and take.

This is a little elitist. Not every Boston Celtics fan lives in the Boston area. I live in Central NY. About 4.5 hours away from Boston. How would season tickets be feasible for me, but in your opinion I’ve got to suck it up, pay for them, just for the opportunity to buy finals tickets? Like I said, I understand the demand, but I suspect there are a lot of people that wish they could go that’ll be priced out.

[jbpats]

Look - I get it. It's the NBA Finals. It's supply and demand. First time since 2010. I get all of that, but how is the average fan expected to attend something like this when the lowest ticket price right now is over $800. I was even willing to spend $350+ to go (while accepting I need to sit up top) all for the experience.

I just wish these major events had the average fan in mind.

How can they keep the average fan in mind if there are 2 million average fans that are trying to get the allocation of 3-4k available seats? Assuming there are even that many for any home game.

They reward season ticket holders with the lower cost buy in to the bigger games, and to be honest my cost is $360 which is over 3 times my regular season ticket cost. I'd be furious if the average fan got in for my cost. Guess the moral of the story is, if you want to go to the finals for a fair price you need to get on the STM wait list. There needs to be some give and take.

This is a little elitist. Not every Boston Celtics fan lives in the Boston area. I live in Central NY. About 4.5 hours away from Boston. How would season tickets be feasible for me, but in your opinion I’ve got to suck it up, pay for them, just for the opportunity to buy finals tickets? Like I said, I understand the demand, but I suspect there are a lot of people that wish they could go that’ll be priced out.

How is it elitist? I agree prices are absurd, but again there are millions of Celtics fans how can finals tickets be fairly distributed at a fair price? The only way to guarantee entry at a 'fair' price is to purchase season tickets, and even with those you are paying significantly higher than your season ticket price to get into the finals, albeit significantly less than a person who wants to make their one game a year a finals game. At the end of the day those people aren't paying a price hike for Wednesday night Magic and Pistons matchup that the casual or 'average' fan can attend at a 80% discount.

It's supply and demand, and i'm sorry if my sympathy is not there for the 'average' fan. I'd love to have gone to 1 of the 9 Pats super bowls without spending 5k to sit in the nosebleeds and pay through the roof for travel expenses. It was my choice not to do that, and inversely it was many other Pats fans priority to do so.

Lets put it this way, for this, or the superbowl, or any major event.. If tickets were fairly priced for the average fan the opportunity to actually purchase tickets at an average price would be nearly impossible. Again the amount of tickets for these games that are unallocated and actually go on sale is probably under 10% of the arena so at the end of the day you are in the same situation either way, paying the price the market dictates.

[Phantom255x]

Lol me and some friends were also looking for tickets for Game 4 next week (Friday) and that was our reaction too.

Like seriously, the cheapest tickets are around $850?? And those are for the balcony seats far up and not close to the court.

Once you get closer to the court it's easily $1,500+ a ticket. Insane. Game 3 is a bit less (cheapest at $700) which makes some sense due to it being a weeknight, but still. My dad nearly had a heart attack when I told him the prices too 

Crazy thing is, it's a bit more expensive in Golden State (cheapest still starts around $1,000).

[0003323344]

Two years ago my son and I took a 4 day trip to Boston from New Jersey via Amtrak. I got playoff tickets for the first round of the NHL playoffs for Bruins against Washington. Cost me way more than I wanted to pay on stub hub but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so i got the tickets. In 2008 I almost did the same thing for game 6 Celtics against LA in the NBA Finals but I didn't go. If the Celtics are in a position to win the series I might just get tickets this time.

[Damiano Brancopreto]

Guys you shall understand that Celtics have supporters all around the world; some of them with expense capacity bigger than average...I am from Italy for example and I have a friend of mine trying to find a ticket "whatever it costs". It's the market that defines the price. I don't find it unfair.

[Kernewek]

Guys you shall understand that Celtics have supporters all around the world; some of them with expense capacity bigger than average...I am from Italy for example and I have a friend of mine trying to find a ticket "whatever it costs". It's the market that defines the price. I don't find it unfair.

It doesn't have to be unfair to be a point of contention. But the only fair method of ticket distribution would be a lottery, and the secondary market from that would be equally insane because of the markup.

Anyway, I had a brief 'whatever it costs' flash when I found out we won Game 7, but to be honest, I'd rather spend that money visiting family and watching the game with them (and the exchange rate is a bit garbage at the moment).

[SHAQATTACK]

Tickets for front row court side must cost a pretty penny.

[JohnBoy65]

Yeah I mean it's the capitalist society we live in. JBPats told us what his cost, $360. So people, at minimum, are profiting $500 a ticket. Again, there's no one to blame, it's the country we live in, and it won't change anytime soon. I just wish the biggest moments for a team that you love were a bit more affordable, but they aren't, and won't ever be.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Look - I get it. It's the NBA Finals. It's supply and demand. First time since 2010. I get all of that, but how is the average fan expected to attend something like this when the lowest ticket price right now is over $800. I was even willing to spend $350+ to go (while accepting I need to sit up top) all for the experience.

I just wish these major events had the average fan in mind.

I'm not sure you do get it. Finals tickets are a great example of supply and demand. There's a lack of supply, and a huge demand. Prices go through the roof. We live in a society with a lot of rich people that don't think twice about spending $10k on a single ticket. These same people would pay $30k if they have to.

How does the average fan enter into this conversation? The average fan doesn't have enough to spend hundreds on a regular season game, let alone thousands on a finals game. The average NBA fan mirrors the average American, making less than $50k per year. How does this same person think that they are going to attend a marquee event?

There are some exclusive things in this world that I can't afford, and I'm ok with it.

[Surferdad]

Why not open up Fenway Park, or even city hall plaza, with a giant TV screen?

[Redz]

I was mulling over the idea of buying 4 seats for Game 6 on Stub Hub now, with the hope that demand will increase if it's a clincher, then I could potentially sell 2 of the seats for more and help defray the cost of the 2 I use.  But, I don't know how well that would work after fees and what not.  Or how much they'd really increase from now.