PreferredSeat.com Blog

 The season home opener for the Miami Heat is tonight against the Orlando Magic at American Airlines Arena and you can still find tickets for the game at Ticketmaster because the game is not sold out. And it probably would be if Ticketmaster wasn’t asking $170 per ticket for section 413 row 12, one of the worst seats in the house.

At the same time Preferredseat.com has NBA tickets for today’s game in section 311 row 12 at $85 a seat which is one half the prices of Miami Heat tickets at Ticketmaster. And the price savings are not just for the premium NBA teams. The Sacramento Kings have tickets in section 205 row Q priced at $35 per seat plus service fees for the home opener against the Toronto Raptors at Arco Arena at the same time Preferredseat.com has the same section and row at $13 per ticket.

The Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings are both employing the latest  scam for selling tickets called “variable ticket pricing“ where the remaining tickets for popular games are jacked up to extreme levels that don’t always reflect current market value. But what they are finding is ticket brokers will be undercutting them every which way and providing fans a better ticket at a cheaper price.

This is going to be a tough year for the NBA with the economy still in the dumps and contract negotiations coming up. And just like the concert business is finding out, you can’t put all the costs of the artists and athletes lavish lifestyles on the fans, or they’ll stop going to live events. Except for the World Series!