PreferredSeat.com Blog

The NBA is facing a labor dispute with the players for the 2011-12 season and the greed of the players and owners may derail the next NBA season at a time they can ill afford it. The NBA just agreed to buy the Charlotte Hornets because nobody else would and several other NBA teams are in the same position, wanting to sell but no buyers.

It’s already getting to the point that some NBA teams are practically giving away the tickets to get fans in the door. For the Milwaukee Bucks game on December 22nd fans can attend the Bucks game for $5 and everyone gets a free hot dog. Heck the hot dog itself must sell for almost $5.

The NBA has been declining in the last few years and building super teams is not going to help. There are a number of very good teams and a lot of poor teams and bringing the Heat, Lakers and Celtics in once or twice a year won’t make a big difference with many of the team’s revenue.

Ticket prices for NBA teams reached a high point for many clubs such as the Sacramento Kings who took all they could from the fans while the going was good and now cannot sell a ticket without a huge discount.  Now ticket brokers are selling NBA tickets for many of the teams at below face value. In Sacramento lower level seats are frequently selling for half price from PreferredSeat.com and other discount NBA tickets are available daily.

Lack of talent spread around the league and jacked up ticket prices got the NBA where it is today and without a major concession from both sides there will likely be no NBA games next year and that could be the nail that seals the coffin for several NBA teams on the edge. Rather than expand the NBA may contract further cutting revenues.

The Sacramento Kings announced a sellout for last night’s Kings vs Lakers game at Arco Arena. But the truth was obvious if you checked Ticketmaster just hours before the game. Up to one thousand seats were still showing on the Ticketmaster web site before the game and nobody can convince me the walk up crowd bought up the remaining overpriced tickets.

The Sacramento Kings were trying out the new variable ticket pricing for last nights game and it appeared to be a failure. In the last few days more and more tickets kept appearing for sale at prices ranging from $89.50 to $369 per seat. The $369 seat is just a $165 face value ticket jacked up over $200 per ticket for the Lakers game. But the Kings tickets did not sell well at all on Ticketmaster the day of the game at the same time ticket brokers were selling out by undercutting the prices Ticketmaster was charging.

This is part of the new fan friendly pricing strategy going on in the NBA to increase revenue and give fans a better price on the poor games while gauging fans on the big games. And to be fair the Kings have lowered the price of that $165 ticket for the bad teams such as the Detroit Pistons. The problem is you can save only $18 by paying only $147 for the usual $165 ticket for the Pistons, while the game you want to see is jacked up over $200 per ticket.

In this day and age you cannot go out in public like the NBA and the Sacramento Kings have done to say they are doing the fans a favor when anyone with an internet connection can see the opposite is true. If you check with a ticket broker and compare NBA ticket prices you may find the same situation as with the Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings where you can get the best price for NBA tickets from ticket brokers.

The NBA is in trouble in a lot of markets and it’s not the fans fault, it’s the greed of the owners and players that is keeping fans away. David Stern can blame Sacramento for not supporting a new arena but when you run off your fans by overcharging them,you get what you deserve. They’ll watch it on tv or buy tickets from the ticket brokers you’ve been marketing to all summer.

With the economy in a rut NBA tickets are sure to be a bargain in many markets this year and where you buy your basketball tickets is important if you want to save money. Many NBA teams contacted ticket brokers throughout the country in the offseason and convinced many to buy season tickets for their teams.

Right now there seems to be an abundance of NBA tickets available on the market. For poor performing teams and those in depressed economic markets such as Sacramento, California, it can mean cheaper Sacramento Kings ticket prices from ticket brokers such as Preferred Seating than the face value Kings fans will pay at Ticketmaster.

Take tonight’s Sacramento Kings vs. Lakers game at Arco Arena as an example. Here’s a quick comparison of tickets available at for the face value at Ticketmaster, and at PreferredSeat.com as of 9am.

As you can see you can save anywhere from 30 – 50% per ticket and save up to $100 or more for the big games.  And the same percentage of savings can be found for the poor selling teams such as Minnesota where you can find lower level center court seats in section 115 row U starting at $57 per ticket at Preferred Seating tickets. You’ll pay $85.50 for a similar seat further back in section 115 row Y at Ticketmaster.

The NBA’s new variable ticket pricing is not going to work in this economy and not just for the teams traditionally at the bottom of the barrel. For the Miami Heat home opener against the Orlando Magic on October 29th ticket brokers were selling seats for 50% less than Ticketmaster.

So before you jump on the internet to buy NBA tickets for your favorite team at Ticketmaster, you may want to check out a ticket broker at the same time and compare NBA ticket prices and pay for the parking, food and drinks with the savings. And that can add up to big savings!