WFNY’s 2014-15 Cleveland Cavaliers Preview
September 30, 2014Game Illustrated: Dion Waiters
September 30, 2014This should come as little surprise, but your Cleveland Cavaliers are now the marquee team each and every time they take to the road. The NBA is a star-driven league and people want to see LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers, especially in cities where there is one stop per year (what’s up, LA?). But with said demand comes the inflation of ticket prices. And when there’s a chance to make money, you can bet that there are plenty out on the prowl.
According to secondary ticket marketer TickPick it will cost and average of $411.77 (yes, with a four) to get a seat for a Cavs game on the road. This is far and away the most of any team. Second place on the list goes to Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers—you can see them for a just $280.44.
The Cavs have recently gone public in their attempt to block ticket brokers from gobbling up the supply of seats within Quicken Loans Arena, instead guiding them to the Dan Gilbert-owned Flash Seats, but there is little they can do for fans outside of Cleveland.
Per Cavs President Len Komorowski (via CBNC), The team’s season-ticket allotment of 12,000 seats sold out by 10 p.m. on July 11—less than half a day after LeBron James penned The Essay. In the secondary ticket market, however, prices are skyrocketing. At Stubhub, Cavalier-based transactions are up 4,150 percent year over year, with an average ticket price of $184—almost $100 more than last season.
Better start saving, you guys.
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(h/t PBT)
8 Comments
Go on ticketmaster and look at what opposing teams themselves are charging for Cavs tickets. Some teams aren’t even selling it as a single game, and others are charging $1,000 a ticket to sit in the lower bowl.
The Cavaliers will be like a traveling rock band this season and as we’ve seen they will be the new public enemy #1 probably even more so then the Spurs who are the defending champions. That speaks to society today. Frankly I’ll take it and embrace it. Hopefully the Cavaliers can internalize all of the hate directed their way focus on basketball and winning a championship. In other words let the haters hate baby!
Is there really “hate” directed at them? Living in NEO, I don’t get to hear a lot of other regional perspectives. Can some of the relocated WFNY commenters chime in on what their area thinks of the Cavs “Super Team”?
hate is such a strong word but technically I never used it…just for the record. But maybe not so much hate but jealousy, disgust, anger for a multitude of reasons. The first being the whole LBJ saga. The second being because it’s Cleveland. The third being Dan Gilbert. I mean there are a bunch of reasons but like I said before, so what, bring it on.
I live in Portland and was going to attempt to buy a ticket to see them play the Blazers. Cheapest on StubHub is $94.11 in the nosebleeds. I don’t dare to see what lower level tickets would cost me.
As for any hate, it’s mostly towards LeBron and people sick of hearing about him. I don’t really follow the Blazers though.
We’ll see what happens when the season actually begins, but I have seen much less vitriol for the newly formed Cavs than the Heat had gotten when they formed. Usually, people are “congratulating” me when they see me wearing Cleveland gear.
The cheapest in San Antonio for a non-corner nosebleed is $110/ticket. In 2007, the Finals tickets in the same area cost me $90/ticket.
As a transplanted fan…I can attest that there is much disgruntlement outside of Cleveland for what’s happened there. I’ve heard a lot of “they lucked into…” coupled with, “despite Dan Gilbert, worst owner in sports…”
I’ve gotten my fair share of praise/congratulations too though…so it’s not all winter out here in NC.
It really just comes down to how much they listen to the media for their information…as opposed to listening to the fans of other teams to get their takes. The more open fans tended to be more praise/congratulatory. The ones with tunnel vision…not so much.
Had one guy call me a bandwagon fan because I was wearing a Shaq Cavaliers Jersey. So the next day I threw on the Brandon Weeden jersey that my mother gave me for Christmas (his rookie year) just to piss him off.