Want to catch Kobe? Open your wallet
Retirement prompts 76ers, Wizards to up cost of admission
The Philadelphia 76ers tied the record for worst start to a season in NBA history before winning Tuesday, but they found a reason to raise ticket prices: Kobe Bryant.
The Los Angeles Lakers guard announced Sunday that this would be his last season — and his team’s first road game since that declaration was in Philly on Tuesday. The face value for the cheapest tickets at the Wells Fargo Center jumped to $38, nearly triple the lowest-priced seat ($14) for Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
“As is customary with most professional sports teams, we tier individual ticket prices based on the schedule,” 76ers chief revenue officer Chris Heck told USA TODAY Sports in an email. “When Kobe Bryant announced his pending retirement and thus his final visit to Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon, we shifted the Lakers game into ‘Tier A’ pricing. The pricing adjustment applies to individual and group tickets.”
Face value for the most expensive seats for Tuesday’s game went for $344 vs. $145 for Saturday’s game.
Season-ticket and mini-plan holders were not impacted by the price adjustment, Heck said. Despite the price increase both by the 76ers and on the secondary market as USA TODAY Sports has reported, Heck said only standing-room-only seats remained.
“This is going to be a exciting night, as we also pay tribute to Moses Malone, one of the greatest to ever play the game and a true Philadelphia sports icon,” Heck wrote before the game.
The Washington Wizards, who host the Lakers on Wednesday, also hiked prices after Bryant’s announcement. The least-expensive ticket offered by the Wizards for Bryant’s last trip to Washington’s Verizon Center was $66, more than double the price of an upcoming Wednesday night game (the Memphis Grizzlies on Dec. 23).
“We use dynamic pricing for all individual game tickets, as is the common practice for many professional and collegiate teams,” Wizards senior vice president for communications Kurt Kehl told USA TODAY Sports. “In respect to Wednesday, the Lakers game always is priced higher than an average game, based simply on demand. That’s probably the case in most NBA cities, too. Ticket pricing did increase Monday morning, and that was based on inventory. As you might imagine, fans went online Sunday evening to purchase tickets to Wednesday’s game, thus reducing the inventory of tickets on Monday.
“Like any game, we will continue to monitor market conditions and inventory and make adjustments.”