Saving for a down payment? You could sit courtside at the NBA Finals instead

A day before the first NBA Finals game in Denver, the price for the cheapest tickets to the NBA Finals at Ball Arena, sitting upstairs in the 300 level, start at about $550, down a bit from last week.

A review Wednesday of prices on Ticketmaster starts at $568 for a seat and climbs to just below $ 40,000 for the opening game, at 6:30 p. m. Thursday, against the Miami Heat, the Eastern Conference champion.

Want to sit courtside? A seat in the corner has an asking price of $39,000. A couple of first-row seats closer to center court were priced at about $29,000. But there were some courtside seats that cost as low as $10,000.

Upstairs seats in the 300 level of the arena for Game 1 start above $500 and climb to above $1,000. Seats in the 200 and 100 levels start, for the most part, above $1,000 and work up. Wednesday on the Ticketmaster site a pair of 100-level tickets — verified resale — stood out at $995 each. One other 100-level ticket was offered at $999.

There are plenty of seats available, including standard admission tickets, if fans are willing to pay the price. A standard admission ticket for Game 1 in section 104, row 13, along the baseline, was offered at $1,795. Mid- court first-level tickets, typically, start above $2,000 and climb. A standard ticket in section 124, row 10, was priced at $2,750.

Game 2 tickets are more expensive, with a baseline courtside seat priced at a whopping $ 45,000. The cheapest seats for Game 2, on Sunday, start at about $650, about $100 more than Game 1.

While Ticketmaster is the NBA’S official ticketing partner, Box Office Ticket Sales also offered Finals tickets on Wednesday with 300-level tickets starting in the mid-$600s. The site, a “resale marketplace,” had 38 tickets for sale in section 122 starting at $1,805. All sales are final.

Entry-level prices are down a bit from last week. On May 23 the lowest-priced ticket to get into the arena was $750. Interested fans are advised to shop around on trusted resale sites to find their best option. The clock is ticking, however, and time to snag a championship ticket is quickly approaching for Game 1.

Game 2 of the best- of-seven series is at 6 p.m. Sunday in Denver.