Location, Distribution Makes NBA All-Star Game A Hot Ticket

The NBA did not put any tickets to Sunday’s All-Star Game on sale to the general public, and “only around 1,000 locals were able to secure seats” to the game, according to Omar Sofradzija of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Over 2,000 tickets for the All-Star practice session Saturday “sold out in just five minutes in December.” Tickets to the All-Star Game were selling on eBay for a much as $8,000 for a pair, ten times face value. Also, two tickets to the celebrity game were selling as high as $549 and two tickets for the All-Star Game practice were selling for $100. The NBA All-Star Jam Session at the Mandalay Bay South Convention Center, where “time-specific tickets” are selling for $20, is the “only official event that’s not already sold out.” Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority Senior PR Manager Erika Pope said, “The ticket situation is not unique to Las Vegas. Every city the NBA All-Star Game goes to, those tickets are committed. There are never tickets available to the general public for the high-end events” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 2/16). A REVIEW-JOURNAL editorial states when the All-Star Game is held in an NBA city, “that team’s season-ticket holders generally are allowed to buy a healthy share of passes to the contest and its related events. Because Las Vegas has no team and no fans to appease for their personal patronage, the league is using this year’s showcase to reward its most valued business and media partners” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 2/16).

NOTES: In Orlando, Tim Povtak reports NBA Commissioner David Stern is “expected Saturday to reiterate his belief that Central Florida again will play host to all-star weekend if a new [arena] becomes a reality in the near future.” Stern wants to make Orlando “part of a small rotation of warm-weather cities that will hold” the game (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/16)....With New Orleans hosting the ’08 All-Star Game, 15 people including SMG Regional VP Doug Thornton and Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation President & CEO Jay Cicero are in Las Vegas to observe all aspects “involved in staging” the event (TIMES-PICAYUNE, 2/16).