The Heat host the Knicks tonight, and the “mass fervor” for G Jeremy Lin has “spiked ticket prices, caused a run on Lin jerseys and flooded Miami Heat offices with ticket and credential requests,” according to Craig Davis of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. Heat VP/Sports Media Relations Tim Donovan said, “This game has as much interest as the Finals, believe it or not, as far as media and fans alike. We're out of seats for media." Davis reports prices on StubHub.com this week were “running from about $125 for tickets in the upper level to $1,000 for seats close to the floor.” StubHub Head of U.S. Communications Joellen Ferrer said that is “about double the norm for a Heat-Knicks game in Miami.” The team “isn't doing any special promotion for Linsanity.” Davis notes the game will air nationally on TNT, and it the audience “could be the highest ever for an NBA regular-season game on cable” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 2/23). In Miami, Joseph Goodman notes for a regular-season game on the day before the All-Star break, some court-level seats “are pushing $10,000 on the secondary market” (MIAMI HERALD, 2/23). In West Palm Beach, Ethan Skolnick notes tickets are “averaging more than $600 apiece.” Skolnick: “Only this unprecedented phenomenon could reduce the hosts, the Hollywood Heat, to secondary status in any contest” (PALM BEACH POST, 2/23).
SPOELSTRA A BIG HIT IN PHILIPPINES: The AP’s Tim Reynolds noted Lin tonight will face off against Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who is the NBA's first Asian-American coach. Spoelstra's mother is from the Philippines, and his following in the country is “massive.” The Heat broadcast department “streamed live pregame, halftime and postgame shows on the team’s website during last season’s playoffs, getting more clicks from the Philippines than any other foreign country.” Spoelstra also has “made trips there in recent summers for camps and clinics, typically being overwhelmed by the sizes of crowds coming out for those events” (AP, 2/22).
