Ticket prices for the NBA Finals Game 7 tonight at AmericanAirlines Arena are "generally more than what it cost to attend" Game 5 of last year's NBA Finals, when the Heat beat the Thunder to win the championship, according to brokers and resellers cited by Doreen Hemlock of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. South Florida-based A Place for Tickets co-Owner Eric Kissel said that the company has "already fetched $30,000 each for four seats courtside." He said the tickets were "probably the most expensive we've sold for a Heat game." Kissel added that the company "now has seats in the 100-level bowl area ... starting at about $1,000 each for Thursday's championship game, up from $750 for Tuesday's game." VividSeats.com yesterday said that the "average price for Game 7 seats sold on its site was about $1,200, around $400 more than the deciding Game 5" last year. The site also had tickets "at prices averaging $6,932 in the Dewars club level, $10,272 in the flagship level near the court and at $37,663 courtside." StubHub.com had Game 7 tickets "advertised at prices starting at $368 for standing room only and reaching beyond $57,000 each for a coveted spot in a suite." FanSnap.com spokesperson Erik Hom said that the asking price for tickets yesterday afternoon "averaged roughly $1,300, about $200 more than the deciding game last year" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 6/20). TicketCity.com Communications Dir Meredith Owen said, "The average ticket price for Game 7 is nearly 70 percent more than Game 6." Owen added that a Game 7 ticket is "about 30 percent higher than the Heat's clincher last season" (FOXSPORTS.com, 6/19).
HOPE YOU BEAT THE TRAFFIC: Heat F Chris Bosh said the fans that left Game 6 in the waning seconds of regulation when the Heat were down by five points could watch tonight's game "at home." He said yesterday, "For all those guys who left, make sure they don't come to Game 7. We only want the guys that are going to stay in the building for the whole game." Many fans were upset they were not allow back into the arena Tuesday night after the left, and Bosh said, "You can't get let back in after you leave. I know that, hell, I've been to games. ... You left. That's not punishment, that's protocol" (SUN-SENTINEL.com, 6/19). ESPN's Pablo Torre said fans leaving early is "one of the worst things I've ever seen in sports." Torre: "It was indefensible then and it's especially indefensible in retrospect." Denver Post columnist Woody Paige: "You don't go to a game and not stay until the very end when it's the NBA Finals. That wouldn't happen in San Antonio." L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke: "It actually adds to the whole legend of the game the fact that you see them trying to run back in" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 6/19). CBS Sports Network's Doug Gottlieb said, “The Heat fans aren’t real basketball fans.” CBSSN's Allie LaForce added, “They're just there for the party. There’s a club in the arena.” Miami-based WQAM-AM's Danny Rabinowitz: "The fans that actually attend the games down here are not the best representation of the fans of Miami, which is why I think we get a little bit of a bad rap” ("Lead Off," CBSSN, 6/19). CBSSports.com's Jeremy Fowler said, "Fans like in Philly and the Red Sox fans -- they may be unfair at times, but at least they care. These fans of the Heat are just indifferent.” FoxSports.com columnist Jen Floyd Engel: “If you bail on that game, aren’t you smart enough to keep walking and not (be) the idiot at the door?" (“Rome,” CBS Sports Network, 6/19).
KEEPING THINGS IN CHECK: A South Florida SUN-SENTINEL editorial states, "Win or lose tonight, Heat fans -- and we're talking about real Heat fans, not the ones who famously left American Airlines Arena early Tuesday night, then tried unsuccessfully to get back inside, missing the remarkable Game 6 comeback -- should keep one thing in mind: This is a Heat team that any sports city in America would die for" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 6/20).
