Hours after Lakers G Kobe Bryant announced his retirement last night, ticket prices for most of team’s home and road games "rose quickly on the secondary market," according to A.J. Perez of USA TODAY. The Lakers’ final regular-season game -- at home against the Jazz on April 13 -- "really spiked." SeatGeek Content Analyst Chris Leyden said that the median price for that game "rose by" 240%. The cheapest seat as of this morning "was $571." According to SeatGeek, the road games that "saw the biggest price jumps in median ticket prices" were at Feb. 22 at the Bucks (up 89%), tomorrow night's game at the 76ers (up 78%), March 28 at the Jazz (up 76%) and Friday's game at the Hawks (USATODAY.com, 11/30). L.A.-based VIP Tickets Owner Harris Rosner said, "Within 10 minutes of Kobe's announcement, we had thousands of inquiries and sales." ESPN.com's Darren Rovell noted the cheapest ticket to tomorrow night's game against the 76ers, a matchup which includes "two teams with no more than three wins between them in 34 tries, tripled to $60 in minutes." Bryant "was born in Philadelphia" and played high school ball in the city's suburbs (ESPN.com, 11/29). SI's Lee Jenkins writes the NBA is a league "separated by stars, and few were more captivating" than Bryant. The Lakers, at 2-14, "remain the biggest road draw in the NBA." Their cheapest home tickets on StubHub "run roughly five times the cost of comparable Clippers seats." They have more Twitter followers than the Knicks, Celtics and Warriors combined, which is the "residue of Showtime, but also the allure of Bryant" (SI, 12/1 issue).
LASTING LEGACY: ESPN L.A.'s J.A. Adande wrote Bryant "was the bridge from the Michael Jordan era until the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry took control." Adande: "Maybe Shaquille O'Neal was more dominant and Tim Duncan provided a more consistent foundation for championships, but Kobe's greatness and popularity made him the most important -- both for the fans and the wave of players that followed him into the league." The other legacy Bryant "carried from Jordan was TV appeal." Bryant "kept the league's glamour franchise in the spotlight." The only four NBA Finals that drew double-digit TV ratings from '00-10 "all had one star in common: Kobe Bryant." Adande: "You can't look at the financial health of the league, the exorbitant franchise valuations and national TV rights fees without acknowledging the role Kobe played in it" (ESPNLA.com, 11/30).
