Talk about a tough ticket.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers will have to share an allotment of about 3,500 tickets for the coming NBA All-Star Game at Staples Center — and venue owner Anschutz Entertainment Group gets about one-third of those seats.
The result is about 1,100 tickets for each of the teams, according to people familiar with the parceling. The Lakers have more than 13,500 season-ticket holders; the Clippers have about 12,000. With the teams also doling out tickets to their sponsors and, because it's Hollywood, to celebrities they want invited to the game, an even smaller number of seats will remain for season-ticket holders not in the company of Jack Nicholson.
The NBA traditionally keeps nearly all the ticket inventory at an All-Star Game for its sponsors, television partners, entertainers and others who do business with the league. NBA officials counter the lack of game tickets by noting that the fan-interactive Jam Session event is open to the public during all-star week, but the front office of the hometown team is left to deal with disgruntled fans.
Complicating matters this year is the fact that the typically slim allotment for NBA fans in the host market has to be split by fans of two teams — and further diminished because the role of host for the weekend is being filled by AEG, not one of the teams.
Lakers officials declined comment on the ticket distribution and referred calls to the league office. Clippers representatives did not return calls for comment.
Shawn Hunter, chief marketing officer of AEG, said, "We could sell the building 10 times over given the demand."
"Not everyone will have access," Hunter said, "but this is a league event."
Even the well-heeled crowd with rights to the luxury suites at 19,000-seat Staples Center isn't guaranteed seats. The NBA All-Star Game, along with the Grammy Awards ceremony, is not included in the suite deals.
Of the arena's 160 suites, the league is taking about 30 for the Feb. 15 game and related all-star weekend festivities. The rest are being sold for between $18,500 and $25,000, helping AEG recoup the $500,000 fee it paid to the league to host the event. AEG is offering a limited number of seats in its ticket allotment to the arena's club-seat holders.
