It’s a moment that’s decades in the making, and if you want to witness it in person, it will cost you as much as six figures.
With LeBron James just 36 points away from breaking the all-time NBA scoring record set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, sports history will be made this week. Commensurately, ticket prices are going through the roof, with courtside seats going for as much as $100,000 on Ticketmaster.
To put the outrageous ticket prices into perspective, if you want to watch this Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs in person, which is being played in Arizona’s State Farm Stadium, you’ll have to pay upwards of $9,000. Pricey, but roughly a tenth of the highest-cited cost to watch LeBron play hoops this week. Of course, not all seat prices at the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles are so high — in fact, many are as “cheap” as the most expensive Super Bowl ticket — and $100,000 is for either tonight’s game or Thursday night’s which, depending on how well LeBron plays tonight, could be the record-breaking contest.
Imagine if you bought the $100,000 seat for Thursday’s game, only for James to break the record tonight. Of course, most of us can’t imagine even just the first part of this hypothetical scenario.
One Twitter user below actually calculated what all the combined fees would be for two of those $100,000 tickets. Despite taking a percentage of the resale, Ticketmaster will also charge the buyer an extra $23,000 in fees per ticket; as if spending $200,000 isn’t enough, the buyer will have to pay another $46,000 on top of it.
Once-in-a-lifetime event aside, how are the $100,000 ticket prices justified? Ticketmaster increases ticket prices based on demand, something they call “dynamic pricing.” This has gotten them into legal trouble, and continues to draw controversy. To make matters worse, they charge numerous fees, such as a processing fee, while also taking a large percentage from resale transactions. That’s right; Ticketmaster not only allows resales but actually encourages them, a profit-boosting tactic through which Ticketmaster also charges the buyer an extra 20%.
Let’s not forget the Taylor Swift ticket debacle. Not only did the Ticketmaster site crash at launch of the sale of her tour tickets, but prices were rapidly increased to the point that the Department of Justice reportedly began an investigation of the sales and distribution company for abuse of power in the industry. Surely, ticket price hikes and resale amounts that Ticketmaster approves should be capped at a certain, albeit exorbitant, dollar amount. Yet — no cap — there is no such cap. Which leaves Ticketmaster to freely charge whatever they so choose, and make a fortune doing it.
However, if you want to watch LeBron James break the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA scoring record of 38,387 points, and you (shockingly) don’t went to spend a mini-fortune, then tune in to TNT at 10pm EST., 7pm PT, tonight to catch their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In case LeBron disappoints those who spent a mini-fortune tonight, then tune in to TNT on Thursday night (same time), when the Lakers host the Milwaukee Bucks.
