Putting aside the ugly blowout loss, the Milwaukee Bucks’ season opener Wednesday night against the New York Knicks at the BMO Harris Bradley Center sure felt like it was the hottest ticket in town.
With a sellout crowd eventually on hand and breathtaking pregame theatrics that included a mesmerizing sound and lights show and hyper-dramatic intro videos, the new energy and excitement surrounding the up-and-coming young team was palpable.
And yet, that local buzz apparently hasn’t made much of an impact on ticket prices.
According to Vivid Seats, an online secondary ticket marketplace that’s existed since 2001, the Bucks have the third-cheapest seat in the NBA. The team’s median ticket price entering the 2015-16 season was $64, which ranked 28th in the league.
That’s good news for fans, but not-so-good news for owners Wes Edens, Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan, who have been pouring money into the team, especially the swollen sales and marketing staffs, since buying the Bucks in the spring of 2014.
Though the attendance was officially announced at 18,717, which is the Bradley Center’s capacity, it was noticeably shy of that when the game started. Certainly, stragglers and walk-ups could have accounted for the difference, and a Wednesday game is a tough sell even for Opening Night. But given a quick survey of tickets available for the Bucks’ home game Friday night against the Washington Wizards and considering the team’s 2000s-era malaise, it’s possible there’s still just lagging demand in a lethargic market.
The Denver Nuggets, who had a 30-53 record last year, have the most-demanded ticket, with a median price of $237 -- at least according to Vivid Seats’ annual NBA ticket report. The defending-champion Golden State Warriors were second at $219.
Vivid Seats did not respond to a request for additional information or elaboration on their annual report.
The Atlanta Hawks, who had the Eastern Conference’s best record last year, were No. 13 with a median price of $102. Meanwhile, the Pistons, who saw center Greg Monroe leave Detroit in free agency to sign with Milwaukee, were last at $60 per ticket.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
