Ticket prices for NBA Finals decrease slightly, but don't expect them to remain that way (2024)

Celtics

As of Thursday morning, the get-in price for Game 1 is $602 before fees on Ace Ticket. But ticket prices are expected to go back up after Game 1.

By Conor Roche

June 6, 2024 | 9:50 AM

The 2024 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Mavericks are a hot ticket, with many fans set to spend thousands of dollars just to get into the arena for a chance to catch the action.

But on the day of Game 1, ticket prices for the first few games of the series have become a bit more affordable — at least to the point where fans won’t need to spend four figures in order to watch Thursday’s opener.

As of Thursday morning, the cheapest ticket for Game 1 is $602 before fees on Ace Ticket. Game 2 is a little bit more expensive, but still short of the $1,000 as the cheapest ticket is $697 on Ace Ticket.

That’s a notable drop from what ticket prices were to get into TD Garden for the NBA Finals after the Mavericks won the Western Conference finals last Thursday. The average ticket price on the resale market for each game in the 2024 NBA Finals was $4,150 on Friday, making it the priciest ticket in NBA Finals history, according to TicketIQ. That changed by the beginning of the week. The average ticket price for Game 1 had dropped down to $1,745 on SeatGeek by Tuesday.

As many have complained about the wait for the Finals (Thursday’s Game 1 will mark 10 days since the Celtics won Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals), that might have actually played a factor in ticket prices dropping a bit entering the series.

Ace Ticket CEO Jim Holzman credited the long wait for the interest in tickets taking a bit of a hit, but he expects prices to soar back up again once the series gets underway.

“People are going to realize, ‘I need to get a seat,’” Holzman told Boston.com. “These events can be once-in-a-lifetime events. You never know when they’re gonna happen again.

“A lot of people buy one ticket,” Holzman added on why he expects ticket prices to climb back up following Thursday’s Game 1. “It’s a bucket list item for many people. There’s only four games guaranteed and two [in Boston].”

Even as ticket prices have dropped a bit for Game 1, they’re still pretty expensive relative to recent NBA Finals. The average ticket for Game 1 on SeatGeek is a 37% increase from last year’s Game 1 between the Heat and Nuggets in Denver, SeatGeek shared with Boston.com. On VividSeats, the average get-in price for games in this year’s NBA Finals was set at $1,520. Not only is that a 38% increase from the average ticket price from last year’s Finals ($1,100), but it’s also a 28% increase from the average get-in price for games in the 2022 NBA Finals ($1,183), when the Celtics took on the Warriors.

Holzman remarked that there’s been a similar interest in this year’s NBA Finals locally compared to 2022 for Ace Ticket. But the interest has also been significant outside of Boston.

“The interest was incredibly high to begin with, with national interest [being large],” Holzman said. “Not just Dallas fans, but fans nationally as well. Celebrities and big names want to come to these games from all over the country.”

The data backs up Holzman’s statement. Vivid Seats projects that the average fan is traveling over 600 miles to attend games in this year’s NBA Finals.

Even though get-in prices for Games 3 and 4 are more expensive than Games 1 and 2 in Boston, you can expect to see a decent chunk of Celtics fans in Dallas next week. VividSeats projects that Celtics fans will account for 20% of American Airlines Center’s capacity for Game 3 and 27% of the fans in the arena for Game 4, according to its fan forecast.

Beyond the first four games of the series, there are Celtics fans eyeing Game 5 on June 17 as the game that they’re waiting to attend.

“There’s been a lot of interest in Game 5 already because of the past series,” Holzman said, citing that the Celtics have won each of their first three series in five games or fewer. “It’s really hard. There’s a couple things with Game 5. If the Celtics win Game 1 and 2, some people might think there isn’t a Game 5.”

Game 5 could be the first opportunity that the Celtics could have to win the NBA Finals on their floor in 16 years when they defeated the Lakers in Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals. As of Thursday, the get-in price for Game 5 is set at $928 before processing fees on Ace Ticket.

But if the Celtics have a chance to clinch the title, expect that number to go up by a lot.

“The [get-in price] for Game 5 would probably go between $1,400 and $1,500,” Holzman said if the Celtics have a chance to win the NBA Finals that night.

And if there is a Game 7, Holzman expects the get-in price to be at least $1,700, which he said was a similar price to Game 7 of the Bruins’ Stanley Cup Final series against the Blues in 2019.