ARLINGTON — These are tickets known for fetching top dollar, but the fans who bet on reselling seats to Sunday's NBA All-Star game at Cowboys Stadium are cashing in their chips.
It's been years since demand has been so weak.
For speculators, it must have seemed like a great idea: Buy up game tickets to what the NBA has called one of the most memorable basketball events of all time; then make a killing re-selling them.
But, for the most part, that is not what's happening.
Just take a look online: "Must sell" ... "Cheap, must look" ... "Best prices, at cost!"
Those are the pleas from just some All-Star ticket holders on the craigslist Web site. Some are unable to attend the game; other appeals are from speculators who have turned into survivalists.
You can understand why the tickets originally held a strong appeal.
According to online ticket broker StubHub, the average price on their site for a seat at last year's All-Star game in Phoenix was $788. In 2008, the game in New Orleans commanded $605 for a ticket. And before that, the average price for a ticket to the All-Star contest in Las Vegas was a whopping $2,546.
"The average ticket price has been coming down," acknowledged StubHub spokesman P.J. Perdaems.
You can attend the game at Cowboys Stadium for a lot less.
"You can sit down for 122 bucks," Perdaems said, "which for an All-Star game — you're looking at the numbers — is unheard of."
The average ticket price on StubHub has actually dropped by $15 over the last month.
"Supply and demand," Perdaems explained.
And there is much, much, more supply than ever before. This is the first time the NBA All-Star game has been staged in a football stadium; that means about 70,000 more tickets are available than in past years, all of them with a face value under $250.
"That gave us a great opportunity — along with the Mavericks and the Cowboys as our partners — to invite more people to the game; allow more people to participate; at price points that typically aren't available to major sporting events," said NBA executive Ski Austin.
Austin said the league doesn't anticipate holding an NBA All-Star game at another football stadium anytime soon. He said Cowboys Stadium is fan-friendly and unique in ways that are difficult to duplicate at other football venues.
StubHub told News 8 the weather could also affect the price of seats as fans from Northern cities concerned about travel interruptions try to unload their tickets.
E-mail chawes@wfaa.com
