The Golden State Warriors are the hottest ticket in the sports world right now. And for good reason. Coming off a history-making 73-win regular season, the team is three victories away from defending their NBA title.
Ticket prices at Oracle Arena during the current NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers tell us a story of demand far exceeding supply when it comes to interest in attending the games.
Just look at what tickets for Game 2 are going for on sites around the Internet world.
More than fans being forced to pay large chunks of change for these games, the NBA itself and its 29 other teams are going to be impacted a great deal by the Warriors’ record-setting playoff revenue.
According to Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group, the Warriors are expected to gross nearly $96 million in NBA Playoff tickets should the team only host one more outing (Game 2 on Sunday), which would mean a sweep of the Cavaliers.
He goes on to note that any additional game in Oakland (potentially two more) would bring in another $15 million.
“I’m also told that the NBA is wide-eyed about this playoff revenue stream… and already knows that next season’s salary-cap figure will absolutely go up because of it. Wait and see: It has been estimated that the cap number jump to $89M (up from $70M this season), and the lux-tax number at $108 million.”
That’s an absurd realization to come to. In reality, players around the NBA have a clear reason to support this series lasting a full seven games.
Whether that happens will depend heavily on LeBron James and Co.
What we do know is that what’s happening in Oakland right now is transcending the game of basketball as we know it. Once the financial bottom line of the Association itself is impacted, you know something big is happening.