The city Toronto is clearly excited for the Finals.
Despite being down 0-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Toronto Raptors managed to come back and win four straight games to punch their ticket to their first ever NBA Finals appearance. Game 1 will go down on Thursday against the Golden State Warriors in Toronto and it appears as though the fans in the Six are excited about the opportunity to watch a game in person. According to Sporting News, aftermarket prices for tickets are so expensive that they are starting at $816 and are averaging out at about $5000. These are large numbers considering the Warriors tickets are starting at $650 and average out at $3000.
“Is Toronto a basketball town? The answer is yes – based on pricing, it’s actually the most basketball town that we’ve seen in 10 years,” Jesse Lawrence, an employee at TicketIQ told the Toronto Star. “It’s the most in-demand Finals game that we’ve ever tracked and that’s ahead every Warriors game, which is saying a lot. That’s San Francisco – the concentration global wealth – and the Raptors tickets are almost 50 percent more. It’s crazy.”
Raptors fans took to the streets Toronto in droves on Saturday after their historic win so it shouldn’t be a surprise that tickets have gotten so expensive. There will be a ton eager basketball fans in the city trying to get into the arena for the most important series in franchise history.
Thursday will surely be an exciting day for both teams and their fans.