Lakers Going to Premium Pricing for Seven Games in 2008-09, Which Is Offensive

As you may be aware (and if you weren't, I doubt that you'll find it surprising) the Los Angeles Lakers have the highest average ticket price in the NBA, and it's not even close. Last season, the average price of a ticket to see the second best team in the league play a regular season game at the Staples Center was $89.24, a whopping $18.73 more than that of the next most expensive team on the list, the New York Knicks.

The fact that the two largest markets in the country are responsible for the highest ticket prices seems logical, but the fact that the Lakers' average price is that much higher than everyone else's seems unreasonable. And it's going to get even more ridiculous next season, when the team jacks up prices for seven individual games that they have unilaterally determined deserve a "premium" from their customers. Check it:

Under the new plan, tickets in various sections of Staples Center will have three different prices - an individual game price; a discounted season seat price; and a premium price.

The seven premium games are: Dec. 25 against the NBA champion Boston Celtics; Jan.19 against Cleveland; Jan.25 against San Antonio; Feb. 20 against New Orleans; Feb. 26 against Phoenix; March 15 against Dallas; and April 3 against Houston.

[Tim Harris, Senior VP of Business Operations added] "... while determining the market value of ticket prices, we were sensitive to being able to protect our season seat holders by keeping their price increases to a minimum."

We can debate the merits of choosing these contests over others -- for example, the Hornets are poised to make the leap to becoming one of the league's elite teams this season, but for last year's late season contest, I was able to pick up lower level seats, on game day, for face value -- but that's not the point.

Does the team with the highest ticket revenue in the league really need to squeeze a few extra bucks out of their fan base for these seven games? I say no, and I'm a bit offended that they'd even ask.

The reason for the Lakers' high average ticket prices is largely due to the revenue that they generate from celebrities (and celebrity-employing corporations) purchasing courtside seats for $2800 each. The fact that the Lakers' rep specifically mentions that season ticket holders' increases will be kept to a minimum suggests that these increases will really only affect the individual fans that can afford only a game or two all season. If they're lucky enough to log on to Ticketmaster.com at 10:01AM the day that tickets go on sale, and get the chance to purchase tickets to see a Finals rematch between the Lakers and Celtics, they shouldn't be the ones that are charged extra for that privilege.

Unless the Lakers' owner has gotten himself into debt by piling up the legal bills, the Lakers don't need the relatively small amount of money that the extra revenue from these seven games would generate. And the fact that it's the common fans and not the season ticket holders who are expected to fork over the extra cash, well, that's just typical of the way the organization treats their fan base. Their attitude is (and has been since at least 2000 when I first had season tickets) "f*** you, we're the Lakers." And unfortunately for the local fans, the team has a fairly valid point.