The Miami Heat confirmed Friday morning that the team has sold out its current inventory of season tickets. Ticket brokers and sellers are poised to benefit.
Once LeBron James made his decision on Thursday, the minimum asking price for Heat season tickets jumped to $3,500, compared to $2,000 the day before, said Joellen Ferrer, spokeswoman for eBay’s StubHub subsidiary. In completed sales, the average sale of Heat season tickets went for $5,000 on StubHub on Friday, up from the previous average of $3,300. StubHub connects ticket buyers and sellers using fixed prices, rather than auctions.
“Seeing this heightened demand we expect that to continue, especially with the announcements of the schedule and the sale of individual games,” Ferrer said.
Michael Lipman, president and CEO of Miami-based Tickets of America said the feverish demand for Heat tickets in the wake of James’ arrival is unparalleled to any free agent signing in U.S. sports history.
It’s bigger than the demand after Alex Rodriguez joined the New York Yankees or when Michael Jordan joined the Washington Wizards, he said. The only thing he could compare it to is soccer superstar Cristiano Renaldo joining the Real Madrid club.
“This is a global signing” said Littman from South Africa, where he was attending the World Cup. “The biggest demand for tickets have come from hip hop artists and pro football players. They are really lighting up my phone looking for courtside seats. We’re going to rival the LA [Lakers] in courtside star power.”
Ferrer said Miami Heat tickets are the hottest sellers on StubHub’s website over the past 24 hours.
The Heat is telling would-be season ticket holders to call (786) 777-4667 to be placed on a waiting list - “as we anticipate the release of additional inventory in the near future,” said Eric Woolworth, the team’s president of business operations, in a news release.
Littman, who heads sports marketing firm White Glove International, said he expects the team to package many of the remaining season tickets with corporate sponsorships, license agreements and marketing deals.
There will be huge demand from companies to sign marketing deals with the Heat and its three superstars, he said.
“There will be a lot of creative ways to package these tickets and do branding for companies involved,” Littman said. “This really is a business and I foresee the corporate sponsors buying hospitality packages and marketing opportunities with players to have first access to tickets.”
The team doesn’t release specific sales numbers, Woolworth said. “However, we can say that the sale of premium seats and season tickets over the last couple of weeks has been extremely brisk, peaking in a new intensity the last couple of days.”
Littman said many ticket brokers are holding off on selling Heat season tickets until the market settles down. This lack of supply is making demand shoot up, he said. Fans who bought Heat season tickets a month ago could easily sell them for double their value, although Littman believes most die-hard Heat fans will keep their tickets.
Still, Tickets of America specializes in helping season ticket holders sell seats for the games they can’t attend. He predicts that market would generate a nice return for ticket holders.
While Team President Pat Riley skillfully cleared salary cap space in his quest to land LeBron James and Chris Bosh and keep Dwyane Wade, there were no guarantees of that happening when the Heat launched a season ticket renewal campaign in February.
The team initially held prices flat, though, and did not raise prices until July, Woolworth said. His statement assured group ticket buyers that all of their deposits would be honored.
“And, finally, in contrast to past practice, we have determined not to sell any season tickets in our 400 level this season, and will reserve that inventory for some combination of group tickets, partial plans and variably priced individual game tickets,” he said. “This strategy is part of our long-standing commitment to provide access to as much of our community as possible, as well as a wide range of ticket prices to accommodate all fans looking to feel the Heat experience live and in person.”
In a Friday afternoon interview on CNBC, Woolworth said the team didn’t want to be opportunistic in pricing tickets.
“We’re not just about trying to milk it for everything it’s worth,” he said.
The remaining seats will most likely begin to go on sale sometime after the team gets its schedule later this summer, he said.
A pricing schedule released by the Heat had season package prices running from $1,161 for the 300 level to $12,900 for the lower 100 level. Individual tickets ran from $11 in the upper 300 level to $300 in the 100 level.
Alan T. Brown, president of PrimeTime Public Relations & Marketing, said he’s curious about what will happen with luxury suite sales in the arena. Sales have been tough during the recent economic downturn, with some companies, such as banks, under scrutiny to avoid high-profile spending.
The Heat might be so popular now that major companies that don’t necessarily have South Florida operations could be interested in suites, he said. The allure of seeing the superstar trio playing can be topped off with fun on South Beach and some rounds of golf.
Brown said: “A national company that can afford to do something like that - why wouldn’t you want to send your clients to Miami for a weekend?”
source: South Florida Business Journal
