- StubHub report a 65% spike in ticket sales ahead of 2022/23 season
- Knicks and Lakers account for ‘nearly 40% of league-wide ticket sales’
The New York Knicks have dethroned the Los Angeles Lakers as the most in-demand National Basketball Association (NBA) team in terms of StubHub sales, the ticket platform has revealed ahead of the 2022/23 season.
The Lakers have sold the most tickets on the platform for the past five seasons. However, they have now been leapfrogged by the Knicks, who have seen their platform ticket sales nearly triple in revenue from last October amid a resurgence in form.
The Lakers, now ranked second, still managed to sell nearly 70 per cent more tickets than the third-placed Toronto Raptors. The top five is completed by the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors respectively.
The four franchises in New York and Los Angeles – completed by the Brooklyn Nets and the LA Clippers – accounted for nearly 40 per cent of NBA ticket sales on StubHub, the platform confirmed. The new season has also seen a 65 per cent spike in ticket sales on the ticketing platform compared to same period last year.
The largest year-over-year (YoY) increase in ticket revenue among all NBA franchises came from the Cleveland Cavaliers saw the biggest jump, up a massive 653 per cent. The surge in interest is attributed to their recent trade for All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz.
The Warriors had the second-largest increase with 437 per cent, ahead of the Houston Rockets (272 per cent). The Dallas Mavericks (257 per cent) and the Raptors (226 per cent) completed the top five for the biggest growth in ticket sales on a YoY basis.
Adam Budelli, a spokesperson for StubHub said: “With the lifting of Covid restrictions that impacted the start of last season in some major markets, the Warriors and Raptors return to prominence on this year’s list of top-selling teams and join the Celtics, Cavaliers and Mavericks in contributing to increased demand across the league.”
“The next generation of NBA superstars are driving major jumps in demand for the Cavaliers and Mavericks,” added Budelli. “The addition of Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland’s talented core has the Cavs seeing a seven-fold increase in ticket sales compared to last season, while the Mavs’ nearly 300 per cent spike in demand lands them in StubHub’s top-ten teams for the first time, on the heels of Luka Dončić leading Dallas to its first conference finals run in a decade.”
When it comes to the most anticipated regular season games, five of the top ten feature the Lakers, with four featuring the Knicks. The most anticipated game, according to StubHub, is the Knicks’ home game against the Warriors on 20th December 2022.
This is followed by the clash between the two Los Angeles teams in the Lakers and Clippers on 20th October 2022, with the top three completed by the Philadelphia 76ers’ trip to the Knicks on 25th December 2022.
