Ticket demand, anticipation grows as LeBron nears Kareem

Courtsideseats 166 and 167 at the arena where the Los Angeles Lakers playtheir home games are pretty much as good as it gets.

The peopleoccupying those chairs when LeBron James breaks KareemAbdul-Jabbar’s NBA scoring record will have an up-close view, withtheir feet on the very hardwood where the history-making shothappens.

History, inthis case, comes with a cost.

On Monday,those seats for Tuesday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thundercould have been had for $75,000 — each. Total price for the twoseats with Ticketmaster fees: $181,500. And there’s no guaranteeJames will even break the record Tuesday; in fact, at his currentscoring pace, he would be just shy of the mark when the Thundergame ends.

Which iswhy those same seats are even pricier Thursday for the Lakers’ nextgame against the Milwaukee Bucks — the two teams Abdul-Jabbarplayed for during his Hall of Fame career. For that game: $242,000,including the fees. But history suggests prices will come down;industry experts have long said extravagantly priced tickets rarelyfetch the giant number listed.

Don’t bemistaken, though. The best seats will still cost plenty.

“For thegame on Thursday, we did sell a pair of tickets, courtside seats,for $24,000 a ticket, $48,000 total,” said Kyle Zorn, a brandmanager at the online ticket marketplace TickPick. “I feel likepeople are betting on the storyline that he does it againstKareem’s former team, but he could easily score 36 points Tuesdayand then the market for the game Thursday could completelycrash.”

Wheneverthe record falls — maybe Tuesday, maybe Thursday, and it’s doubtfulthe chase goes past that unless James isn’t playing for some reason— it will be an event.

The NBA hasalready changed the national television schedule for Tuesday,rearranging things to get the Lakers-Thunder game into the secondslot of the usual TNT doubleheader for that night — withCommissioner Adam Silver saying the league wanted to make sure itgot as many eyeballs on the record-breaking moment as possible.

The Lakerswill be back on TNT against the Bucks on Thursday, plus haveanother national TV audience awaiting Saturday when they visitGolden State on ABC. Those were previously scheduled that way, norearranging required.

Silver saidthe NBA will pay tribute when James passes Abdul-Jabbar’s total of38,387 points, with likely a larger-scale celebration of the recordat All-Star weekend in Salt Lake City later this month.

“There’s nodoubt we will stop that game and make sure we record for history,the ball, the basket, the uniform,” Silver said. “We’ll stop andmake sure that we’ve done our jobs as the archivists of the NBA. Atthe same time, there’s that balance that they will be playingagainst a team that will very much want to win that night and notbe distracted. Most likely we will do something in the moment.”

Commonsense will likely prevail there: If James gets the record with aminute to go in a close game, for example, the NBA probably won’tinterrupt the proceedings with a lengthy stoppage. If it happensearly, a brief halting of play wouldn’t be unprecedented.

But forthose who want to see it all happen in person, whether that’s fromcourtside seats or the upper levels of the arena, it’ll still costa pretty penny.

SpeakingMonday, and with the market likely to fluctuate until game time,Zorn said the cheapest get-in-the-door price for Tuesday’s game wasaround $176 — about half what it was a week ago, with most peopleguessing the record falls against the Bucks — and $796 forThursday’s game.

“It’s weirdhow prices for the game on Tuesday have decreased so significantly,as if it’s like a guarantee that he’s breaking it on Thursday,”Zorn said.

Many pricepoints are likely out of reach for most fans. Then again, ifthere’s a Thunder fan in L.A. who really wants to see their team,they might just want to wait for March 24. The Thunder will be backthat night.

Cheapestticket right now for that game — about $60.