What does it cost to watch live ice hockey, basketball etc?

21 comments

1. It depends wildly on how good the team is that season.

   Drinks and food are overpriced, but you gotta expect that at a sporting event.

   There is essentially zero fan fighting culture in the US compared to Europe. Nobody’s throwing down at an NBA game.

2. Depends on a lot of different factors. One of the biggest is seat location. Food and drink prices – forget about it. You’ll need an arm and leg to get anything. Stay cool and you’ll be fine. I used to work EMS for an AHL hockey team. We used to see fans fight but it was usually drunks getting into it with each other. I can go see a caps game right now and nosebleed seats start at $30 and the good center ice tickets are going for nearly $200.

3. To your last point, hooliganism isn’t a thing here. People will talk shit and get drunk but anyone genuinely wanting to throw fists will find themselves booed and being recorded on 15 phones. Now, have I wanted to fight the opposing fans at a major rivalry game? Sure. But that’s stupid.

   Granted some fanbases are notorious for being more hostile (cough cough Philadelphia cough cough) but it’s just a game at the end of the day. Starting riots over a sporting event is baffling to me. I know those allegiances run *deep* historically but still. Unless you just won a championship and wanna raise hell, then I kinda get it

4. Really depends on the team and sport.

   Hooliganism isn’t a problem here. Actually, we tend to laugh at British sports fans lol.

5. Average cost of an NBA game is $305. It’s going to be much higher for teams like the Lakers, Knicks and Golden State.

6. NHL will likely cost you at least $50-75 per seat in most places for a face value ticket.

7. It depends on the team. Knicks tickets are absurdly expensive, regardless of how well they’re doing. (Usually, terribly.) The Nets are generally a little better, but the prices can still get absurd if they’re playing a big team like the Lakers, Celtics, etc.

   Rangers tickets are also pretty expensive, but the team doesn’t suck quite as much ass as the Knicks so it’s a bit more understandable. When the Islanders played at the Barclays Center, they were practically giving tickets away to a lot of games, but that has more to do with the hockey setup at Barclay’s being awful than the team quality.

   Hooliganism isn’t really a thing here. I’ve gotten some mild shit as a rangers fan in opposing stadiums but the only time I actually feared for my well being was in Montreal.

8. It’s not just about the cost. We just don’t have the same culture as Europe when it comes to sports hooliganism.

9. Way too much

10. Well the Blackhawks suck and have done so for a while. Last game my buddies and I went to I think we paid like $50 a ticket? Meanwhile when I took my wife to a Lightning game (family all moved to SW Florida) when they were having their moment in 2020-21, we paid almost 3x that

11. Hooliganism isn’t really a thing here. I’ve been to away games in college football stadiums and went early to tailgate and the home fans mostly just talked trash, then offered me food and some beer.

12. It varies an insane amount. Some teams have cheap tickets and beer, while some you gotta decide between going to a game or a trip to Disney.

13. >What does it cost to watch live ice hockey, basketball etc?

    The NBA question was [asked](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/ya06ov/cost_of_attending_nba_game_in_each_city/) a year ago over at r/nba. The prices are not much different now. The NHL is also a bargain at an average of $[94](https://www.rookieroad.com/ice-hockey/how-much-do-ice-hockey-tickets-cost-0682011/). Keep in mind these are regular season pricing,playoffs and finals can get crazy. MLB (Baseball) tickets [average](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=580298533&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&sxsrf=AM9HkKnTp9iCeHsBwIi_eb2vEvN-fcX8Yg:1699400794189&q=Average+MLB+ticket+price+2023&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiljKylibOCAxXVGFkFHeygBTYQ1QJ6BAguEAE&biw=1920&bih=919&dpr=1#vhid=rxqfcdD-XUW80M&vssid=l) $37

14. I usually attend 1 or 2 NHL games per year and I will pay $40-$80 for nosebleeds, there is a small pro hockey league that has a team in the closest city which ranges $15-$30 in ticket prices and usually puts on great games.

15. My husband and I went to an NBA playoff game 2 years ago and the tickets were about $600 each. Now to watch the same 2 teams play each other in our city in the same section it’s around $700. Ticket prices vary widely by team and how popular they are

16. As everyone else is saying. It varies.

    I live in Denver and our baseball team is terrible, so you can go for like 3-5 dollars, not kidding.

    On the other hand, our hockey team and basketball teams are very good. So much more expensive.

    Our NFL team is bad, but due to the popularity of the team/NFL, prices are still sky high

17. Ticketmaster.com is fun to explore.

18. Well, first there’s the flight to Portland for NBA or Seattle for NHL. Then you’ve got the hotel, meals, and actual game tickets. So from here? It’s a upper middle class to rich person kind of experience.

19. I live in Boston, bruins tickets go for about an arm and a leg

    4 decent seats not in the balcony for me to take my family are easily $1500-2k it’s insane

20. It all depends on what day of the week and who the opposition is. Secondary market effects the prices as well

21. It varies from team to team and from city to city. The price will typically be dependent on the day of the week and time of year, as well as which teams are playing.

    The tickets themselves can be relatively affordable, especially in smaller markets, but the concessions will run your pockets deep. In bigger markets like New York, LA, and Boston tickets and concessions will be significantly more expensive than in smaller markets.

    At Madison Square Garden it’s hard to get lower seats for under $200, for both the Knicks and Rangers. Even on the upper levels the worst seats will be at least $80. Meanwhile, when I went to a Sabres game in Buffalo last year I was able get seats about 10 rows back from the rink for under $70 each. In the upper levels I could have gotten seats for $30 each.