Topline
With the Dallas Mavericks advancing to the NBA Finals Thursday night, ticket prices on the secondary market have soared, reaching a staggering average price over $4,000 for the series, according to data from TicketiQ, though fans can still catch the series for far cheaper.
The Dallas Mavericks advanced to the NBA Finals with a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday … [+]
Key Facts
The Mavericks advanced to their first NBA Finals since 2011 with a dominant 124-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night in the Western Conference Finals, led by star guards Luka Doncic and veteran Kyrie Irving—though the Celtics hold home court advantage in the series and a league-best 64-18 regular season record.
Game one of the NBA Finals in Boston is Thursday, with upper-level tickets starting at $900 on the secondary market, making it the cheapest price of the series.
The cheapest seats increase from there, to $931 for game two in Boston on June 9, $1,209 for game three in Dallas, $1,372 for game four and up to $1,987 for a potential game seven in Boston on June 23, according to TicketiQ.
The average ticket price for game one comes in at $2,875, with tickets in Boston averaging $4,003 and games in Dallas averaging $4,346, according to TicketiQ, while the most expensive ticket on the secondary market for the whole series costs a whopping $49,041, for a game-one ticket.
The average price across the series goes for $4,150, putting it only behind the 2022 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Golden State Warriors, which averaged $3,241 on the secondary market over the series, and the $3,899 average price in the 2019 series between the Warriors and the Toronto Raptors.
Forbes Valuation
The Mavericks and the Celtics both bring billionaire owners to the NBA Finals. The Celtics are owned by a quartet of executives, including billionaire Irving Grousbeck and his son Wycliffe Grousbeck—Forbes estimates Irving Grousbeck is worth $1.8 billion. The Mavericks, meanwhile, are owned by billionaire Miriam Adelson, the wife of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who purchased the team late last year from billionaire investor Mark Cuban (Cuban still owns a minority stake and controls basketball operations for the team). We estimate Adelson’s net worth at 29.5 billion, making her the world’s 56th richest person.
Big Number
The Celtics also come into the NBA Finals as the fourth most valuable team in the league, worth roughly $4.7 billion as of October 2023 with $443 million in annual revenue and $88 million in operating income, according to Forbes. The Mavericks come in seventh on that list, at $4.5 billion with $429 million in revenue and a $83 million yearly income.