After reading the thread about the Locker Room Restaurant and seeing that there were a couple people interested in cheap courtside seats but unsure of how to get them, I figured I'd post this. After all, it was some helpful PacersDigest members who helped me out when I first started my journey to sit courtside.
Courtside Section 11, Row 1
I'm putting this in a section aside from everything else, because this is the best deal I've ever seen. I don't know if it's a company selling their season tickets or what, but these seats have a face value of $603.14 after taxes. Front row along the baseline, Pacers are up close and personal in the second half. We were in this row yesterday and during that 4th quarter, it was just electric being there.
On TicketsNow.com, which I will vouch for as a reputable website (I believe it's owned by TicketMaster to compete with StubHub), there are 2-4 tickets in this row for games for most of the rest of the season for ~$100 a ticket. Marquee opponents, it's higher, obviously. But for the Toronto game, we paid $75 a ticket, Charlotte we paid $82, Minnesota tomorrow we paid $90, and Philly in March I think we paid a little over $100. After fees, it goes up by about $10-$15 a ticket, but it's still a ridiculously good price.
To get the absolute best price on these seats, wait throughout the week. The Minnesota game at the beginning of the week was $130, when we ordered a little bit ago it was down to $90. The sellers get more desperate to get some value back as the game approaches. My advice though, is don't sit on it for too long. I was going to get tickets to the GSW game on 3/1, they were insanely cheap as is (Around $100), and they got bought. Lesson learned.
All the other slightly less, but still incredible courtside seats
3 things here - Ticketsnow.com/Stubhub, Craigslist, and scalpers. On TicketsNow, aside from 11/1, there are some still great seats at half the price. Lots of 15/2's, 11/4's, 16/2's. Usually the tickets are around $50-$70. So if you're just looking for the best price point, here it is. My GF and I have just been sitting in 11/1 as much as possible because there's such a limited quantity, and who knows if they'll be available next year. But lots of STH's seem to sell their 2nd and 3rd row seats, and they're beyond cheap compared to what you'd expect. StubHub, I've noticed, doesn't seem to have as many courtside seats, but every now and then they pop up.
Craigslist is a good bet, but there's a lot of spam. What I do is go to indianapolis.craigslist.org, click on Tickets, and then filter it "By Owner" (option is in the top left of the screen). That way you're only dealing with real local people, and not 3rd-rate broker sites. People tend to want damn near face value. What I do is email them, explain that I'm not trying to lowball them, and then offer them the same price that's available on TicketsNow for comparable tickets. Some people seem to think their tickets are made of gold and will get an attitude when you offer them fair market value, but there are also a lot of reasonable people who will sell at the TicketsNow price. That way you save on the fees buying from websites.
Lastly, SCALPERS. THEY ARE GREAT. We went to the New Jersey game a couple weeks back and a scalper went down to $50 on tickets in section 17 row 2. If you've never dealt with them, just ask them if they've got courtside, if they do, ask how much, then act disinterested. At the Nets game, I had no tickets. The guy wanted $200 for the 17/2 seats, I told him no thanks, and I had some club tickets at will call I would just use. It was about 20 minutes before the game, and he was clearly desperate to get rid of them. He game down greatly, and we got a great price. This has worked like clockwork for us. If you're not comfortable going without tickets (I actually don't recommend it), just buy the best priced lower level tickets you can find, go to the game, and tell them you want to upgrade to courtside. Other courtside games we've sat in row 2 and 1A for less than $70 a pop. I will say that I've never ran into a scalper with row 1 tickets though, so if that's what you're after - I wouldn't bet on it. Though I may be wrong. The ones on the Pennsylvania side, in my experience, have been a lot better to deal with.
Hopefully this helps, I kind of had to write it in a hurry since I've got some stuff to do tonight. Just wanted to help people know where to look. If anything's vague in here, just reply and I or probably someone else can answer. My goal is to see some Pacers fans in 11/1 and down by the floor, instead of all these suits. (Nothing against the suits though)
Lastly, some motivation for anyone on the fence.
Courtside Section 11, Row 1
I'm putting this in a section aside from everything else, because this is the best deal I've ever seen. I don't know if it's a company selling their season tickets or what, but these seats have a face value of $603.14 after taxes. Front row along the baseline, Pacers are up close and personal in the second half. We were in this row yesterday and during that 4th quarter, it was just electric being there.
On TicketsNow.com, which I will vouch for as a reputable website (I believe it's owned by TicketMaster to compete with StubHub), there are 2-4 tickets in this row for games for most of the rest of the season for ~$100 a ticket. Marquee opponents, it's higher, obviously. But for the Toronto game, we paid $75 a ticket, Charlotte we paid $82, Minnesota tomorrow we paid $90, and Philly in March I think we paid a little over $100. After fees, it goes up by about $10-$15 a ticket, but it's still a ridiculously good price.
To get the absolute best price on these seats, wait throughout the week. The Minnesota game at the beginning of the week was $130, when we ordered a little bit ago it was down to $90. The sellers get more desperate to get some value back as the game approaches. My advice though, is don't sit on it for too long. I was going to get tickets to the GSW game on 3/1, they were insanely cheap as is (Around $100), and they got bought. Lesson learned.
All the other slightly less, but still incredible courtside seats
3 things here - Ticketsnow.com/Stubhub, Craigslist, and scalpers. On TicketsNow, aside from 11/1, there are some still great seats at half the price. Lots of 15/2's, 11/4's, 16/2's. Usually the tickets are around $50-$70. So if you're just looking for the best price point, here it is. My GF and I have just been sitting in 11/1 as much as possible because there's such a limited quantity, and who knows if they'll be available next year. But lots of STH's seem to sell their 2nd and 3rd row seats, and they're beyond cheap compared to what you'd expect. StubHub, I've noticed, doesn't seem to have as many courtside seats, but every now and then they pop up.
Craigslist is a good bet, but there's a lot of spam. What I do is go to indianapolis.craigslist.org, click on Tickets, and then filter it "By Owner" (option is in the top left of the screen). That way you're only dealing with real local people, and not 3rd-rate broker sites. People tend to want damn near face value. What I do is email them, explain that I'm not trying to lowball them, and then offer them the same price that's available on TicketsNow for comparable tickets. Some people seem to think their tickets are made of gold and will get an attitude when you offer them fair market value, but there are also a lot of reasonable people who will sell at the TicketsNow price. That way you save on the fees buying from websites.
Lastly, SCALPERS. THEY ARE GREAT. We went to the New Jersey game a couple weeks back and a scalper went down to $50 on tickets in section 17 row 2. If you've never dealt with them, just ask them if they've got courtside, if they do, ask how much, then act disinterested. At the Nets game, I had no tickets. The guy wanted $200 for the 17/2 seats, I told him no thanks, and I had some club tickets at will call I would just use. It was about 20 minutes before the game, and he was clearly desperate to get rid of them. He game down greatly, and we got a great price. This has worked like clockwork for us. If you're not comfortable going without tickets (I actually don't recommend it), just buy the best priced lower level tickets you can find, go to the game, and tell them you want to upgrade to courtside. Other courtside games we've sat in row 2 and 1A for less than $70 a pop. I will say that I've never ran into a scalper with row 1 tickets though, so if that's what you're after - I wouldn't bet on it. Though I may be wrong. The ones on the Pennsylvania side, in my experience, have been a lot better to deal with.
Hopefully this helps, I kind of had to write it in a hurry since I've got some stuff to do tonight. Just wanted to help people know where to look. If anything's vague in here, just reply and I or probably someone else can answer. My goal is to see some Pacers fans in 11/1 and down by the floor, instead of all these suits. (Nothing against the suits though)
Lastly, some motivation for anyone on the fence.
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