Thunder Tickets Still Available at a High Price

Originally Published: Apr 27, 2010 8:8 PM CDT

Gan Matthews
Oklahoma Sports Special Contributor

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Game six between the Thunder and the Lakers sold out Monday in just 10 minutes. Big sporting events usually sell out because ticket costs are deliberately set below the market price.

"They want that arena to sell out, and they want their fans to be happy with the price they paid,” said Catherine Tyler Mooney, an Economist at OU “They want a reputation of not charging huge, high prices."

Fans can still look for tickets at secondary markets like StubHub where prices for game six tickets range from $125 to $2,000.

Economists say the secondary ticket markets play an important social role.

"If we didn't have them people would still be trading the tickets,” said Tyler Mooney. “We would have probably a black market; have lots longer lines with people waiting outside the game paying the price with their time.”

StubHub says the popular image of ticket brokers buying up large blocks of tickets for resale is largely a myth. StubHub says 60 percent of the tickets are owned by private individuals who are usually selling two to four tickets.