Today’s NBA is one of the most entertaining athletic spectacles there is. World-class superstars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry fly up and down the court with incredible precision, grace, and athleticism. But as you’re watching these players play, how often do you consider the tools they are using?
Have you ever considered what an NBA game ball is made out of, who produces it, and how much money it’s worth? It’s probably more than you think. Let’s take a closer look at the ridiculous amount that one NBA game ball costs.
An NBA basketball on the court before a game | Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images
The history of the NBA basketball
While a lot of equipment goes into the NBA game, there’s no single piece of equipment more important than the ball. And that piece of equipment has a history nearly as old as the game itself.
The first basketball ever used wasn’t a basketball at all. When Dr. James Naismith developed the game in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, he had the first players use a soccer ball to play the game.
Naismith then went to A.G. Spalding and asked him to design a ball specifically for this game. The game’s official rules Naismith wrote mandated that Spalding make all official balls used for the sport.
How the basketball has evolved throughout the years
Spalding designed the first synthetic leather basketball in 1972. In 1983, Spalding’s basketball became the official basketball of the NBA. In 1992, Spalding introduced the composite leather basketball, which had a lighter touch but also added durability.
Finally in 1997, Spalding became the official ball of the WNBA — this ball resembled the NBA’s ball, only it was orange and white instead of solid orange.
Spalding’s name is essentially synonymous with the NBA and WNBA now. It’s also synonymous with the idea of playing basketball for many young hoopers who play in elementary, middle, and high school as well as in college.
But while many people probably think the basketballs used professionally are the same standard-issue balls used in gyms all around the country, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
How much does an authentic NBA game ball cost?
The cost of an authentic, game-ready NBA basketball is probably way more than you think. It’s also way more than what you’d drop walking into a sporting goods store to buy most kinds of basketball.
A Spalding replica ball retails at $59.99. At most sporting goods stores, you can get an indoor basketball for probably around $30. If you guessed either of those prices for how much an actual NBA game ball costs, you’d be way off. According to the Spalding website, an official NBA game ball costs $169.99.
The Spalding website advertises the following features of their NBA game basketballs:
Official NBA size and weight: Size 7, 29. 5″
Full-grain Horween leather cover
Ships inflated
Designed for indoor play only
What does this mean? It means Spalding puts a lot of resources into the NBA’s actual balls – more than the resources that go into the basketballs that hit the shelves of most sporting goods retailers. You can obviously buy one of these, but they’re a lot less readily available than those other modestly-priced basketballs.
One important distinction? The ball is marked for indoor play only. Many Spalding balls double as indoor/outdoor balls that can be used in either setting. These are custom-made to be used on NBA hardwood floors. Using them anywhere else could do significant damage to the ball.
While it’s true the NBA basketball is a bit pricier than the average ball, for the cost mentioned above you can have one of your own. Just be sure to take good care of it and not use it outdoors as it could be damaged — and you’ll be $169.99 lighter.
How Much Do Basketball Tickets Cost?
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Professional basketball games are some of the most popular sporting events in the United States. NBA basketball games bring in a large number of fans, with ticket prices varying based on seat location, the teams playing, and the day you’re attending. How much do basketball tickets actually cost? Keep reading to learn about the price of professional basketball tickets.
Table of Contents
Average Cost of an NBA Ticket
Most Expensive Ticket Sold in NBA Finals History
NBA Teams with Most Expensive Tickets in Regular Season
NBA Teams with Least Expensive Tickets in Regular Season
Average Cost of an NBA Ticket
The NBA season starts in October and goes into June, which is when the NBA Finals happen. The average cost of an NBA ticket is $94 per seat. However, the exact price of a ticket will vary quite a bit throughout the season. First, the home and away teams can strongly affect the pricing of tickets. In addition, special NBA events like the Christmas Day games or the NBA Playoffs can significantly affect the cost of tickets. The day of the week can also change the price of a ticket. A ticket for a game on a Friday will likely be more expensive than a game on a Monday. Finally, the exact seat location for a ticket can make it more or less expensive. Courtside tickets are significantly more expensive than other sections throughout the arena.
Most Expensive Ticket Sold in NBA Finals History
The most expensive ticket sold in NBA Finals history happened at the 2019 Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. A pair of courtside tickets were sold for $101,015 total, which meant they cost $50,507.50 apiece. The record-setting tickets were for Game 4 of the NBA Finals held on June 7th of 2019. The lowest-priced ticket for that game was found in section 207 and went for $680.
NBA Teams with Most Expensive Tickets in Regular Season
The price of basketball tickets will vary based on the home and away teams in the game. The NBA team with the most expensive season ticket cost during the 2021-2022 regular season was the Golden State Warriors. The average ticket cost is $589, which is a 29% increase from the 2019-2020 regular season. The Los Angeles Lakers have the second-most expensive regular season tickets at $562 in the secondary market. This is a 19% increase from the 2019-2020 regular season. The New York Knicks have the third-most expensive tickets at an average price of $394 apiece. Following the Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets have the fourth-most expensive average regular season ticket at $339 apiece. Finally, the Boston Celtics have the fifth-most expensive regular season ticket at an average price of $309.
NBA Teams with Least Expensive Tickets in Regular Season
The least expensive regular season ticket found in the NBA belongs to the Detroit Pistons. The average price of a ticket to a Pistons game is $102, which is a 48% increase from the 2019-2020 season. The second-least expensive ticket belongs to the Cleveland Cavaliers, with an average price of $103. This is a 42% increase from the 2019-2020 season. The third-least expensive ticket belongs to the Orlando Magic, with an average price of $105. The Memphis Grizzlies have the fourth-least expensive tickets at an average price of $107.
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The most expensive NBA clubs - 2020. Forbes rating
Despite a series of informational scandals, the NBA remains an attractive business for club owners. The 2019 league will be remembered, among other things, thanks to the deal for the sale of shares in the Brooklyn Nets by Mikhail Prokhorov. The tragic death of league legend Kobe Bryant, a drop in TV ratings, and a quarrel with the Chinese authorities over the support of protests in Hong Kong by the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, all these informational reasons do not add optimism to fans. Not to mention the conflict between the owner and the fans of the most expensive NBA team, the New York Knicks, which is why the team's series of failures has been dragging on for the seventh year in a row.
Finished reading here
Farewell legend: Kobe Bryant's life on and off the court
However, according to Forbes, the basketball business is at its peak. The capitalization of the NBA franchise continues to grow: over the past year, the total value of the clubs in the league has increased by 14%. On average, an NBA team is valued at $2.12 billion today. For comparison, National Football League clubs have risen in price by 11% over the year, to an average of $2.86 billion, and Major League Baseball by 8%, to $1.78 billion. decade, the cost of NBA teams has increased almost sixfold.
The league's 30 clubs generated a record $8.8 billion in revenue last season, up 10% from a year earlier. In the current season, the figures will also grow. Ticket revenues are expected to increase by 8%. In addition, the opening of the new Golden State Warriors arena in San Francisco and the restoration of existing arenas in Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Washington DC will contribute to revenue growth.
"The NBA's fundamentals are still strong and the league is now run very efficiently," said Sal Galatioto, president of consulting firm Galatioto Sports Partners. “There were a couple of hiccups, but the matches remain a great spectacle for the fans and basketball remains the most popular sport in the world after football.”
2019 was marked by two big deals. Back in 2018, Alibaba co-founder Joseph Tsai agreed to buy the Brooklyn Nets team for $2. 35 billion over three years, but then, in August 2019, he added the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn to the parameters of the agreement. . The total amount of the transaction reached $3.3 billion. Hornets" to investors Gabe Plotkin and Daniel Sandheim. As part of the agreement, the team was valued at $1.5 billion, although in 2010, when Jordan bought control of the club, the amount was only $175 million.
The basketball business is not complete without factors off the court. With the S&P index up 80% over the past five years, NBA sports teams remain an asset diversification option for those who want to cut back on equities. Prices for clubs are rising following the stock market.
Buying a team can also be a great opportunity for a tax holiday: according to US law, owners of such assets have a 15-year tax grace period.
According to Forbes, the New York Knicks are losing ground for the fifth year in a row at the top of the rankings. Their revenue grew 15% in the reporting period and their value rose to $4.6 billion. They are immediately followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with $4.4 billion and the Golden State Warriors with $4.3 billion. These three teams can boast the highest earnings in the NBA. When other North American sports franchises are taken into account, the New York Knicks are only valued by the $5.5 billion National Football League (NFL) Dallas Cowboys. Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors behind another non-basketball club, the $4.6 billion Major League Baseball (GLB) New York Yankees.
Characteristically, sports teams in New York and Los Angeles are transferred to new owners for amounts that are many times their revenue. So, in 2014, Steve Ballmer laid out 14 annual club revenues for the Los Angeles Clippers, and Tsai for the Brooklyn Nets - 11. Tilman Fertitta, when buying the Houston Rockets in 2017, offered the former owner only 7 times more than the team's annual income.
The average basketball team is valued at more than $2 billion for the first time, even though in 2011 no league franchise was worth more than $1 billion.
9000 very lucky. They made good money with a $24 billion contract to broadcast NBA games on TNT and ESPN. The collaboration began in the 2016/2017 season, and profits are evenly distributed among all 30 teams.
Another important incentive was the collective agreement signed in 2011. From 57% to 51%, the share of payroll in the structure of clubs' income decreased, which ensured the growth of profits for all teams. Last season, each club's average operating income increased 15% to $70 million. Half a dozen teams earned at least $100 million, while the Oklahoma City Thunder was the only one to go into the red with a loss of $23 million, all from -for paying a $61 million tax on whopping player fees.
While only two clubs have changed ownership in the last four years, the NBA's audience and the franchise's prospects for foreign markets make team acquisitions an attractive investment in the eyes of potential buyers. However, while the NFL matches remain the most popular sports spectacle in the United States, and any other professional league can only envy such TV ratings. In 2019, 41 of the 50 most watched TV broadcasts came from football matches.
But don't forget that in recent years, watching sports has increasingly gravitated towards streaming services, which means that a younger audience will be the key to the development of the NBA. According to the Nielsen analytical agency, the average age of the NBA viewer is 43 years old, while NFL and GLB games are of interest to older people - 52 and 59 years old, respectively. The popularity of the NBA on streaming platforms has increased by 30% this season.
Lee Burke, CEO of consulting firm LHB Sports, explains: “This season, the NBA's ratings are getting kind of silly. The sampling is carried out on a limited layer of viewers. The NBA is a year-round league with something going on all the time. The following streaming agreements will undergo significant changes due to streaming services. There will be more media companies that want to show NBA games in the US and other countries.” The current deal with ESPN and TNT, worth $2.7 billion a year, expires in the 2024/2025 season, and Burke predicts a new deal worth twice that amount.
In a recent survey of 2,000 sports business executives, MarketCast was able to identify America's favorite sports and rank them by age group. The NFL is more popular with fans aged 35 and over and has a 10:1 lead over the NBA. But the NBA is more often preferred by viewers from 18 to 34 years old (41% vs. 38%), and those who are from 13 to 17 simply adore - in this group, the NBA leads with a figure of 57%, the NFL is far behind with 13%. As for GLB, it scored a modest 4% among teenagers.
The potential in the international market also distinguishes the NBA from its competitors, who mainly work for the American public. The NBA can be watched in 215 countries, and its players include many athletes from all over the world. Last season, the roster of players included 108 players from 38 countries and territories, with a number of them being named MVP (Giannis Antetokounmpo), Defensive Player of the Year (Rudy Gobert), Rookie of the Year (Luka Doncic) and Most Improved Player ( Pascal Siakam).
In addition, China remains an important market for the future of the NBA, especially with a $1.5 billion deal with Tencent last summer. The league is working hard to improve relations with Chinese TV and sponsoring partners, but the situation is constantly changing. Most executives believe that Daryl Morey's position will not interfere with the long-term development of the NBA's business in China.
Income and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization calculated for the 2018/2019 seasonnet of income distribution and arena debt servicing. To calculate the club's value (asset value plus net debt), annual revenue ratios are applied based on the financial terms of each team's current arena agreement. The Forbes valuation is the estimated amount for which the club would be put up for sale. So even though Joseph Tsai paid $3.3 billion for the Brooklyn Nets, we believe the team is worth $2.5 billion because he paid approximately $1 billion for the loss-making arena maintenance business. If the club has a new arena, content distribution deals or sponsorship agreements that take effect at the end of the 2018/2019 season, we assessed their impact on the value of the business. Our profitability and franchise value estimates also include the earnings that team owners make from the arena through non-NBA events.
Translation by Anton Bundin
Forbes named the most expensive NBA clubs before the new season
Business
Andrey Zlobin Editorial Forbes
American Forbes named the most expensive NBA clubs before the start of the new season starting on October 19th. For the first time, three teams at once were valued at more than $5 billion. For the first time, the assessment of three clubs in the ranking at once exceeded $ 5 billion, the newspaper notes.
Finished reading here
The New York Knicks topped the rating. Its value, according to Forbes, grew by 16% year-on-year to $5.8 billion. It is followed by the Golden State Warriors ($5.6 billion, +19%) and the Los Angeles Lakers ($5. 5 billion). , +20%).
Related material
Four NBA clubs are valued by the publication above $3 billion. These are the Chicago Bulls ($3.65 billion, +11%), the Boston Celtics ($3.55 billion, +11%), the Los Angeles Clippers ($3 .3 billion, +20%) and the Brooklyn Nets formerly owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov ($3.2 billion, +21%).
The 2020/21 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks was ranked 17th on the list of most valuable clubs ($1.9 billion, +17%). His opponent in the final series, the Phoenix Suns, is 18th ($1.8 billion, +6%).
Related material
Despite the pandemic that kept arenas empty during the 2020/21 season, the average NBA club value has risen 13% to $2.48 billion since the last Forbes estimate in February.
In 1992, Spalding introduced the composite leather basketball, which had a lighter touch but also added durability. 
5″
NBA basketball games bring in a large number of fans, with ticket prices varying based on seat location, the teams playing, and the day you’re attending. How much do basketball tickets actually cost? Keep reading to learn about the price of professional basketball tickets.
The day of the week can also change the price of a ticket. A ticket for a game on a Friday will likely be more expensive than a game on a Monday. Finally, the exact seat location for a ticket can make it more or less expensive. Courtside tickets are significantly more expensive than other sections throughout the arena. 
The average ticket cost is $589, which is a 29% increase from the 2019-2020 regular season. The Los Angeles Lakers have the second-most expensive regular season tickets at $562 in the secondary market. This is a 19% increase from the 2019-2020 regular season. The New York Knicks have the third-most expensive tickets at an average price of $394 apiece. Following the Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets have the fourth-most expensive average regular season ticket at $339 apiece. Finally, the Boston Celtics have the fifth-most expensive regular season ticket at an average price of $309.
The third-least expensive ticket belongs to the Orlando Magic, with an average price of $105. The Memphis Grizzlies have the fourth-least expensive tickets at an average price of $107.
Not to mention the conflict between the owner and the fans of the most expensive NBA team, the New York Knicks, which is why the team's series of failures has been dragging on for the seventh year in a row. 
35 billion over three years, but then, in August 2019, he added the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn to the parameters of the agreement. . The total amount of the transaction reached $3.3 billion. Hornets" to investors Gabe Plotkin and Daniel Sandheim. As part of the agreement, the team was valued at $1.5 billion, although in 2010, when Jordan bought control of the club, the amount was only $175 million. 
Their revenue grew 15% in the reporting period and their value rose to $4.6 billion. They are immediately followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with $4.4 billion and the Golden State Warriors with $4.3 billion. These three teams can boast the highest earnings in the NBA. When other North American sports franchises are taken into account, the New York Knicks are only valued by the $5.5 billion National Football League (NFL) Dallas Cowboys. Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors behind another non-basketball club, the $4.6 billion Major League Baseball (GLB) New York Yankees. 
They made good money with a $24 billion contract to broadcast NBA games on TNT and ESPN. The collaboration began in the 2016/2017 season, and profits are evenly distributed among all 30 teams. 
However, while the NFL matches remain the most popular sports spectacle in the United States, and any other professional league can only envy such TV ratings. In 2019, 41 of the 50 most watched TV broadcasts came from football matches. 
The NBA is a year-round league with something going on all the time. The following streaming agreements will undergo significant changes due to streaming services. There will be more media companies that want to show NBA games in the US and other countries.” The current deal with ESPN and TNT, worth $2.7 billion a year, expires in the 2024/2025 season, and Burke predicts a new deal worth twice that amount. 
The NBA can be watched in 215 countries, and its players include many athletes from all over the world. Last season, the roster of players included 108 players from 38 countries and territories, with a number of them being named MVP (Giannis Antetokounmpo), Defensive Player of the Year (Rudy Gobert), Rookie of the Year (Luka Doncic) and Most Improved Player ( Pascal Siakam). 
To calculate the club's value (asset value plus net debt), annual revenue ratios are applied based on the financial terms of each team's current arena agreement. The Forbes valuation is the estimated amount for which the club would be put up for sale. So even though Joseph Tsai paid $3.3 billion for the Brooklyn Nets, we believe the team is worth $2.5 billion because he paid approximately $1 billion for the loss-making arena maintenance business. If the club has a new arena, content distribution deals or sponsorship agreements that take effect at the end of the 2018/2019 season, we assessed their impact on the value of the business. Our profitability and franchise value estimates also include the earnings that team owners make from the arena through non-NBA events. 
5 billion). , +20%). 
