Game 5 Cup final tickets averaging more than $1K

Scott Morrison, Nick Kypreos and Doug MacLean join Daren Millard to recap the performance of Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers in Game 4 as they force the series back to Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES — You may have to be a Hollywood celebrity to afford Game 5 of the Stanley Cup final Friday night. The lure of possibly seeing the Cup hoisted on home ice has driven demand for tickets through the roof.

SeatGeek, an aggregator for the secondary ticket market, reports that fans had paid an average of US$1,126 a ticket as of Thursday for the Staples Center game, making it the most expensive Los Angeles Kings game in team history. The previous high was $903 for Game 4 of the 2012 Cup final.

Fans paid an average of $563 and $667 per ticket on the secondary market for Games 1 and 2 in L.A., respectively. The cheapest price available for Game 5 was $675, higher than the average price of either of the first two games.

Ticket price for Friday’s game roses 17 per cent after the New York Rangers won Game 4 to send the series back to the West Coast, according to SeatGeek.

Game 5 is expected to be the most expensive event at Staples Center since Game 7 of the 2010 NBA finals with the deciding victory for the Lakers over the Celtics drawing an average price of $1,165 on the secondary market.

SeatGeek says the Cup final could erase that mark if it goes to Game 7. Tickets for a possible series finale were selling for an average of $1,434 with the cheapest at $968.

The average ticket prices for Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden were $1,558 and $1,347, respectively. SeatGeek says the market for Game 4 crashed after the Rangers lost the first three games of the series,

Tickets are expensive no matter where you get them.

The face value for Kings’ Stanley Cup tickets started at $349 for 300-level seats and $629 for 100-level seats. As of 3 p.m. ET Thursday, prices on the secondary market were running at nearly twice face value, with 300-level seats beginning at $675 and 100-level seats at $1,180.

If the series goes to Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, New Yorkers will be digging deep into their wallets.

The average ticket price on the secondary market was $1,994 per ticket, which SeatGeek says is the highest for any North American sporting event other than the Super Bowl.

The least expensive ticket listed for Game 6 was $1,381.

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