The Raptors are on the rise, and so are their ticket prices.
With Game 1 of the NBA Finals slated for Thursday at Scotiabank Arena, costs are higher than ever for Canada's lone contender, suggesting Toronto could beat Golden State as the team with the hottest tickets in the league.
"Is Toronto a basketball town? The answer is yes — based on pricing, it’s actually the most basketball town that we’ve seen in 10 years," TicketIQ employee Jesse Lawrence told the Toronto Star.
"It’s the most in-demand Finals game that we’ve ever tracked and that’s ahead of every Warriors game, which is saying a lot. That’s San Francisco — the concentration of global wealth — and the Raptors tickets are almost 50 percent more. It’s crazy."
StubHub general manager Paul Nowosad noted the championship series is a "bucket list-type event" since it's the first time the NBA Finals will be held outside the United States.
According to the Toronto Star, tickets at Scotiabank Arena on the secondary market as of Monday afternoon started at $816 and the average was just shy of $5,000.
For comparison, tickets at Oracle Arena started at $650 and averaged just under $3,000, which is the highest of any NBA Finals appearance for Golden State.
The next highest price was for the Warriors in 2016 when they faced LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
On the other hand, the Warriors enter the series as heavy favorites over Raptors to win their third straight title after opening at -275 odds at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook last week.