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Euroleague Final Four tickets to become shelf warmers?

November 13, 2008

It is now two weeks since tickets for the Euroleague Final Four in Berlin went on sale. But we’re still waiting for a “sold-out” message. While in 2008, tickets were gone in just 72 hours, currently only the seats in the balcony part of the O2 World are gone. In the medium- to higher-price categories, there are still hundreds of seats to be sold. What are the reasons for this?

First of all, no home team has a serious chance to qualify for the Final Four. In 2008, Real Madrid was a contender for the semifinals and in 2007, Panathinaikos was the main favorite for Athens. Both events were sold out within a few days. A similar situation was last seen in 2006 in Prague, when no home team was even involved in the competition. At that time, the arena was only sold out just one week before the beginning of the event.

The second reason may be the fact that there are no clear-cut Final Four favorites with big fan bases. Neither Maccabi Tel Aviv nor the Greek teams are super confident right now about reaching Berlin. The previous years, you could see massive sales going to Israel or Greece at the moment of the ticket launch. This seems not to be the case this time. And CSKA Moscow fans are probably the only ones currently buying in the premium categories.

In times of financial crisis, price is another factor, of course. With tickets going for €120 to €1200 for floor seats, the Final Four is no bargain. If you go for the €120 ticket, however, four games at a price of €30 is great. But those tickets, as well as the €267 category, are already history. The minimum entrance fee still available is €399, or €100 per game.

Prices have risen sharply in comparison with previous years, too. In 2006, prices ranged between €70 and €1290; in 2007, the cheapest entry fee was €75 with premium tickets going for €500. In 2008, that minimum jumped to €100, with premium tickets selling for €500. So you see that this year, the cheapest category has risen by a further 20%, while premium ticket prices have increased an amazing 76% (from €500 to €883).

I totally appreciate what the Euroleague Final Four stands for, but these price increases seem too important to me. In the end, the O2 World will be sold out, but the Euroleague needs to think on this issue, especially if the Final Four ever goes to London.

Finally, an underestimated reason for low sales may be the date. Berlin inhabitants know what I am talking about but we heard that the Euroleague was not aware what May 1st means for the neighborhood around the O2 World. In previous years, May 1st in Berlin has meant riots. This has calmed down a bit recently, but the day is still used by a multitude of political parties and groups for demonstrations. The problem is that most of these meetings are typically held close to the Arena area and are generally surrounded by a massive police contingent to quell potential clashes between the different groups. We’ll see how this situation will be handled…

Nov 13, 2008ballineurope
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This post was published on November 13, 2008
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Comments: 7
  1. DT
    14 years ago

    How many seats are there in the O2 arena?

    ReplyCancel
  2. Teo
    14 years ago

    just too expensive, as most basketball fans also have to count in travel expenses.. and as far as I know, germany is mostly hot on NBA games, not so much on euroleague… some people I talked to who are nba fanatics didn’t even know three days ago that the european counterpart to the playoffs is in berlin.
    what i mean to say is, the euroleague needs more advertising in germany to sell some tickets to locals, because with these price ranges it is difficult for greeks, serbians etc. who typically are not among the richest of european folks ( as opposed to..well..germans), to fill up a big place like that. I think everyone is pretty confident about the greek teams back home, the issues are more of a monetary thing, as less money goes ’round for young people who can take time off for a berlin stint in may. The expensive seats will be filled with russian beauties, I can’t wait! Half the o2-arena full of russian CSKA fans. Oh, the hotness! Three cheers to the crisis

    ReplyCancel
  3. Kris
    14 years ago

    Berlin,Berlin,wir fahren nach Berlin ! Oder auch nicht.
    The prices for hotels are not that high and food and attractions are affordable.But the riots should be taken seriously as they are causing heavy police presence throughout the city…not a motiavtion for me to travel to Germany’s capital.

    ReplyCancel
  4. DT
    14 years ago

    I’ve been in the last five Euroleague final four events and i have to tell that i always amazed by the fact that no one in the streets care about it… 🙁 I think the Euroleague should stop the pre-sale of the final four tickets and wait for the results of the top 16 / what ever system they use now and then give each team of the four that clinched to the main event the same amount of tickets and to leave some tickets for the host of the event (if the host isn’t among the 4 team that advance). IMO that’s the best way…

    ReplyCancel
  5. Eric
    14 years ago

    For me, the prices are really a hard piece to eat.
    I know it’s the season’s summum, and that I’m late for the cheapest tickets, but come on 400€ should be the max prices and not the mid-range prices.

    By the way, Tobias :
    Last year you made an attendance ranking, could you make a pricing ranking for each domestical league ???
    It should be interesting to see how much it costs all across Europe to see a game of your national league.

    ReplyCancel
  6. Gruebler
    14 years ago

    Don’t overestimate the riots on May 1st in Berlin. They were bad some years ago, yes. But during the last years they kind of developed into not much more than a bit of open air partying where Cops, punkers and some kids released some steam afterwards. It limited to a few small spots and does not affect the city life much. On the evening of April 30th there’s usually some “action” about one or two miles northeast of o2 world and/or close to Max-Schmeling-Halle, the former homecourt of ALBA (but last year there was a classical concert there on that very date and no problems arose). On May, 1st the critical area is Kreuzberg, which is just on the other side of river Spree from the o2world. But you can be quite sure that the cops will hold the bridges 😉 as one is the traditional parking spot for their numerous cars and the other one is just next to the Chinese embassy… Although leftist groups heavily criticized the new o2 world.

    ReplyCancel
  7. Gruebler
    14 years ago

    Bottom line: If you don’t go looking for trouble you won’t have to worry about it or even see anything special except some convoys of police cars and a rare water cannon on the streets. Probably it’s just a good idea not to book a hostel/hotel close to Oranienstrasse or head out to party there after the semi finals. On May 2nd everything is over and you can go shopping and partying everywhere again.

    ReplyCancel

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