Ticket prices skyrocket for Raptors preseason game in Montreal

Montreal basketball fans are pumped as the Toronto Raptors take on the Boston Celtics in a preseason game at the Bell Centre this Friday. The event selling out weeks ago is one indicator of the NBA’s popularity in the city.

The ridiculous resale value of tickets on Ticketmaster is another.

Need proof? As of now, going to the October 14 game will cost a pair of fans a minimum of $213 (with taxes and fees) each. What does that heavy chunk of change get you? A seat in the very back (section 412) of the arena.

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According to representatives from the NBA Canada Series, ticket prices for the game started at $20.

If you want middle-of-the-pack seats in the reds, you’ll easily need to spend at least $700 for each respective ticket. Meanwhile, single courtside tickets are selling for upwards of $3,000 a piece, which seems quite hefty for a preseason matchup ⁠— even for the highest of high rollers.

Ticketmaster

And while local sports fans are used to emptying their pockets at Canadiens games, prices are still somewhat reasonable during the preseason.

It just goes to show that Montreal, which got its own professional basketball team when the Montreal Alliance joined Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) last year, is a serious basketball market.

In fact, the Raptors and Celtics feature a combined four Canadian players on training camp rosters: Quebec natives Khem Birch (Raptors) and Chris Boucher (Raptors), and Ontario natives Dalano Banton (Raptors) and Mfiondu Kabengele (Celtics).

This is the fifth time the Raptors will host a game in Montreal. The last time they played at the Bell Centre was in 2018 against the Brooklyn Nets. Their season officially kicks off on October 19.