Raptors fail to sell out for first time this season

Jan 23 2023, 3:35 pm

Fans in attendance on Sunday evening at Scotiabank Arena got to see a pretty good basketball game between the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks.

The Raptors topped New York by a 125-116 score in a back-and-forth contest, with all of Pascal Siakam, Gary Trent Jr., and Fred VanVleet topping 20 points for the home side.

But while there were 19,261 fans in attendance for the game, it was the smallest crowd to see an NBA game at Scotiabank Arena since the team’s various reduced capacity stages in the 2021-22 regular season due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

As flagged by the Associated Press’ Ian Harrison, Sunday was Toronto’s first non-sellout game of the season.

Less than 600 tickets were available, with arena capacity being set for basketball games at 19,800.

Per ESPN, the Raptors now rank ninth in league attendance this season, with a 99.9% capacity filled throughout their 27 home games to date. Despite the team’s 21-27 record, fans, at least for now, seem to have remained to show up for their team.

In 11th place in the Eastern Conference, Toronto sits 1.5 games back of the Chicago Bulls for the final play-in spot in the conference.

Toronto’s next home game isn’t until February 8 against the San Antonio Spurs, one day before the trade deadline.

The cheapest ticket currently available on Ticketmaster for that contest is priced at $63.87 for a standing-room-only spot in section 321.

The team is headed out on a seven-game road trip starting on Wednesday night, where they’ll face the likes of the Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, and Memphis Grizzlies before returning back home.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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