Huge demand for Raptors tickets in Vancouver as presale sells out

Aug 23 2023, 10:58 pm

Not even presale access was enough to guarantee tickets to the Toronto Raptors’ lone visit to Vancouver this year.

Canada’s NBA team is making its first trip to Vancouver in five years, playing a preseason game against the Sacramento Kings at Rogers Arena on Sunday, October 8.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday morning, but fans who registered through the NBA Canada Series website were given presale access this morning.

Fans were sent a link and a code to purchase tickets before they went on sale at 10 am PT, with a maximum of four tickets allowed to be bought at one time. Within an hour, social media fans said that presale tickets were sold out.

To give you an idea of how expensive tickets are, one fan Daily Hive spoke to said upper bowl seats in the fourth row of section 309 were going for $102.95 per ticket, with taxes and fees included.

The cheapest available resale ticket on StubHub is currently $153. The cheapest seat in the lower bowl is listed for $321.

It all speaks to the high level of interest in the NBA in Vancouver. Fans have consistently sold out preseason games in previous visits, with fan support particularly enthusiastic when the Raptors come to town.

“The fans here are just as adamant as they are in Toronto. Sold out crowd, they’re really into it,” former Raptors guard Norman Powell told Daily Hive prior to his team’s visit in 2018. “I really think they should bring an NBA team back here.”

“We love coming out here,” former Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said the last time the team came to Vancouver. “The electricity in the building will be there when the ball goes up.”

In addition to the preseason game, the Raptors will hold training camp in Burnaby at the Christine Sinclair Community Centre from October 3 to 7. Training camp is closed to the public, but fans can check out the team in person at an open practice being held at SFU on October 6.

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