Heat are proud of their parking, but tickets don’t compare to Denver

MIAMI—On my flight from Denver to South Florida on Wednesday morning there were plenty of folks wearing blue and gold, proud of their pickaxes.

And while Denver Nuggets fans have taken over the Mile High City and made up a supermajority of the crowd for Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, Miami Heat fans have been here. The team is seeking a fourth world title and is taking its second trip to the Finals in the past four seasons.

Some of the fans on my flight didn’t yet buy tickets to the games, hoping it would be cheaper to see the matchup at Kaseya Center instead of at Chopper Circle.

The good news for those trying to score a last-second ticket that prices at 2:30 p.m., four hours before tip are less than half the price of the games in Colorado.

Before fees StubHub has Game 3 tickets at $323 a pop, whereas Game 5 in Denver’s lowest-priced seat is $793. The over $400 price change is more pronounced on SeatGeek where Wednesday in Miami is $292 to get in the door and it’s $727 in Denver for Monday.

In fact, you could get a decent upper-bowl seat at midcourt and pay for the best parking spot in the joint all for under the price of the worst seat in the house without any parking for Game 5.

It costs $100 to park here, you can get in the door to Game 3 for like $350 pic.twitter.com/R43GyTJMLQ

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) June 7, 2023

Miami fans are so caught up with their hot Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers playing for a Stanley Cup and the news of Lionel Messi soon coming to America to play for their MLS club, Inter Miami, that seats for both the Panthers (around $300 on Stubhub) and to see Messi’s possible debut are either the same amount of money or more.

It's currently cheaper to go to Game 3 of the NBA Finals in Miami ($416) than Lionel Messi's potential Inter Miami debut against Cruz Azul ($482).

Messi's arrival is a gamechanger for MLS 🚀

(h/t @brennanjp) pic.twitter.com/0oluT9Peds

— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) June 7, 2023

So does Denver have better fans than Miami? At the very least Nuggets fans are trying just a bit harder to get in the building to see their Nuggets in the NBA Finals.

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