The presence of an NBA match in Paris may be even rarer than a controlled victory for Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs, know that there are still approximately 200 places on sale before the Cleveland-Brooklyn this Thursday (8 p.m.) at Bercy live on beIN sport. Yes, but you have to be prepared to pay between 355 and 525 euros. And be careful, these are not ultra-premium seats at floor level, in order to enjoy this NBA Paris Game 2024 in VIP mode.
In a price list where “reduced visibility” places were sold for 65, 110, 125 and even 200 euros, it was necessary to push up to 665, 735 and 925 euros to access the best standard positions. Still slightly up compared to 2023, these sums may seem excessive for this third edition of the NBA Paris Game in four years.
Because after seeing the MVP of the time Giannis Antetokounmpo arrive with Milwaukee in January 2020, then a Chicago-Detroit poster rich in both past glory and ambient mediocrity, this Thursday’s meeting at the Accor Arena is even less sexy, between the Cavaliers 7th in the East and the Nets 10th with 11 defeats in their last 14 games. Despite the absence of real stars (no hard feelings, Donovan Mitchell and Mikal Bridges) or French players (after Nicolas Batum in 2020 and Killian Hayes last year, undoubtedly waiting for “Wemby” in 2025), there should nevertheless be have more than 14,500 spectators this Thursday at Bercy.
“It’s sad to know we’re so close without being able to see our players”
So, don’t these crazy prices at all dampen the enthusiasm of French, and even European, basketball fans since it is the only annual NBA match played on the continent? Yes, since even Guillaume (27 years old), co-founder of one of the two French accounts dedicated to the Cavs on X, will not be there this Thursday. “Mega happy” last summer when he learned that his favorite franchise had been selected to travel to France, this Montpellier resident was disillusioned on November 9, the day the tickets went on sale.
“There were more than 60,000 people in the queue and a bizarre draw,” he says. When the site bug ended, there were no longer any tickets available at 80-100 euros…” So much so that within its Team Cavs Nation France, only his Breton friend Yann was ready to drop 425 euros to attend the first Cleveland match of his life. “It’s very expensive for what it is, especially when you’re not based in Paris,” regrets Guillaume. With transport and accommodation, it would cost me more than 1,000 euros. In terms of quality and price, I would much rather consider a trip to Cleveland one day and have several meetings there. The NBA atmosphere, the American show, is by definition there, and prices start at $10 for Cavs matches. It’s still abnormal to have to pay a lot more for a much less crazy experience. ” He concludes:
This NBA Paris Game is not a big popular basketball celebration but above all a communications event. »
500 dollars to play five NBA games in Chicago and Milwaukee
A Parisian event where former NBA legends rub shoulders guests (Michael Jordan in 2020, Magic Johnson in 2023), influencers and celebrities outside of basketball, but also families and friends sometimes coming from very far away, from Israel, Romania or Poland, as we saw last year . Present for this insipid success of the Bulls against the Pistons (126-108), Bertrand Landry (36 years old) confirms that it was for him incomparable with a match at the United Center in Chicago.
As much as it was cool to watch your team play a game forty minutes from home last year, it’s still something else to feel this fervor for the Bulls in a real basketball hall, confides the manager of the French X account dedicated to the iconic Jordan franchise. In November, I played five Bulls games in eight days, including one in Milwaukee. I was very well placed each time and I got tickets for less than 500 dollars in total, with a direct Air France flight from Paris to Chicago for 500 euros as well. »
Because yes, “hardcore NBA fans” dream more of travel and matches across the Atlantic than of this NBA Paris Game with prices almost approaching the Holy Grail. Quickly aware of the fascination around American basketball in France, Julien Barthélémy created seven years ago Sports US Travels, the first travel agency in Europe specializing in American sports, primarily the NBA. The principle: to offer the general public a complete plane-hotel-NBA match package, whether in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia or Miami.
A travel agency dedicated to US sports attracts 1,000 French people per year
“In 2017, between the flight, the hotel and the NBA tickets, it only cost me 800 euros to go see two Knicks games with friends, but we are no longer on those prices today, reveals this ultimate fan of the New York franchise, aged 40. One thing is certain: it’s definitely worth it to treat yourself to an NBA experience in the United States. We really disconnect and discover another culture for good. All this while being able to target a Lakers-Celtics in the calendar, and not by “subjecting to imposed teams” as can frustrate the public in Paris. » As in 2023, around a thousand French NBA fans will still travel across the Atlantic from January to March via Sports US Travels, in order to experience a real NBA atmosphere, with twenty-five matches scheduled in total.
And this from 1,500 euros for six days in New York, with plane, local transport, nights and breakfast in a three-star hotel in Times Square, and therefore a Knicks match at Madison Square Garden. Some will even sometimes have the privilege of attending a warm-up at the side of the pitch, or even walking on the floor in certain rooms. A university professor in Colorado since 2021, another Frenchman addicted to US basketball, Romain, explains paying 30 dollars to attend each Denver Nuggets match via his subscription, with a central location to boot.
“We tried to make the prices affordable,” assures the NBA boss
The additional price for play-off matches unsurprisingly increased crescendo for him last season, from 35 dollars in the first round to 118 dollars for the conference final, and finally 206 dollars for the historic coronation of the band to Nikola Jokic against Miami (4-1). You are not dreaming, we could therefore enjoy the biggest NBA basketball event 2022-2023 for less than the average entry ticket for this almost nondescript and relocated regular season Cleveland-Brooklyn.
Even if we hear the argument of scarcity in Europe, very far from the 82 regular season games per year on American soil for each franchise, how does the NBA seriously justify such prices at Bercy? “It’s the law of the market,” NBA president Adam Silver argued in January 2020, before the Milwaukee-Charlotte match, in an interview with Parisian. We tried to make the prices affordable, but there was so much demand that they flew away, probably too much. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about it. » A bias which may have inspired Tony Estanguet and the Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.