As one of the worst seasons in franchise history draws to a close, the Utah Jazz will raise season ticket prices for some lower bowl seats next year.
Upper bowl season ticket prices will remain unchanged next season, the team said. And the Jazz said that most fans will see increases around 3% or less. The Smith Entertainment Group said that the maximum increase was 6%.
The announcement rankled some season ticket holders, who are upset about the quality of the team on the court, and the resulting apathy toward Jazz tickets on the secondary market as a result.
The Jazz currently hold a .242 winning percentage, on pace for fewer than 20 wins for the first time in franchise history. In many games, they’ve chosen to sit out healthy veteran players for rest or injury management, prioritizing playing time for its youth and making it more likely the team loses.
“Paying full price to watch a team play G League players and lose on purpose is already so disrespectful to your fan base,” season ticket holder Tim Semple said. “To then have the audacity to raise prices on season ticket holders, after being dead last in the West, shows how little this organization cares about the fans.”
Semple said he canceled his tickets for next season.
Other fans said they felt frustrated they were paying more for their season tickets than they cost on the secondary market.
The Jazz have nine home games remaining in the 2024-25 season. One game — the Jazz’s March 21 contest against the NBA champion Boston Celtics — has a $34 get-in price. For the other eight, tickets are currently available to be purchased for $2-10 on SeatGeek, the official secondary market of the Jazz. The Jazz’s cheapest season ticket, meanwhile, is $20 per game per ticket.
“It’s extremely frustrating that I’m paying more than I was when we were the No. 1 seed and that it is far more expensive to be a season ticket holder than to just buy tickets from SeatGeek every game,” season ticket holder Nate Gygi said.
“Every professional sports team is faced with challenges regarding resale value. To address this, this season we implemented variable pricing strategies designed to better align ticket prices with market demand,” Jazz President of Revenue and Commercial Strategy Chris Barney told The Salt Lake Tribune. “For season ticket holders, we continued our tradition of enhancing their experience all season long and providing access to unique benefits and events.”
Barney cited “locker room tours, youth basketball clinics, Jazz Dancer youth clinics, court times, and other opportunities” as value-added experiences for season ticket holders, along with discounted concession and merchandise prices and free subscriptions to Jazz and NBA games on streaming services.
The team also told about 300 season ticket accounts that their seats will be moving as the result of renovations made to the Delta Center this summer to accommodate the Utah Hockey Club.
“These changes, in most cases, were only moving over a couple seats or a row or two,” Barney said. “We made a concerted effort to put people as close to their original seats as possible, as well as at their same price level.”
Season ticket price increases have occurred in many markets around the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks, who recently traded superstar Luka Doncic to Los Angeles, drew sharp criticism after raising their season ticket prices by 8.61% on average.
