Fans Are Upset By Bryant Memorial Tickets Priced As High As $224

Feb 18, 2020 by apost team

A memorial for Kobe and Gianna Bryant will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 24th. The father-daughter basketball duo lost their lives along with seven others due to a helicopter crash on January 26th. Now that a public memorial is being held, fans are critical of the ticket availability and prices for the event. 

The year started with the somber news of one of NBA's best players, Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna, passing away along with seven others. The nine victims were taken by a helicopter crash that occurred on January 26th in Los Angeles, California. Kobe Bryant is survived by his wife Vanessa and their three other children.

Millions of fans around the globe have mourned are still morning the basketball star's death. Last week on the official NBA website, the Lakers announced a public Bryant memorial. However, details of the event show that only those who purchase a ticket can attend, and the tickets seem that they will be costly if they are even able to be bought by fans at all.

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The memorial for NBA star Kobe was first announced by his widow Vanessa and is to be held on February 24th. Even though it is nearly a month after the incident, the date still holds significance. According to the NBA website, the date of 2/24 coordinates with Kobe's No. 24 jersey and his daughter Gianna's No. 2 jersey. 

Vanessa took to her Instagram to announce to fans "A Celebration of Life" memorial for Kobe and Gianna at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. According to the NBA, the number of tickets available for purchase by the public are limited. The three price tiers of the tickets also coordinate with the jersey number theme at $224 for one ticket, $224 for two tickets, or one ticket for $24.02.

All proceeds from the tickets will be going to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation, which is part of Kobe's academy to promote youth sports. As stated on the NBA website, fans have to use 'Ticketmaster' and become a 'Verified Fan' in order to even gain access to purchase a ticket.

As of February 18th, the fan registration was already closed. The website stated that those who were already registered would receive an invitation to the ticket release. In order to ensure that tickets are bought by genuine fans and not resold for a higher price, Ticketmaster is issuing unique codes to the verified fans and making tickets non-transferrable.

Because many of the memorial seats will already be reserved by close friends and family of Bryant, Ticketmaster is giving registered fans access to the sale through a random lottery system approach rather than first-come, first-serve. 

The monetization of the memorial has been met with major backlash from the public. Many fans don't understand the ticket pricing, and others are simply upset that the memorial costs money at all. 

The NBA website even urges fans without a ticket to not even come to the memorial at all, saying: 

"Members of the public without tickets to the Celebration of Life are strongly advised by STAPLES Center and law enforcement not to come downtown near STAPLES Center or L.A. LIVE as fans without tickets will not be able to access the STAPLES Center site, L.A. Live site, or adjacent streets."

What do you think about the memorial tickets? Will you be buying tickets or will you be watching from home? Let us know your thoughts below and pass this along to others so they can weigh-in as well!