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Welcome to Brooklynsanity.
Tickets to the Nets’ first regular-season game at the new Barclays Center against the crosstown rival Knicks are commanding an average of $800.87 a pop on StubHub and other secondary-market sites.
The sold-out Nov. 1 contest is the hottest ducat for a Big Apple sporting event since the Yankees won the 2009 World Series, says Chris Matcovich of TiqIQ, which tracks secondary-market ticket prices.
It even surpasses the $675.43 ticket average Madison Square Garden saw for a Knicks-Mavericks game in February, when Jeremy Lin was still a Knick and “Linsanity” reached its peak.
“You definitely have a lot of people who want to be among the first to see this new arena — and the fact that it’s the Knicks is also driving up the price,” Matcovich said.
As expected, ticket brokers and season-ticket holders are looking to make a killing off opening night.
The $800.87 average game-day price is already up 18.59 percent from $675.31 on Oct. 1, and it’s six times higher than what an average Nets ticket runs at face value, $132.
The Nets-Knicks game is running as high as $8,100 for courtside seats normally priced for $1,500, and the cheapest seats were selling for $217.
When the then-New Jersey Nets last played the Knicks in April at Newark’s Prudential Center, tickets on the secondary market sold for an average of $114.76 — or seven times less than next week’s highly anticipated match-up.
At the Barclays Center ticket window yesterday, workers routinely turned away fans like Robert Harang, of Bensonhurst, who were unaware the opening game sold out weeks ago.
“This is going to be Brooklyn’s biggest night since the Dodgers left town, and I don’t want to miss it,” said Harang, who added that he has switched from being Knicks fan to Nets fan and is willing to pay $600 for two tickets.
Matcovich said there are roughly 2,400 tickets still up for grabs on the secondary market.
The Barclays Center’s seating capacity for Nets games is 17,732, and the team has sold close to 11,000 season tickets.
The average ticket resale listing price for Nets games this season is now $195, third in the NBA behind the Lakers ($400) and Knicks ($287), Matcovich said.
Last season, the Nets left Jersey on a sour note, ranking last on the secondary market at $32. Some tickets even sold for as cheap as a penny during 21 of the team’s 33 home games.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz boasted that he’s not surprised at how hot a ticket the Nets have become.
“Move over, Knicks!” the beep crowed. “New York is not just your town anymore, and with Linsanity over, Brooklyn swagger is about to begin.”