Cavs Fans Paying Big to Witness LeBron Return
NEW YORK (
) -- Cavaliers fans are willing to pay top dollar to witness LeBron James' return to Cleveland next week when the Heat takes on the Cavs on Dec. 2.
StubHub
, which is owned by
eBay
(EBAY) - Get Report
, indicates that the average price on the secondary market for the game is $234 per seat -- the highest average price for a regular season Cleveland game in StubHub's data history,
.
The previous high was when Cleveland took on the Los Angeles Lakers in January 2010. The average ticket price for that game was $202 a seat, StubHub's Joellen Ferrer told
CNBC
.
According to StubHub, ticket prices for the Cavaliers-Celtics game on Nov. 30 range from around $5 to $194, while the Cavaliers-Heat game has a ticket price range that starts at $70 and climbs into the thousands.
Last year, when James announced his decision to join superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh
by taking his talents to South Beach
for the 2010-2011 NBA season, many Cavalier fans felt betrayed. Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers' majority owner,
wrote an open letter to fans
expressing his "bitter disappointment" in James' decision to leave his hometown team.
Gilbert called the choice to "desert" the Cleveland Cavaliers a "shameful display of selfishness and betrayal," a "heartless and callous action" and a "shocking act of disloyalty."
Quicken Loans Arena administration is aware that fans may still resent James' decision to join the Heat. In order to ensure safety at the game, the Cavaliers will add security and will restrict any anti-LeBron signs and apparel.
"We don't want to create a police state," Cavaliers spokesperson Tad Carper said to ESPN's Chris Broussard. "We've always had a real energetic, super-charged home crowd and we want to encourage that for every game, including Dec. 2. We want people to enjoy themselves and express themselves, but we don't want fans to cross the boundaries of decency. We're not going to allow profanity and things like that. We'll have no tolerance for anyone trying to cross those boundaries."
-- Written by Theresa McCabe in Boston.
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