Miami Heat deny ticket demand is down

The Miami Heat are not pleased with a Miami Herald report that said the team has partnered with an online ticket seller to offer steeply discounted seats because of soft demand for tickets in Year Two of the Big Three.

The Herald reported, “Demand has dipped to the point that the team has begun offering tickets at up to half off the regular price, in an attempt to unload excessive inventory and compete with bargain basement deals found on the secondary market.” Tickets with a face value of $125 for the April 19 game against the Bulls were being sold on Goldstar for just $65, according to The Herald.

The Heat deny, however, that they’re partnering with Goldstar and say demand for tickets is as strong as ever.

In a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald posted on the team's website, Heat President of Business Operations Eric S. Woolworth called the report is “nonsense.”

“The fact is that every home game this year has been sold out and attendance on a per game basis is actually up over last year because we have sold more standing room only tickets than we did last year,” Woolworth wrote.

“The fact is that Goldstar.com apparently bought some limited number of tickets through our Group Ticket department at the full Group price like any other ticket purchaser could do. Beyond that we have no relationship with them,” Woolworth added. “It appears that they are yet another entrant into the ever-growing secondary ticketing market and that they are now trying to resell the tickets they purchased from us.”