The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most talked-about sports league in the world. When in season, the world’s premier basketball competition has games played throughout the week. Plenty of opportunities for a traveller to experience an iconic moment.

Like all major sports leagues around the world, the NBA has committed to mobile-only ticketing for its events. There are a handful of different ticketing platforms that have been adopted by the clubs to facilitate this - e.g. Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, AXS - but the process for each is similar.

Regardless of which destination your clients are visiting, here's what you can expect for NBA tickets booked through a Sports Where I Am partner solution:

How National Basketball Association ticketing works

For NBA tickets booked through a Sports Where I Am solution, here are the steps involved:

• 1. A customer email address will be required during the booking process.

  Most leagues, teams & venues around the world have made a push towards mobile ticketing in the interest of security & convenience. This means that we require a customer email for sports & events bookings so that the ticket transfer can be sent directly to your customer.
  
  
  
  We only use this email address for ticket delivery, though, and we will not send your customer any follow-up marketing materials. 

• 2. We send travel-appropriate instructions & mobile ticket transfer directly to the customer.

  
  
  

  When the tickets are ready to be transferred, we'll send instructions directly to the customer email address supplied.

  In almost all cases, the end customer will be required to create an account (and possibly download an App) in order to accept their ticket transfer. We’ll send the relevant instructions to the customer email supplied.

• 3. After accepting the ticket transfer, the customer will access their tickets on their mobile device.

  
  
  After accepting the ticket transfer, the customer will access the tickets on their mobile device to scan in at the gate on game-day.
  
  This will likely be via Ticketmaster - but it could also be via SeatGeek, AXS or other similar mobile ticketing platforms adopted by the home team.

Key dates for the NBA basketball season

A yearly calendar for NBA generally looks like this:

• August
  
  • The schedule is announced for the following season. Tickets available soon after.
• September - October
  
  • Pre-season games are played.
• October - April
  
  • The NBA regular season is played during these months: Each team plays 82 games in this time.
• April - June
  
  • The NBA postseason - culminating in the NBA Finals - is played at this time.
    
    

JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC

Basketball seating categories explained

Many of our partners have requested a simplified booking process for their travel customers. That's why our NBA ticket options are conveniently split into three broad sections: Budget, Regular and Premium.

As a rule-of-thumb, this is how that generally looks:

The 'best' basketball tickets are generally considered to be side-on to the court (ie on the ‘long side’) - rather than behind the rings at either end. The closer seats are considered more premium.

• An example of a view from a 'Budget' seat category at a basketball game. These are usually in the upper tiers and/or at either end of the court. (Note: This is a rough guide only)

• An example of a view from a 'Regular' seat category at a basketball game. These can be in the upper tiers with a more side-on view of the court - or they might be closer to the court at either end. (Note: This is a rough guide only)

• An example of a view from a 'Premium' seat category at a basketball game. Generally these tickets are close to the court with a good view of either end. (Note: This is a rough guide only)

There are, of course, some exceptions to this, depending on the specific NBA venue and the sections that a team might have set up. But the above is a general guide only.

Popular NBA destinations:

Los Angeles ↗ Houston ↗ Dallas ↗