DALLAS — A new NBA season is on the horizon, and the Dallas Mavericks’ aspirations for a championship are reflective in booming ticket sales.
Emanuel Oma, who was born and raised in Carrollton, Texas, bleeds Dallas through and through.
“Heck yeah, I rep Dallas,” Oma said while working at Sneaker Politics in Deep Ellum.
The Dallas Mavericks finished the previous season with a series loss to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals. It was the first time since the 2011 championship run that the franchise has made it that far in the playoffs.
Oma witnessed the great 2021-2022 run, attending a home game where the Mavericks beat the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
“Being Luka, he’s always going to be a legend. Still young, still building,” Oma said, adding that he’s eager to see this new NBA season start up.
Needless to say, expectations for superstar Luka Doncic and his team are higher than ever. The current ticket sales market is the added proof to the pudding.
Theo Hodges, the Dallas Mavericks' senior vice president of ticket sales, says they’ve seen an uptick in the demand for tickets.
“Season tickets, to group tickets, to suites that we do also well. We’ve seen all those numbers, you know, pretty much near or at those levels that we were at following the 2011 championship,” Hodges said.
With a higher demand, Hodges says he and his team are having to approach ticket sales from a more defensive approach, ensuring true Dallas Mavericks fans are getting the chance to get tickets at a reasonable price.
“Not just selling to someone that’s in New York or LA for the sole purpose of reselling,” Hodges said.
StubHub’s latest ticket sales report reveals that the Mavs are ranked ninth in the NBA for being the most desired ticket sales.
In addition, the report reveals that the franchise is placed fourth in seeing an increase in ticket sales by 257% compared to this time last year.
Hodges says they try to vet some of their potential clients for things like season ticket packages to ensure there are folks who actually plan to attend the games.
“There’s also new challenges that come with a higher demand situation, which we’re trying our best to get in front of right now,” Hodges noted.
Oma hasn’t purchased any tickets for the upcoming basketball season, but he says that he’ll be doing that sooner rather than later.
“I got faith in our squad this year,” Oma said.
The Dallas Mavericks’ first game of the season will be on October 19 against the Phoenix Suns.
The team’s home opener will be versus the Memphis Grizzlies on October 22.