Jeremy Lin’s Impact Helps New York Knicks Outsell Springsteen & Madonna

Ticket Liquidator have announced Jeremy Lin’s influence have propelled New York Knicks games to becoming one of the top selling events even eclipsing Bruce Springsteen and Madonna.

When the New York Knicks squared off against the Boston Celtics at the TD Bank Garden in Boston on Feb. 3, very few people had any idea who Jeremy Lin was. New York Knicks tickets were the 28th most selling event in total revenue at Ticket Liquidator, the second-largest ticket marketplace on the secondary market. The average price for a New York Knicks ticket sold through Ticket Liquidator was $130.53.

The Knicks would lose a nail-biter that night and left Boston with a record of 8-15. All that would change the next night after the Knicks turned to an unknown point guard, the first American-born NBA player of Taiwanese descent and a Harvard graduate with an economics degree, Jeremy Lin. It doesn’t take an economist, however, to see what effect Lin has had on the Knicks organization in only two weeks.

New York Knicks tickets rose from the 28th most-selling event at Ticket Liquidator to number one during the two weeks since Lin-sanity began. The top selling events had been held by Bruce Springsteen and then Madonna after the Queen of Pop announced her 2012 worldwide MDNA tour. The average price of a Knicks ticket sold on the Ticket Liquidator site went from $130.53 on Feb. 3 to $211 on Feb. 19, a rise of 62 percent.

The first major jump in New York Knicks ticket sales took place on Feb. 9, the day before Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers traveled to Madison Square Garden to take on Lin and the Knicks. In one day, Knicks tickets went from an average price of $150 to $204, a 36 percent increase. The New York Knicks went from the 26th most selling event at Ticket Liquidator to the 5th. With all the hype and expectations, Jeremy Lin did not disappoint, dropping 38 points and outscoring Kobe Bryant in a Knicks win at the garden.

The legend was born, and the Knicks have been in the top-ten most selling events at Ticket Liquidator since Feb. 12. The revitalized Knicks are now 16-16, and the big apple is buzzing about Jeremy Lin. The NBA is aware of the phenomenon, and quickly invited Lin to All-Star weekend to play in the Rookie-Sophomore game and to join teammate Iman Shumpert in the dunk contest.

Whether or not Lin can continue his amazing play remains to be seen, but in the meantime he has had an incredible economic impact on the New York Knicks organization and the NBA overall. A new economics model has been born: The Jeremy Lin Effect.

by Ismail Uddin