If you want to go to the NBA All-Star Game 2012 on Feb. 26 at Amway Center in Orlando, you'll need to get lucky and then still dig deep into your pocket.
Tickets are as scarce as they are costly, with the league pricing lower-bowl seats at $750 a ticket and upper-bowl seats at $500.
Magic season-ticket holders must log into an account and complete a random drawing application for the chance to buy tickets to the All-Star Game and/or ancillary events, such as the three-point shoot-out and slam-dunk contest.
Magic CEO Alex Martins said after a news conference staged by the NBA on Wednesday at Amway Center that 3,000 tickets in the lottery will be available to Magic season-ticket holders
Asked if the general public could attend the game, Martins said, "There's a very slim chance if you're not a season-ticket holder," adding that the NBA controls the ticket inventory and pricing.
Martins encouraged fans to attend the events surrounding the All-Star Weekend if they want to be part of the experience. He said there will be about 5,000 tickets available for the rookie vs. sophomore game on Friday night, for example ($50 for lower-bowl seating, $35 for upper bowl.)
The league also makes available a certain amount of tickets that season-ticket holders with other teams have the chance to purchase.
The NBA, as it has done for years, caters to its corporate and television sponsors as well as players' families and various VIPs with its ticket allotments.
Fans who don't own season tickets can purchase tickets on independent websites such as centerboxoffice.org. And they aren't cheap. The Sentinel found that tickets on that site ranged from $582 to $883, depending on location in the arena.
Voting for players to represent the Eastern and Western Conferences also began Wednesday. Fans can choose their favorite players through various means: on-line, texting and filling out paper ballots at arenas.
Martins said the league expects 50,000 visitors to come to Orlando for the event, filling about 30,000 hotel rooms in the area. He estimated the economic effect to be about $100 million.
The city was awarded the All-Star Game in May of 2010, one of the perks after Orlando approved funding of the $480-million arena in 2007.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said all-star weekend is "one of the reasons we built this facility."
Orlando only hosted the All-Star Game once before, in 1992, a game made memorable because Magic Johnson came out of retirement after contracting the AIDS virus. Johnson was named the game's MVP.
bschmitz@tribune.com
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