Kobe Bryant during his recent Manila visit. Photo by Rem Zamora for abs-cbnNEWS.com

Lower box tickets offered at P12,000 each

MANILA, Philippines – Ticket prices for the upcoming Ultimate All Star Weekend, which features Kobe Bryant and several other NBA stars, skyrocketed as scalpers went online to offer tickets to the highest bidder.

Joining the Los Angeles Lakers' Bryant in the 2-game series against a PBA selection and Smart Gilas Pilipinas are fellow NBA superstars Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), Derek Fisher (LA Lakers), James Harden (Oklahoma City Thunder), and Derrick Williams (Minnesota Timberwolves).

The games will take place on July 23 and 24 at the Araneta Coliseum.

As of Monday, tickets for areas nearest to the court like the patron (P5,500) and the lower box (P3,800) sections have already been sold out.

The only tickets left available are for Upper Box A (P1,500) and B (P800) and General Admission (P350) areas.

TicketNet announced that they no longer accept reservations "due to high demand of tickets."

They advised buyers to purchase tickets at TicketNet outlets.

However, some of the tickets found their way to online classified ad sites where they're being priced exhorbitantly.

In an ad posted on Sulit.com, lower box tickets originally sold for P3,800 were being offered to the highest bidder. The bidding price started at P12,000.

"I will close the bidding by tomorrow evening around 11-12. As it is, [P]13200 is currently the highest bidder," said the ad placer only identified as "Tikiboy."

Another ad placer, who identified himself as "Arsure," offered Upper A tickets at P5,000 each. Upper A tickets are originally priced at P1,500.

Upper B tickets, originally sold at P800, are being offered as high as P2,500 to P4,000.

Ad placer "yLLib18" claimed that all "tickets already sold out at TicketNet since Sunday," which is why he offered his Upper B tickets at P3,000 each.