Philippines

FIBA secretary general Andreas Zagklis traced the problem to exorbitant ticket pricing at the two Philippine venues, Araneta Coliseum and Mall of Asia Arena, and admitted that the federation failed to correctly anticipate Filipino fans’ purchasing power.

“The pricing of the tickets – which was determined by the [local organizing committee] but reviewed by FIBA, so we have our share in this, of course, and we were part of this process – for some categories, it was unsuccessful. I can say that this is one of the major debriefing points we’ll have,” he said.

“Several times in the venue, where the fourth and fifth tiers (upper box and general admission) were full, the first tier (patron/courtside) was full, the second and third (lower box) were not. So that’s where you see immediately the impact of pricing.”

True enough, ticket pricing for the Manila venues had noticeable jumps in the aforementioned tiers, with general admission ranging from P500 to P1,000 per ticket and a sudden surge to P5,000 to P10,000 in the upper box, depending on the teams playing.