Value of unused tickets is $1.98b

NEW YORK • The secondary market value of the tickets going unused during the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL) and college basketball hiatus is about US$1.4 billion (S$1.98 billion), based on estimates from ticketing marketplace TicketIQ.

That number, which does not include the NHL or NBA play-offs, highlights just one small part of the billions that could be lost or refunded as the sports world copes with the coronavirus pandemic.

There were at least 2,300 infections in the United States and 50 deaths.

The US$1.4 billion figure was calculated by taking the average secondary market ticket listing earlier in the week and multiplying it by the number of each team's remaining home games and the size of each arena.

The NBA has US$690 million worth of tickets tied up in its suspended season, which has 255 games left, according to TicketIQ.

The NHL, which had 188 games remaining, has US$404 million, while the 68-team NCAA tournament had US$288 million.

More than a third of that March Madness number comes from the Final Four, which was supposed to be held in Atlanta next month.

The NBA's Los Angeles Lakers, who have made the play-offs for the first time since 2013, alone have US$82.1 million worth of tickets tied to their remaining regular-season home games.

That figure is almost double the next-closest basketball or hockey team. The Toronto Maple Leafs had an NHL-high US$42.2 million.

In the last two days, every major US sports league has either cancelled its upcoming events or postponed them.

That includes conference basketball tournaments, the XFL (American football league), golf events like the Masters and tournaments in both the PGA and LPGA tours, tennis competitions, Nascar races, and lacrosse and football games.

Executives at both the NHL and NBA have said that they intend to continue their seasons should the situation allow in the future.

The NCAA tournament, however, has been cancelled.

Like some other secondary markets, TicketIQ has said it will refund any ticket sold on its site for an event that has been cancelled due to the coronavirus.

For games that have only been postponed, the site said it is taking cues from individual teams.

The US$1.4 billion estimate was also tallied following a decline in secondary market ticket prices since January, according to TicketIQ founder Jesse Lawrence.

He said last week that the drop is closely associated with certain cities like New York and Los Angeles, the regions where the coronavirus has hit the hardest.

"Some of the numbers do suggest that the markets where coronavirus is the worst, those are the markets where prices are down the most," he said on CNBC, adding that they could not be sure the declines are due to pandemic alone.

"One of the things we have noticed, quantity is way up, so a lot of people are selling instead of going (to games). So, that's also driving prices down."

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