January 13, 2015
Wednesday night at the Amway Center, the Orlando Magic will host the Houston Rockets in what will be Dwight Howard’s third appearance at his former home arena. Orlando was Howard’s NBA home for eight seasons before he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2012. Howard is now in his second season with the Houston Rockets after spending just one season with the Lakers, and will play his former team on their home floor for the third time. However, since his initial appearance at the Amway Center after leaving the Magic franchise, Magic tickets on the secondary market have plummeted slightly in average price when they play against their former franchise player.
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According to TicketIQ, Magic tickets for Wednesday night’s game have a current average price of $104.37 on the secondary market, which is actually 14.8% decrease compared to the home average of the Magic at the Amway Center this season. In Dwight Howard’s first appearance at the Amway Center as a member of the Lakers at the time, Magic tickets were almost identical in average price compared to tomorrow’s game, with just a slightly more expensive average price of $104.62, but was a 29.6% premium compared to the Magic home average during the 2012-13 season which was $80.72.
In fact, the most expensive game to watch Dwight Howard play his former team at the Amway Center was last season in his first year with the Houston Rockets. Magic tickets of that March 5 game last year had an average price of $108.39, 3.5% above the average price for Magic tickets for Wednesday’s game and also a 12.8% increase compared to their home average for the 2013-14 season which was $96.04.
It remains to be seen what type of reception Dwight Howard will receive since a lot of time has passed since Howard was first traded from the Magic to the Lakers. The center has played very well in the two games at Amway Center since departing Orlando, as in his initial appearance he had one of his most dominate games of his career scoring 39 points with 16 rebounds and 3 block shots, including tying his own free throw mark with 39 attempts.
In his last appearance at the Amway Center as a Houston Rocket, Howard had another solid game scoring 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 101-89 win. Howard will look to be beat his former team for the third straight time on their home floor as the Magic have not been relevant since trading Dwight Howard during the 2012 offseason, and while Howard has enjoyed better regular season success and playoff appearances, the NBA title he craves still eludes him.
