New Orleans Pelicans Tickets
New Orleans doesn’t do anything halfway, and an NBA night downtown is no exception. Somewhere between the trumpet on the corner of Bourbon Street and the smell of charred oysters drifting out of the Warehouse District, sixteen thousand people file into a building on Dave Dixon Drive to watch a basketball team that plays with the same improvisational streak as the city around it. Buying a ticket to see the Pelicans sounds simple — click, pay, show up — but the actual process has more branches than a live oak on St. Charles Avenue. Prices swing wildly depending on the week, the opponent, and how badly the secondary market wants to gouge you. This guide breaks down where to buy, what to expect to pay, how to find the arena, and how to walk out of the Smoothie King Center feeling like you got the better end of the deal.
The Arena on Dave Dixon Drive: Home Court, By the Numbers
The Pelicans play their home games at the Smoothie King Center, a squat, silver-skinned arena that sits in the Central Business District, practically leaning against the Caesars Superdome. It opened in 1999 as the New Orleans Arena, went through a $54 million facelift before the 2014–15 season, and has carried its smoothie-branded name since Smoothie King — itself a New Orleans company — signed a naming-rights deal in 2014. Locals still call it “The Blender,” a nickname that has stuck around longer than most arena sponsorships do.
For basketball, the building seats around 16,800 to 18,500 fans depending on configuration, with the larger number reserved for events like NBA playoff games or college doubleheaders. It’s not the biggest arena in the league, and that’s part of the appeal — even upper-deck seats feel closer to the floor than in some of the cavernous buildings up north. The arena sits adjacent to more than 25,000 hotel rooms and is a short walk from the French Quarter, which is a big part of why a Pelicans ticket often turns into a full weekend rather than a single evening out.
Where New Orleans Pelicans Tickets Actually Come From
There’s a persistent myth that there’s one “real” place to buy tickets and everywhere else is a rip-off. The truth is messier. Every ticket, whether it’s sold by the team or resold by a fan who can’t make the game, eventually traces back to the same seating chart. What changes is the markup, the guarantees, and how much control you have over exactly which seat you’re getting.
The Official Channels
The most direct route is the team itself. The Pelicans sell single-game and season tickets through their official site, nba.com/pelicans/tickets, which routes primary inventory through Ticketmaster as the arena’s official ticketing partner. Buying here means you’re getting a ticket at face value (or close to it, once fees are added) straight from the team, with no resale markup baked in. This is also where team-issued promotions live — theme nights, giveaway games, and group-rate blocks that don’t always show up on secondary marketplaces.
For the Smoothie King Center specifically, Ticketmaster’s venue page lists every scheduled game with an interactive seating chart, so you can compare sections before you commit. If you’d rather not deal with dynamic pricing spikes that sometimes hit primary marketplaces on high-demand nights, this is still usually your cheapest entry point, especially for games against non-marquee opponents early in the season.
The Resale Marketplace
Once primary inventory sells out — or if you’re chasing a specific seat, a courtside splurge, or a game that’s already sold through — the resale market takes over. The three names you’ll run into most often are SeatGeek, StubHub, and Vivid Seats. All three operate as marketplaces where fans and brokers list tickets they already own, and all three offer some version of a buyer guarantee — meaning if the ticket doesn’t scan or the seller flakes, you’re supposed to get a replacement or a refund.
The trade-off with resale is straightforward: you pay for certainty and selection, not for a discount. On a slow Tuesday against a lottery-bound opponent, resale prices can actually dip below face value as sellers try to unload extra tickets before tip-off. On a Saturday night against the Lakers or a Louisiana rivalry game, resale prices can climb well past what the team originally charged. It’s worth checking two or three of these sites side by side before buying, since the same section and row can be priced differently depending on which platform a particular seller chose to list on.
There’s also a secondary category of dedicated ticket resellers, sites like Box Office Ticket Sales, which aggregate listings specifically for Smoothie King Center events. These can be useful for comparing inventory in one place, but they operate the same way as the bigger marketplaces — treat their listed prices as a starting point for comparison shopping, not a final answer.
Finding the Smoothie King Center: Address, Entrances, and Parking
The arena’s official address is 1501 Dave Dixon Drive, New Orleans, LA 70113. That’s the address you’ll want for GPS, rideshare pickup, or mapping your walk from a French Quarter hotel. The building sits in the stadium campus alongside the Caesars Superdome, in the Central Business District, so if you’re already downtown, you’re likely closer than you think.
On game days, the Smoothie King Center box office — located near Girod Street on the ground level of the venue — typically opens around 90 minutes before tip-off for will-call pickup and last-minute purchases. On non-event days, the ticket office generally keeps weekday hours, Monday through Friday, from roughly 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. If you’re buying for a non-Pelicans event at the same arena, the shared Caesars Superdome box office at Gate A handles those transactions on a separate weekly schedule, so it’s worth double-checking which building’s office you actually need.
Parking is spread across the stadium district’s network of public garages and surface lots — the complex includes multiple parking structures within a short walk of the arena entrances, along with limited surface lot access off Girod Street on non-event days. If you’re driving in, plan to arrive at least 45 minutes before tip-off; downtown traffic patterns shift fast once a game lets out, and the lots closest to the arena fill first. For anyone staying in the French Quarter or the Warehouse District, walking or a short rideshare hop is often less stressful than dealing with a garage exit line at 10 p.m.
What Pelicans Tickets Cost, and Why the Range Is So Wide
Ask three different fans what they paid for a Pelicans ticket and you’ll likely get three different answers, even for the same section. On average, a single ticket runs somewhere between $50 and $150, but that range compresses or explodes depending on a handful of factors.
The opponent matters more than almost anything else. A midweek game against a rebuilding team draws a thinner crowd and softer prices. A weekend game against a marquee franchise, a former Pelican returning to town, or a team with a big national following pushes upper-bowl prices up and can send lower-bowl prices well past $200 a seat.
Day of the week counts too. Friday and Saturday night games consistently price higher than Tuesday or Wednesday games, simply because more people are free to go.
Timing of purchase cuts both ways. Buying early can lock in lower face-value pricing before dynamic pricing algorithms adjust upward as a game approaches sellout. But buying at the very last minute — an hour or two before tip-off — can also produce bargains, as sellers on resale marketplaces would rather offload a ticket at a discount than eat the loss entirely.
Seat location is the most obvious lever. Lower-bowl seats near center court, especially in the first ten or so rows, command a significant premium over upper-deck seats in the corners. Courtside and premium club seating can run into the thousands per seat, particularly for nationally televised or playoff-adjacent games.
Reading the Seating Chart Like a Local
The Smoothie King Center’s bowl is split into lower-level sections closest to the floor, a middle tier of club and suite seating, and an upper deck that wraps the arena. A few notes that help when comparing listings:
- Center-court sections in the lower bowl offer the best sightlines and the highest prices, unsurprisingly. These are the seats you see behind the benches on television broadcasts.
- Corner and baseline lower-bowl seats are a common sweet spot — still close to the action, typically priced noticeably below center-court seats.
- Upper-deck sections behind the basket tend to be the most affordable tickets in the building and are a reasonable starting point for a first visit, especially since the arena’s compact size keeps even upper-deck views reasonably tight.
- Food and drink options are clustered by section, so if you’re picky about gameday concessions — the arena has spots known for steak and chicken street tacos, smash-style burgers, and a craft beer bar with red beans and rice on the side — it’s worth checking which section sits nearest to the food you actually want.
Most ticketing platforms, including the venue’s own site and the major resale marketplaces, offer interactive seat maps with photos taken from actual seats. Before buying anything in an unfamiliar section, pull up that seat-view photo. A “lower bowl” listing can still mean a heavily angled view if it’s tucked into a far corner.
Timing the Purchase: When Prices Move
If flexibility is on your side, a little strategy goes a long way. Season-opener games and nationally televised matchups tend to price high from the moment tickets go on sale and generally don’t get cheaper as the date approaches. Mid-season games against non-contending teams often follow the opposite pattern — prices can actually soften in the final 48 hours as both the team and resale sellers try to fill remaining inventory.
A useful habit: set a target section, then check pricing on the official Ticketmaster listing alongside SeatGeek, StubHub, and Vivid Seats once a week leading up to the game. Resale prices fluctuate as individual sellers adjust their listings, and it’s not unusual to see the same seat drop by 20 or 30 percent between a Monday check and a Thursday check for the same Saturday game. Weeknight games against lower-profile opponents are the most reliable for last-minute deals; marquee weekend matchups are the least.
Season Tickets, Groups, and Premium Seating
For fans who know they’ll be at the Smoothie King Center more than a handful of times a season, full and partial season ticket packages are sold directly through the team and typically include per-game pricing well below what a single-game buyer would pay for the same seat, along with perks like priority access to playoff tickets and member-only events.
Group tickets — usually defined as 10 or more seats purchased together — are handled through a separate team sales channel and often come with discounted per-seat pricing plus block seating, which matters if you’re trying to keep a birthday party, office outing, or youth team together in one section. Anyone organizing a group outing should reach out directly to the Pelicans’ ticket sales office rather than trying to piece together a block through resale listings, since resale marketplaces rarely guarantee adjacent seating for large groups.
Premium options — suites, courtside seats, and club-level access — are available both through the team for full-season commitments and through the venue for single-event rentals. Fans interested in suite rental for a specific game can contact the Pelicans directly at (504) 525-HOOP (4667) to check availability and pricing, since these seats rarely make it to public resale listings in meaningful volume.
The Full Night Out: Food, Pre-Game, and Neighborhood
A Pelicans game rarely stays contained to the arena. The Smoothie King Center sits close enough to downtown hotels, the Warehouse District’s restaurant row, and the edge of the French Quarter that a lot of fans treat tip-off as the midpoint of the evening rather than the start of it. Pre-game happy hours are a regular fixture on select dates, sometimes set up outside on Dave Dixon Drive itself and sometimes inside the arena’s sports bar near the lower-bowl sections, giving fans a reason to arrive well before the opening tip.
Inside the building, concessions lean into the city’s food identity rather than settling for generic arena fare — think steak and chicken street tacos, smash burgers and fried chicken sandwiches, and a dedicated craft beer bar serving red beans and rice alongside the drinks. The Official Team Store, with an entrance off Dave Dixon Drive, is worth a stop either before the game or during a break in the action if a new City Edition jersey or player merch is on the wish list.
For fans staying downtown, the walk back to a hotel after a night game is often shorter and more pleasant than the drive-and-park routine required in cities with suburban arenas — one more small reason New Orleans games tend to feel like a night in the city rather than a trip to an exit off the interstate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Smoothie King Center located? The arena’s official address is 1501 Dave Dixon Drive, New Orleans, LA 70113, in the city’s Central Business District, next to the Caesars Superdome.
What is the cheapest way to buy Pelicans tickets? Buying directly through the team’s official site or Ticketmaster generally offers the lowest fees, since resale marketplaces add a markup on top of whatever the original ticket holder paid. For the absolute lowest prices, weeknight games against lower-demand opponents, purchased either early in the sales window or in the final hours before tip-off, tend to run cheapest.
Are resale tickets from SeatGeek, StubHub, or Vivid Seats safe to buy? All three platforms offer some form of buyer protection guaranteeing a valid ticket or a refund/replacement if something goes wrong, which makes them broadly reliable. As with any resale purchase, it’s worth double-checking the seat location and any delivery restrictions before completing the purchase.
How much do New Orleans Pelicans tickets typically cost? Average single-game ticket prices generally fall between $50 and $150, though the exact price depends heavily on the opponent, day of the week, and seat location. Marquee matchups and weekend games regularly push well above that range in the lower bowl.
When does the Smoothie King Center box office open on game day? The box office typically opens around 90 minutes before tip-off for Pelicans games. On non-game weekdays, ticket office hours generally run from about 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Can I buy group tickets for a Pelicans game? Yes. Groups of 10 or more can typically get discounted, block-seated tickets by going through the team’s group sales channel rather than individual resale listings, which don’t guarantee adjacent seats for large groups.
There’s no single “right” way to buy a Pelicans ticket — there’s just the way that matches how much certainty, flexibility, or spontaneity you’re working with. Buy early through official channels for the best face-value price and the widest seat selection. Watch the resale marketplaces if you’re chasing a specific matchup, a specific seat, or a last-minute deal on a quiet weeknight. Either way, the destination is the same building on Dave Dixon Drive, where a basketball game in New Orleans still manages to feel a little bit like a party that happens to have a scoreboard.
