Four tickets are only the beginning of an expensive game night outing. Add parking, hot dogs, sodas and maybe a couple of beers, and taking a family to an NBA game can drain hundreds of dollars from the household budget before anyone sees the tipoff.
However, D.C. remains one of the cheaper places to do it.
A new Action Network analysis of family costs for the 2026-27 NBA season examined ticket prices, food, drinks and parking across the league, along with local incomes and how much of a household’s earnings a game can consume. Tickets remain the biggest expense, and the cost of the same basic family outing varies sharply from city to city.
The lower cost of seeing the Wizards comes at a time when interest in the team appears to be climbing. Kevin Miles, a 52-year-old fan from Arlington, arrived at Capital One Arena with his 18-year-old son, McKinley, three-and-a-half hours before the doors opened for the Wizards’ free Oct. 2 practice.
“I have great optimism right now because of the mixture of the veterans with the young core,” Miles said. “I’m expecting great things from this Wizards team.”
The Miles family had plenty of company.
Tickets for the free practice were claimed within days after they became available Sept. 25. Fans filled nearly 85% of Capital One Arena’s lower bowl, with hundreds more scattered through the middle level. Wizards coach Brian Keefe, who has spent nearly two decades in the NBA, said he had not witnessed anything comparable at an open practice.
“That’s by far the most I’ve ever seen in an open practice,” Keefe said.
The Cost of Getting Through the Door
Action Network published its new NBA affordability study Oct. 1, examining what families face when they decide to attend games across the league. The researchers looked beyond ticket prices to food, drinks and parking and compared those costs with household incomes in each market.
The study also examined how ticket prices have changed since last season, an important part of the calculation because admission accounts for the largest share of what most families spend.
Washington had already ranked near the inexpensive end of the NBA in Action Network’s previous family-cost analysis. That study estimated four Wizards tickets at $490, food and drinks at $52 and parking at $13. It also included $545 in merchandise, pushing the full family calculation to $1,100.
The merchandise component made that earlier total much larger than the price of simply getting a family inside, feeding everyone and getting home.
The gap between Washington and some other NBA markets can be enormous. Still, for a D.C. family, the final bill still depends heavily on the opponent, seat location, demand and resale prices, all of which can quickly erase some of the savings associated with attending a Wizards game. Buying jerseys or other merchandise can add hundreds more.
The Wizards play their first preseason home game Oct. 10 against the Detroit Pistons at Capital One Arena, followed by an Oct. 12 game against Brooklyn. Washington opens the regular-season home schedule Oct. 21 against Milwaukee. The first 15,000 fans at the opener are scheduled to receive a rally towel.
In the meantime, fans are gearing up for what they hope will be a successful season.
“I’ve seen less people at a regular season game,” one person said in reaction to the preseason game on Oct. 2. “So lit seeing the city be excited for basketball again. D.C. deserves this.”
A Billion-Dollar Makeover Downtown
Families walking into Capital One Arena this season are also entering a building in the middle of a massive reconstruction.
The District committed $515 million toward the project after Monumental Sports & Entertainment considered moving the Wizards and Capitals to Northern Virginia. The agreement keeps both franchises in Washington through 2050.
The arena project, initially projected at about $800 million, has since grown into a transformation valued at more than $1 billion. Construction is underway, with completion planned before the 2027-28 NBA and NHL seasons. Plans include expanded entrances, redesigned concourses, new gathering spaces and extensive changes to food, beverage and hospitality areas.
The District reported spending $170 million of its $515 million commitment during fiscal 2025. City officials estimate the construction will generate about 4,900 jobs.
Since 2015, D.C. has committed more than $1.6 billion to major sports venues, including $515 million for Capital One Arena, $150 million for Audi Field, $23 million for CareFirst Arena and $877 million toward the Commanders stadium project at the RFK campus.
Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) called the Capital One Arena agreement a victory for the city, the teams and their supporters when the deal was announced.
“We are going to have a state-of-the-art urban arena in Downtown D.C. and that’s a great deal for D.C., for the teams, and for the fans,” Bowser said.
For Monumental, the rebuilt arena is being sold as more than new seats and fresh concourses. Plans call for approximately 250 events annually, with the Wizards, Capitals and Georgetown men’s basketball among the regular tenants and Mystics games, concerts and other events filling the calendar.
The arena renovation also promises a “premium culinary and beverage program for every guest,” along with new bars and upgraded hospitality throughout the building.
Whether those improvements eventually change what an ordinary family pays for a night at a Wizards game will be worth watching. For now, the District occupies an uncommon position among major sports cities – taxpayers are helping finance one of the country’s most expensive arena renovations while Wizards fans can still find an NBA night that costs considerably less than one in many competing markets.
Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis said the city’s investment was intended to change what fans experience when they arrive downtown.
“This is more than an investment from the city,” Leonsis said earlier. “It’s a true partnership demonstrated by all of these investments which the city has committed to for our fans to have an exceptional gameday experience.”
