Warriors' Push To Stop Counterfeit Tickets Gives Family A Night To Remember
OAKLAND (KPIX) -- The Golden State Warriors turned a nightmare for one Georgia family into a dream come true on Sunday night at Oracle Arena.
Weeks ago, Alexandra McDonald wanted to treat her son Isaiah to an NBA game with his favorite team, the Warriors. She spent $600 on tickets to the Warriors-Hawks game in Atlanta at the online site StubHub.
But when they got to Philips Arena, their tickets wouldn't scan -- they were counterfeit. Alexandra was devastated.
"They wouldn't let us in and I worked so hard for those tickets," she recalled, fighting back tears.
StubHub refunded her money but she says the damage was done. That's when the Warriors stepped up.
"We heard about the story with Isaiah and his mom and it just struck a chord with us," said Brandon Schneider, vice president of business development for the Warriors.
The team gave Isaiah and his mother the fan experience of a lifetime, hosting the family in the Bay Area with courtside seats to Sunday's game against the Grizzlies. Isaiah even got to give the assist to his hero Stephen Curry during Steph's popular tunnel shot.
All of this was part of a continuing effort by the Warriors to alert fans to the risk of buying tickets from third-party vendors. Last season the team saw more than a thousand fans denied entry to Oracle Arena because of counterfeit tickets.
They say the problem is getting worse, with an average 40 - 50 tickets per game turning out to be fake.
