As a charity event, I am positive consideration of the busy schedule of the Anaheim Convention Center and a reduced price led to the charities reserving a Thursday night (!!!) for this game. The Anaheim Convention Center is approximately 90 miles from San Diego and 30 miles from Los Angeles. I am also positive this location was considered as a venue to potentially attract fans from both teams' home towns. Suffice it to say a Thursday night game might have been a tough sell to those who had to work on Friday from both cities as well.
The Anaheim Convention Center held approximately 7,500 basketball fans. The Center originally hosted the Anaheim Amigos of the ABA in its inaugural season - the Amigos moved to Los Angeles the following season and became the Stars. Despite the fact that the announced attendance for this game was 7,502, I have seen (and own) several used and unused tickets to this game along with a program. I can only surmise the teams fell a little bit short of a sellout.
If you are familiar with vintage Lakers tickets, you will have seen multiple tickets for this game with "1 A 1" seat assignments. In my experience, the "Arena Risers" and the "Loge" levels were general admission, so they all had these seat assignments. Other sections including the "Terrace" and "Floor" sections predominantly had actual seat assignments.
The clubs and press originally pitched this game to potential patrons as a Southern California clash of two UCLA titans in Walton and Kareem to stir interest. Walton and Kareem are pictured on the ticket in accord with this storyline. However, as we know, Magic Johnson made his first appearance in Southern California as a member of the Lakers on this evening in his second pro game.
Here is AP's summary of the game itself which gives some raw numbers:
"Lloyd Free scored 30 points and Bill Walton added 17 and a game-high 13 rebounds Thursday night to lead the San Diego Clippers to a 104-95 National Basketball Association exhibition victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Clippers led 88-85 with six minutes to play, but outscored the Lakers 16-10 down the stretch to take their first victory in three preseason starts this year.
Los Angeles, now 1-1 in preseason, made just two field goals in the final six minutes. Free, the NBA's second-leading scorer last season, hit on 13 of 24 field goal attempts and had 20 of his 30 points after the intermission. Walton connected on eight of 17 shots and had five assists in 28 minutes of playing time.
Jamaal Wilkes led the Lakers with 21 points, and newly acquired Spencer Haywood added 17, along with nine rebounds. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was held to 13 points and eight rebounds by Walton. Earvin "Magic" Johnson had 11 points for Los Angeles.
The Clippers outrebounded the Lakers 52-39 in the game played before 7,502 at the Anaheim Convention Center as rookie forward Jerome Whitehead added 11 boards for San Diego."
I had Magic sign this ticket in 2015. The PSA card and corresponding number/cert are for Magic's auto only (which is confirmed ITP trough the PSA website).
I sent this off to Waukesha Sports Cards for Kareem to sign in approximately 2020 at one of his last signings at his old prices. If you are familiar with Kareem's auto, this is around the time when his auto began exhibiting penmanship commensurate with aging and his health challenges.
I had this ticket autographed by Walton at the NSCC a couple of years ago. Of course, I guarantee this will pass whatever autograph authentication company you choose to send this to for authentication of Walton/Kareem's autos.
Please take a look at the scans for condition. I have been a long time ticket collector and will be posting many additional tickets in the coming weeks. The item you see pictured is the actual item you will receive. Feel free to email me with any questions. I will ship for free anywhere in the United States.