Ticketing plan for Kobe Bryant public memorial released

FILE – Signage memorializes former NBA great Kobe Bryant who, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, died January 26 in a helicopter crash, on January 28, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. David McNew/Getty Images/AFP

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers announced Friday that fans seeking to attend the Feb. 24 memorial for Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, at Staples Center must register to purchase tickets and there will be no outside overflow areas.

Tickets will be priced at $224 each, two for $224 and $24.02 each — combinations of numbers that like the date, 2/24, represent the No. 24 worn by Bryant and the No. 2 worn by Gianna on her girls basketball team.

Proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation, the Lakers said.

Ticket registration was to extend from 11 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. Monday through the Ticketmaster Verified Fan system. On Tuesday, registered fans will receive emails with non-transferable personal access codes that will allow them to participate in the public sale on Wednesday morning.

In a move apparently intended to prevent a repeat of the massive crowds that flocked to Staples after Bryant’s death, the Lakers said the memorial will not be shown on exterior video screens at the arena or the adjacent L.A. Live entertainment area.

Members of the public without tickets to the memorial were advised not to come near the arena or L.A. Live because they will not be able to enter the area, the team said.

The Lakers’ statement did not include any details about the memorial itself.

Staples Center, known as “the house that Kobe built,” is where Bryant starred for most of his 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others were killed Jan. 26 when the helicopter they were aboard crashed in Calabasas, California, as they were flying to a basketball tournament where Gianna was to play with her team.

Bryant and Gianna were buried Feb. 7 at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, California, near the family home, according to death certificates.

On Monday, several thousand people came to Angel Stadium of Anaheim to mourn three of the other victims: Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife, Keri, and their daughter, Alyssa, who was Gianna’s teammate.

Also killed in the crash were Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach the girls basketball team, as well as Sarah Chester and her daughter, Payton, another of Gianna’s teammates, and pilot Ara Zobayan.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.