Washington Mystics tickets were going for $500-plus thanks to the Capitals’ Stanley Cup run. Now they’re free

Want to be a part of the Capitals official Stanley Cup watch party? Getting good seats won’t cost you.

The Washington Capitals are one game away from their first NHL championship in franchise history, but the real winners was nearly season ticket holders of the Washington Mystics.

D.C.’s WNBA team bumped up its regular-season showdown with the Minnesota Lynx to a 4 p.m. ET start in order to accommodate the Capitals’ official watch party for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, which take place in Las Vegas. With the basketball game segueing directly into an anxious fanbase’s best chance to watch their team win a world title, tickets to the Mystic-Lynx game suddenly became the hottest in town.

The game itself was sold out, but tickets were up for sale starting at a mere 2,650 percent markup on the team’s official resale page. A pair of seats in section 112 that would normally sell for $20/per were on the market for $530 each. If you wanted a second-row spot across the court, that would have run you $1,579 for a seat that typically costs $44.

But those tickets mysteriously vanished...and it turns out for a good reason. The Mystics will allow fans in the gates for no charge; great news for Mystics fans who double as Caps fans and vice versa. Bad news for anyone who paid a major markup on the secondary market.

From the team’s official release:

Doors open at 3 p.m. for the Mystics game and tickets to the game will be free. All tickets for the Mystics game will remain valid for entry. All tickets purchased directly from the Mystics (season tickets and single game) will be automatically refunded. If you purchased Mystics tickets from another source, please contact that source directly. We encourage fans not to purchase Mystics tickets from any secondary market sources for this game moving forward.

Tickets will be available beginning Wednesday afternoon. You can find them here.