The formality of Kobe Bryant announcing that this season will indeed be his last sent ticket prices skyrocketing on Sunday night.
The announcement, published in the form of a poem on The Players Tribune, injected millions of dollars into the resale ticket market across the country.
"This is definitely bigger than a guy like [Derek] Jeter and it's bigger than [Michael] Jordan in the sense that Jordan was always so wishy-washy no one ever knew if it would really be the end," said Patrick Ryan, co-owner of Houston-based ticket brokerage, The Ticket Experience.