Season Tickets
I did some research to follow up with my last post. I went to each NHL team's website and tried to find the price of season tickets in (roughly) the area we sit at in Boston. Here's what I came up with...
Anaheim: $1,327.50
Atlanta: $1,408
Boston: $3,741
Buffalo: $861*
Calgary: $3,935.79
Carolina: $1,612.50
Chicago: Sold out, prices not listed. $100 deposit for wait list.
Colorado: $1,848 (but, listed as 08/09 pricing)
Columbus: $1,440
Dallas: $946
Detroit: $3,510
Edmonton: $2,968 (all season tickets sold out)
Florida: $1,025
LA: $1,999.50
Minnesota: $1,204**
Montreal: $2,332 (all season tickets sold out)
Nashville: $860
New Jersey: $1,677
NYI: $1,470
NYR: $2,408
Ottawa: $1,548
Philly: $2,709
Phoenix: $660
Pittsburgh: Sold out, prices not listed. $200 deposit for wait list.
San Jose: $1,584
St. Louis: $1,634
Tampa Bay: $559***
Toronto: Sold out, prices not listed.
Vancouver: Sold out, prices not listed. $150 deposits for wait list.
Washington: $946
Notes: Some of these prices are approximations. Boston seems to do it on a 43 game scale (2 preseason + 41 home games) so for the websites that only listed a per-ticket price I multiplied by 43.
*Buffalo was nice enough to list the previous season prices as well. The tickets only went up $1 per game over last season.
**A very roughly estimated price. The ends of the balcony listed "Sold Out!" as a price. Their season ticket progression seems to differ only by $10 a game, and the next step up was $38 so I estimated these at $28 a seat.
***Tampa Bay also had the cheapest option for season tickets overall: $239 for last row balcony corners. Florida came in second with $287 for the same seats.
Also to clarify: I'm not so much upset about the fact that they raised the prices -- I understand the concept of supply and demand. But when you compare these numbers to the other numbers around the league, I don't understand how they can justify shooting us up to the (approximated) second most expensive set of season tickets (with a WIDE gap between us and the cost below us.) I also don't understand how they can justify increasing the price almost FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT.
Here's what does make sense:
- The team's been in the shitter for years. Last year was the FIRST YEAR we have been this good in a very long time. We had shown massive improvements the year before and this past season we only got better. There's more interest in the team. But this progression from dirt to diamond has only happened in the span of say 3 years. Last season was the FIRST season in four years that I didn't see any large sections of sold out seats.
- This year we're projected to win the Conference again, and barring any injuries or weird circumstances, we'll probably make it to round 3 in the playoffs. (Hopefully.) So, we are getting better. Good team = more fans = more people buying tickets.
- This team has to compete with "Red Sox Nation" and the New England Patriots, despite being an Original Six team that's rich with history. So yeah, why not capitalize on the team while the getting's good. People who see maybe 4 or 5 games a year won't mind paying $100+ for middle balcony seats if you make the game a big enough deal. Who knows how long this success will last so you might as well kick up the prices. We're not the Red Sox. 60+ years without a championship win and people aren't going to love us nearly as much as people loved the Sox.
From a business standpoint, here's what I see:
- A good season ticket holder is loyal and will sink a LOT of money in to your franchise with concessions, merchandise, seats, and even parking facilities. Moreso than the average fan. Multiply that by 43 games over the span of 10 or 20 or 30 years and you've got a lot of money.
Good businessmen (smart businessmen) build their business through building relationships. You especially want to do this with your season ticket holders. And from what I've seen the Bruins ticket sellers really do try to do that. Starting out we got a lot of personal e-mails from our Rep., inviting us to stop buy and chat with her during games and such. The guys we sit next to, their season ticket rep used to come and visit them during intermission. (And those guys bought a LOT of group packages for their families over the course of the season.) Theresa got Christmas cards from our rep. The little touches are nice, but they have to come at the right price.
It feels to me like one of two things can happen:
- They don't sell nearly as many seats as anticipated this season at these new prices, so they lower prices back down next season. As a result, they don't tinker with past season ticket holder prices too much, maybe raise the price a little.
- The Bruins make it to the finals. Season ticket sales demands go up. Past season ticket holder prices go up (probably to match the current prices.) Aaand then me and Theresa have to consider getting other people to go halvsies on seats because we just can't afford it.
That second option kind of sucks a lot.
Anaheim: $1,327.50
Atlanta: $1,408
Boston: $3,741
Buffalo: $861*
Calgary: $3,935.79
Carolina: $1,612.50
Chicago: Sold out, prices not listed. $100 deposit for wait list.
Colorado: $1,848 (but, listed as 08/09 pricing)
Columbus: $1,440
Dallas: $946
Detroit: $3,510
Edmonton: $2,968 (all season tickets sold out)
Florida: $1,025
LA: $1,999.50
Minnesota: $1,204**
Montreal: $2,332 (all season tickets sold out)
Nashville: $860
New Jersey: $1,677
NYI: $1,470
NYR: $2,408
Ottawa: $1,548
Philly: $2,709
Phoenix: $660
Pittsburgh: Sold out, prices not listed. $200 deposit for wait list.
San Jose: $1,584
St. Louis: $1,634
Tampa Bay: $559***
Toronto: Sold out, prices not listed.
Vancouver: Sold out, prices not listed. $150 deposits for wait list.
Washington: $946
Notes: Some of these prices are approximations. Boston seems to do it on a 43 game scale (2 preseason + 41 home games) so for the websites that only listed a per-ticket price I multiplied by 43.
*Buffalo was nice enough to list the previous season prices as well. The tickets only went up $1 per game over last season.
**A very roughly estimated price. The ends of the balcony listed "Sold Out!" as a price. Their season ticket progression seems to differ only by $10 a game, and the next step up was $38 so I estimated these at $28 a seat.
***Tampa Bay also had the cheapest option for season tickets overall: $239 for last row balcony corners. Florida came in second with $287 for the same seats.
Also to clarify: I'm not so much upset about the fact that they raised the prices -- I understand the concept of supply and demand. But when you compare these numbers to the other numbers around the league, I don't understand how they can justify shooting us up to the (approximated) second most expensive set of season tickets (with a WIDE gap between us and the cost below us.) I also don't understand how they can justify increasing the price almost FOUR HUNDRED PERCENT.
Here's what does make sense:
- The team's been in the shitter for years. Last year was the FIRST YEAR we have been this good in a very long time. We had shown massive improvements the year before and this past season we only got better. There's more interest in the team. But this progression from dirt to diamond has only happened in the span of say 3 years. Last season was the FIRST season in four years that I didn't see any large sections of sold out seats.
- This year we're projected to win the Conference again, and barring any injuries or weird circumstances, we'll probably make it to round 3 in the playoffs. (Hopefully.) So, we are getting better. Good team = more fans = more people buying tickets.
- This team has to compete with "Red Sox Nation" and the New England Patriots, despite being an Original Six team that's rich with history. So yeah, why not capitalize on the team while the getting's good. People who see maybe 4 or 5 games a year won't mind paying $100+ for middle balcony seats if you make the game a big enough deal. Who knows how long this success will last so you might as well kick up the prices. We're not the Red Sox. 60+ years without a championship win and people aren't going to love us nearly as much as people loved the Sox.
From a business standpoint, here's what I see:
- A good season ticket holder is loyal and will sink a LOT of money in to your franchise with concessions, merchandise, seats, and even parking facilities. Moreso than the average fan. Multiply that by 43 games over the span of 10 or 20 or 30 years and you've got a lot of money.
Good businessmen (smart businessmen) build their business through building relationships. You especially want to do this with your season ticket holders. And from what I've seen the Bruins ticket sellers really do try to do that. Starting out we got a lot of personal e-mails from our Rep., inviting us to stop buy and chat with her during games and such. The guys we sit next to, their season ticket rep used to come and visit them during intermission. (And those guys bought a LOT of group packages for their families over the course of the season.) Theresa got Christmas cards from our rep. The little touches are nice, but they have to come at the right price.
It feels to me like one of two things can happen:
- They don't sell nearly as many seats as anticipated this season at these new prices, so they lower prices back down next season. As a result, they don't tinker with past season ticket holder prices too much, maybe raise the price a little.
- The Bruins make it to the finals. Season ticket sales demands go up. Past season ticket holder prices go up (probably to match the current prices.) Aaand then me and Theresa have to consider getting other people to go halvsies on seats because we just can't afford it.
That second option kind of sucks a lot.