Today I am going to talk about ticket prices for professional sports teams.
I am ranting on the subject because of all the excitement in Canada over a National Hockey League team returning to Winnipeg.
I watched coverage of the announcement last week and the people in Winnipeg were celebrating as if the city had won the Stanley Cup.
Now, it's great Winnipeg is back in the NHL. I lived in Manitoba for a short while and I can understand what having the NHL in Winnipeg can mean. It'll put the city back on the map.
But you know, the NHL is still a business. At the big announcement last week the new Winnipeg NHL owners revealed what the season ticket price packages were going to be. They're priced over several different tiers ranging from $39 on the low end to $129 on the high end. The average ticket prices for games there will be 82 bucks!
Now spread that out over 45 dates on a calendar for season tickets. That's $3,000 a season to go watch live NHL hockey in Winnipeg, and the good seats will cost even more, upwards of $5,000 a season.
Are you kidding me?
I'm sorry, but no NHL game is worth 82 bucks. Maybe if it's a really good rink side seat, but an average one? No way.
Some people will say it's worth it to see Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin, but there is no way I'd fork over even $40 bucks for other teams in the league, like the crummy Edmonton Oilers or the stinking Florida Panthers or lousy New York Islanders. I saw the Islanders play the Calgary Flames in preseason last year in Saskatoon. It was money well wasted. Any price above two bucks is too much for any game involving the Islanders.
Another team not worth the price of admission is the Atlanta Thrashers. Seriously, what has that team ever done on the ice?
Wait a minute. This is the team that is moving to Winnipeg.
See, this is why I would not have been joining the Conga line so quickly if I were in Winnipeg last week. Fans will be paying $80 to see the Thrashers.
Yet these are typical prices for typical NHL games anywhere in Canada. The fans in Toronto are having to pay even higher prices, upwards of 200 bucks, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that has done nothing since 1967. There is no reason for prices to be so high and no reason for Canadian fans to put up with them.
Other leagues have more reasonable prices. You can get decent upper deck seats for a Toronto Blue Jays games for a little over $20. Seats for Major League Soccer games in Toronto and Vancouver can be had for less money. The CFL is cheaper right across the country. I checked out what the prices were for the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and every non-club-level seat in the grandstand at a Bombers game will be cheaper than your average NHL ticket in Winnipeg. The grandstand prices at Bombers games top out at $66.
Yet the NHL says if they don't charge ridiculous prices, the new team won't survive. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during the press conference, "it's not going to work" in Winnipeg unless fans buy 13,000 season tickets. So for the fans, it's either buy these tickets or else. The NHL has fans in Winnipeg over a barrel.
I notice a few of these die-hard fans have no worries about being able to pay for season tickets in Winnipeg. "Hey, that's what credit cards are for," they say.
It boggles my mind Canadians are so addicted to hockey they are compelled to max out credit cards and take out second mortgages on their houses, just to support the National Hockey League.
Look at Stanley Cup games in Vancouver. There was a report that one of the seats was up for sale for $2,000. Then there was a report that a ticket was for sale on Kijiji for $10,000!
I don't care if this is the Stanley Cup. This is nuts, and most die-hard NHL fans are calling this crazy. But it gives you an idea of what the demand is like for tickets.
The fans pay up because the NHL is a religion in this country. This is our national sport, and people feel they have to support "our boys" on the ice, even if half the team is from Europe.
The fans pay up, because the NHL is considered "the best." This is in spite of all the issues in the NHL these days - like concussions, undisciplined play and labour disputes.
This used to be a sport of the "common man," where people who worked hard during the day could afford the tickets to go to the arena, enjoy a beer and watch the rock-em, sock-em action at night - without maxing out their credit cards.
Now it seems like the NHL is like every other major league out there - beholden to big corporations and celebrities. Ordinary fans who grew up following the NHL are getting hosed, but we pay up anyway, all because we can't live without our beloved National Hockey League.
I guess I'm struggling to make sense of something that doesn't make any sense at all. All I know is that as long as the NHL is in Canada there will be no shortage of fans willing to empty all their wallets.
