Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
If the team makes the playoffs, it's a good bet prices will go up next year.
And yeah, the resale market is not their problem. What matters to them is the primary demand, which, if they make the playoffs, will likely remain buoyant.
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The resale market is somewhat their problem, because it's a problem to the people paying for the most expensive seats. My cost for 2 season tickets is about $21,000 a year. I want to attend about 25 to 30 preseason/regular season games, and if I can't sell the remainder for close to my cost then I'm not going to keep buying them. This season I was only able to sell a couple sets of tickets at a very modest profit. I sold some for 10% below cost and I had to sell some at 50% below cost and gave away a couple games as I had no buyer at all for them.
The two seats to the left of mine didn't sell as season tickets and the ones to the right of my neighbor also didn't sell. They sit empty almost every game as the Flames can't sell them on the ticket exchange for most games, even 'premier' ones. I'd say they've had someone in them for 8 games or less this season. They were even empty for the Leafs game this year.
My neighbor has had his seats in this location for 4 seasons and we've had ours for 6, but neither of us are renewing next season as it's cheaper for us to buy the same or similar tickets on stubhub for the games we want and not have to worry about selling the tickets we can't use.
The demand now isn't bouyant, it's more habitual. And even us habitual buyers wise up eventually when we get stuck with tickets we can't sell, even at a loss. A playoff run will help, but not as much as a major economic recovery.