Flames organization pushes too far for playoff revenue; Fan support is there

[jayswin]

Thought I'd make a separate thread for this, as I haven't seen all playoff ticket prices, but the prices in Calgary are insane this year.

I'm not the typical "Prices should be cheap, what are they doing!!!" fan that doesn't understand they're a business and just trying to maximize playoff revenue. But this is just embarrassing by the Flames organization, imo.

Don't set yourself up for hundreds of unsold seats in a Canadian hockey market with Stanley Cup Final pricing. We can say it's because of the 0-2 start and the Ducks domination all we want, but at the end of the day, there's likely 40-50k fans willing to pay good money to be in the Dome for game 3, and you guys priced most of your fans out of a friggin playoff game in round 2.

I get it, the scalpers buy all the tickets, so they analyzed the secondary market and decided to basically price-match the scalpers, but how annoying is this? A playoff game in round two in a Canadian city, and we'll be looking at about 18600 fans in a 19289 seat stadium.

Perhaps that was a tad overdramatic, I understand and support what they were doing here, so again, I don't want to be labelled as guy who doesn't get what they're doing, I guess I'm just pissed at their execution and the embarrassment of now seeing what looks like it will be entire rows of empty seats throughout the Dome in what is supposed to be the best playoff atmosphere in the league.

[jayswin]

Does anyone know how we stack up against the rest of the league? I can't see us being in line with most teams. I know our lowers were upwards of $500 in round one while Vancouver had many seats under $200 in their lower bowl in round 1.

To me it seems like we're a good chunk ahead of everyone.

[Roof-Daddy]

Stated in the GDT, I would happily drive to Calgary (in Med Hat) and be a part of the C of red, but those prices are nuts, and I've taken too many hits in the last 6 months to justify it.

[malcolmk14]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. $105 for press level is just too much to sit up there. I'd be okay with $90 (I was more than happy paying that in round 1).

The only tickets in the dome I can justify paying for are greens and oranges, or the first couple rows of PL.

I just can't justify what they're charging. I know a lot of people can afford it, but I just can't.

If there's a game 6, I'll probably suck it up and pay.

[codynw]

Yea these prices are insane. I finally broke down and ordered a couple PL tickets for game 4. I wasn't happy paying this much but I've never been to a playoff game and I felt like I needed to.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

out of curiosity I'm on Ticketmaster now. All I can find are Adult Suite tickets. Which means that there aren't hundreds of empty seats.

I get that people can't afford to go out to a playoff game as a nightly outing. However, as long as there are 19,289 willing to pay the premium prices, then the Flames should be charging what they're charging.

Unfortunately they can't pull a Garth Brooks and keep having games to increase supply and drive prices down.

But hey, just think whatever it costs you Calgarians to go to a game, it costs me about an extra $1000 (return airfare).

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

out of curiosity I'm on Ticketmaster now. All I can find are Adult Suite tickets. Which means that there aren't hundreds of empty seats.

I get that people can't afford to go out to a playoff game as a nightly outing. However, as long as there are 19,289 willing to pay the premium prices, then the Flames should be charging what they're charging.

Unfortunately they can't pull a Garth Brooks and keep having games to increase supply and drive prices down.

But hey, just think whatever it costs you Calgarians to go to a game, it costs me about an extra $1000 (return airfare).

You're incorrect, there's hundreds of seats of available.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

out of curiosity I'm on Ticketmaster now. All I can find are Adult Suite tickets. Which means that there aren't hundreds of empty seats.

I get that people can't afford to go out to a playoff game as a nightly outing. However, as long as there are 19,289 willing to pay the premium prices, then the Flames should be charging what they're charging.

Unfortunately they can't pull a Garth Brooks and keep having games to increase supply and drive prices down.

But hey, just think whatever it costs you Calgarians to go to a game, it costs me about an extra $1000 (return airfare).

I think you're looking in the wrong spot cause there are dozens of tickets left on Ticketmaster for tonight's game.

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

out of curiosity I'm on Ticketmaster now. All I can find are Adult Suite tickets. Which means that there aren't hundreds of empty seats.

I get that people can't afford to go out to a playoff game as a nightly outing. However, as long as there are 19,289 willing to pay the premium prices, then the Flames should be charging what they're charging.

Unfortunately they can't pull a Garth Brooks and keep having games to increase supply and drive prices down.

But hey, just think whatever it costs you Calgarians to go to a game, it costs me about an extra $1000 (return airfare).

you in in the wrong section of ticketmaster.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by codynw

I think you're looking in the wrong spot cause there are dozens of tickets left on Ticketmaster for tonight's game.

It's a few hundred for sure. I couldn't bring myself to sit there and count all the little blue dots, but I did count the larger end of the lower bowl and there's about 120 available just in that end alone.

Just a real rough estimate (maybe someone is game to get a closer number) there looks to be about 200 in the lower bowl and 250 in the second tier.

[Finger Cookin]

[Fire in the disco]

I went to all home games in round 1, 2 games were gifted and once I paid 100 for a PL ticket. Was stoked to hear there were tickets left for the game this morning, however when I saw the pricing I decided id rather watch the game from home. Agree with the OP, nose bleeds should never be $100+ Face value, that's insane

[Maritime Q-Scout]

yep, oddly they have suite tickets listed separately.

Looking at the availability, there's probably about 300 tickets left.

Let's say that's 18,989 tickets sold. For easier math let's say 18,900.

That's 98% of the ticket sold at the premium prices.

To sell the extra 2% of tickets, if you have to cut prices by more than, well 2%, then it wouldn't make much sense, the organization would be leaving money on the table.

[OldDutch]

I went on at noon on Monday and saw a pair in the restoraunt for $387 ea. My intention was to sell them and if I could not then go and have fun. I made the executive decision to pass. Getting stuck with nearly $800 in tickets especially for a series they are in very tough made me think twice. I would have loved to go for around $500/pair but $800 is just too much.

I'll cheer from home and maybe order something ridiculous online with my new found wealth. For those going enjoy! I went to Game 6 and the atmosphere was the best ever.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Love this picture

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

yep, oddly they have suite tickets listed separately.

Looking at the availability, there's probably about 300 tickets left.

Let's say that's 18,989 tickets sold. For easier math let's say 18,900.

That's 98% of the ticket sold at the premium prices.

To sell the extra 2% of tickets, if you have to cut prices by more than, well 2%, then it wouldn't make much sense, the organization would be leaving money on the table.

Exactly. A few short of a sellout is absolutely perfect pricing, from a purely economic standpoint.

[Fire]

How much money are we thinking the Flames are clearing per playoff game? $4-$5 million? Could be useful for when they build their new arena.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Fire

How much money are we thinking the Flames are clearing per playoff game? $4-$5 million? Could be useful for when they build their new arena.

I calculated in the first round based on ticketmaster prices and got $6-7 mil, but then I remembered STH's on CP saying the prices were much lower for them, which is I believe around 16k.

So you're probably in the ballpark with $4-$5 mil.

[dino7c]

not selling out your building in the playoffs is an embarrassment...team is making a massive profit especially with the low payroll maybe give the fans a bit of a break


a loss tonight and good luck selling out meaningless game 4

[guzzy]

If i am not mistaken,I thought the league allows the teams gate revenue from round 1. After that, the league takes a large portion of gate based on prices from seat price in round 1. That is why price goes up each round...or one of the reasons.