2018 Playoff Pricing

Aavco Cup

"I can make you cry in this room"
Sep 5, 2013
37,630
10,440
It's not that far to the arena in Ottawa. Roughly the distance from the Forks to the west side of Headingley or the St. FX turnoff. Plus the 417 is a legitimate access controlled freeway that runs through the city with a 100km speed limit - it's not like you'd have to hump your way past 50 red lights down Portage Avenue at 60km. However, a fairly big part of Ottawa's population lives east of Downtown. So imagine an arena in St. Francis Xavier and half the fans are coming from Transcona (but you've got a freeway between them). Say 40 minutes with no traffic; 1 hour+ with traffic. And there IS traffic before and after games. The drawback of the freeway is that there's really only one way in and out of there too - so it gets backed up. But if you live downtown or west in Ottawa, or Barhaven or Kanata, it's 15-40 minutes...so not bad at all. There's also pretty decent dedicated transit service on game nights.

So, while the arena location in Ottawa isn't ideal for many, it's still not bad for lots of others (Ottawa and burbs downtown and west probably approaches Winnipeg's population). The problem is that Ottawa's traditionally been kind of a ****ty sports town. A lot of people move there for federal government jobs - and they bring their former allegiances with them. And if you think it's weird to see locals today cheering the Leafs or Habs in Winnipeg, imagine growing up without an NHL team in the shadow of Montreal and Toronto - so lots of native Ottawans aren't really Sens fans. So stick the arena in a slightly inconvenient location, put in a meddling owner who's actively ****ing up the team and mix in a mostly ambivalent local population and you get empty seats at playoff games.

The parking lot at the arena is a nightmare though. Only one way to exit IIRC.
 

nobody important

the pessimist returns
Jul 12, 2015
6,426
1,719
a quiet suburb
The problem is that Ottawa's traditionally been kind of a ****ty sports town.

I think you might be right that this is the heart of the problem. Still, if fans don't like the drive out to the CTC, they will really hate having to drive to this arena to watch their team. ;)

150818_hy4ki_centre-videotron-4_sn635.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Section 325

DowntownBooster

Registered User
Jun 21, 2011
3,202
2,414
Winnipeg
I did just that in 1976. Row 10 at the blue line. Watched Bobby, Ulf,Anders & company demolish the Aeros 9-1 in the clinching game.

That must have been an exciting game to be at since it was the Jets 1st Avco Cup championship. I was on hand in 1978 when the Jets defeated the New England Whalers 5-3 to win their 2nd championship. It would be the last time Hull, Hedberg and Nilsson would play together for the Jets as the 2 Swedes were destined for New York the following season to play for the Rangers. I remember when the Jets were skating around the ice with the Avco Cup, the song "We are the champions" was playing over the PA system. I can only imagine how awesome it would be for our current Jets team to win the Stanley Cup!

:jets
 

Vekke

Registered User
Feb 28, 2018
362
425
Just curious. I was looking at season ticket and playoff package prices and started to wonder about relatively high prices. What is median/average salary in Canada. Google gave me around 50-60k$ for white collars.

It seems that people are using kind of big share of their net income for hockey. Am I totally lost here or os this the case?
 

cheswick

Non-registered User
Mar 17, 2010
6,764
1,094
South Kildonan
Just curious. I was looking at season ticket and playoff package prices and started to wonder about relatively high prices. What is median/average salary in Canada. Google gave me around 50-60k$ for white collars.

It seems that people are using kind of big share of their net income for hockey. Am I totally lost here or os this the case?

I think you're a bit lost. Two points would be
1. A lot of season seats are split multiple ways amongst.
2. The vast majority of season ticket holders aren't average wage earners. When you look at the median household income in Manitoba from the last census, its about $68k. But when you consider there are 300,000 households in Winnipeg and roughly 6500 households are season seat holders, the median household income of a season seat holder is likely far above the overall median.
 

Vekke

Registered User
Feb 28, 2018
362
425
I think you're a bit lost. Two points would be
1. A lot of season seats are split multiple ways amongst.
2. The vast majority of season ticket holders aren't average wage earners. When you look at the median household income in Manitoba from the last census, its about $68k. But when you consider there are 300,000 households in Winnipeg and roughly 6500 households are season seat holders, the median household income of a season seat holder is likely far above the overall median.
Offcourse there is variation on household incomes and there are always poor/middle class/rich people. Still some people must use kind of big share of their income to hockey.
 

cbcwpg

Registered User
May 18, 2010
20,100
20,376
Between the Pipes
Just curious. I was looking at season ticket and playoff package prices and started to wonder about relatively high prices. What is median/average salary in Canada. Google gave me around 50-60k$ for white collars.

It seems that people are using kind of big share of their net income for hockey. Am I totally lost here or os this the case?

I think Winnipeg might be a bit unique in that a lot of STHs are sharing seats, and I mean a lot. I don't know anyone that doesn't have share partners, and I know from where I sit, every game there are different people sitting in the seats around me. If you could tally up the numbers there could be something like 50,000+ people that are sharing season tickets.
 

Vekke

Registered User
Feb 28, 2018
362
425
@cbcwpg
That makes sense. I was just wondering that metropolitan Helsinki area is slightly bigger and income level is about the same in euros, thus it would be next to impossible to find that much people willing to spend 2000-7000 €/season to hockey.
 

ps241

The Ballad of Ville Bobby
Sponsor
Mar 10, 2010
34,831
30,981
Question: a buddy of mine controls 4 seats and he has three guys who buy up all the seats. What ticket allocation (Draft) system have you guys used that works. My friend wants to be fair.
 

SLAYER

Cilantro Connoisseur
Oct 26, 2012
5,298
5,802
Winnipeg
Question: a buddy of mine controls 4 seats and he has three guys who buy up all the seats. What ticket allocation (Draft) system have you guys used that works. My friend wants to be fair.

People I know did random draw for PO ticket draft order and went from there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ps241

mondo3

Registered User
Jun 4, 2011
3,576
1,294
Anaheim
People I know did random draw for PO ticket draft order and went from there.
we do sort of the same - we drew random order the first time we made the playoffs, and now we continue the same pattern (so whomever was due to be next, will be the person getting the first game this year)
 
  • Like
Reactions: SLAYER

The Blue Baron

Registered User
Nov 13, 2015
15,169
23,975
Hoser Country
Question: a buddy of mine controls 4 seats and he has three guys who buy up all the seats. What ticket allocation (Draft) system have you guys used that works. My friend wants to be fair.
We pick names out of a hat.

5 share partners

I picked 1 last time in playoffs so I don’t think I can pick 1 again.
 

Aavco Cup

"I can make you cry in this room"
Sep 5, 2013
37,630
10,440
When do the tickets go on sale i would love to get 2 never been to a playoff game

Last time they had a public availability and they had a separate sale for share partners and wait list. This was for only the first two games and it happened after the season IIRC. They will likely have clinched a playoff spot much earlier this year so maybe the do it a bit earlier? But maybe not.
 

blues10

Registered User
Dec 10, 2010
7,221
3,120
Canada
we do sort of the same - we drew random order the first time we made the playoffs, and now we continue the same pattern (so whomever was due to be next, will be the person getting the first game this year)

We are doing the exact same thing. Just continuing the playoff order in perpetuity. Of course you can still trade games within the group if you can’t attend for any reason. We just cycle the order in perpetuity. This is the fairest system we could think of.
 

blues10

Registered User
Dec 10, 2010
7,221
3,120
Canada
As for the playoff prices I find them to be very reasonable. I’m in P3 and grabbed some extra tickets for friends in the same row our season tickets are in for the Red Wings game last Friday and paid $200 + a seat off seat exchange. My p3s at STH cost will be $220 something if the Jets make the conference final.
 

SLAYER

Cilantro Connoisseur
Oct 26, 2012
5,298
5,802
Winnipeg
How do you draft for games that you don't know will happen?


m.

Just luck of the draw, I suppose. Some groups continue the draft order the next playoff season after the last real game it ended for the current season.

Just get creative, dude. There are always ways to make ticket drafts fair.
 
Last edited:

blues10

Registered User
Dec 10, 2010
7,221
3,120
Canada
How do you draft for games that you don't know will happen?


m.

In a system like this it can be more of an order than a draft. Once the order is drawn tickets are simply assigned in that order and then the order restarts where it last left off.

Example. 2015 draw order.
1.Teemu
2.Dale
3. Anders
4. Ulf

Teemu went to game 1 in 2015, Dale went to game 2. Anders is now up for game 1 in 2018 and Ulf game 2 in 2018. Teemu will then be up for game 3 if there is one if not he will be at the next playoff game whenever it occurs.
 
Last edited:

buggs

screenshot
Sponsor
Jun 25, 2012
8,610
10,608
somewhere flat
In a system like this it can be more of an order than a draft. Once the order is drawn tickets are simply assigned in that order and then the order restarts where it last left off.

Example. 2015 draw order.
1.Teemu
2.Dale
3. Anders
3.Ulf

Teemu went to game 1 in 2015, Dale went to game 2. Anders is now up for game 1 in 2018 and Ulf game 2 in 2018. Teemu will then be up for game 3 if there is one if not he will be at the next playoff game whenever it occurs.
Exact same as our group.
 

KingBogo

Admitted Homer
Nov 29, 2011
31,529
38,962
Winnipeg
we do sort of the same - we drew random order the first time we made the playoffs, and now we continue the same pattern (so whomever was due to be next, will be the person getting the first game this year)
Our group did it a bit different for playoffs. There are 4 people for 2 seats so we decided for playoffs it was 1 seat only. Only the core group goes. Sorry wife, kids and friends. It works because we are brothers/buddies. Then we drafted for 1st game of the playoffs and then after that it is alternating. The 1st time we made the playoffs my brother and a buddy got the 1st game and I got a ticket for the 2nd game. As we all know it ended there. This playoffs I will get a ticket to the 1st game, and then 3rd, 5th etc. No matter which game we end on the next time we make the playoffs I will get a ticket to game #2, 4, 6 etc. No way to know what game the cup will be won on, but there is only one opening night so it seemed like a pretty fair way to divide tickets up.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->