The Athletic Sabres’ season tickets have become a tough sell: ‘It’s just been so sad for so long’
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joshjull
Registered User
Those folks must be playing an incredibly long game with these tickets. I can’t imagine they've done anything but eat the costs the last several years.
Eh, I bet they jack up the prices for TOR and MTL, along with a few other choice opponents, to cover their losses. Otherwise they'd have stopped long ago.
joshjull
Registered User
Yep. This idea that you can buy seasons, sell 6-8 games and pay for the whole year is an absolute fantasy. My season's are $5,072 for 40 games plus preseason next year. That's $126 a game. Let's say the Leafs got me 2 x $300 and 2 x $250 (and that is high after fees). I still have about $4,000 to pay. There are probably another 10 games that are premium for, say, $200 a pair (which is again very optimistic). So $2,000. I am still down for about $2,000 for the remaining 26 games. Maybe I can get $70 for pairs for those games, but some nights are like $40.
There is just no money to be made and the pain in the butt to sell your tickets; who needs it to try and break even. I do it because I love the team and my seats, and I'll take a small loss.
Here is the question to ask yourself. If it's true, you can buy my seasons for $5,072 and sell 6-8 games, pay for everything, and go to the other 30+ games for free; why wouldn't everyone do it? You could borrow $5 K, maybe pay $350 to carry the debt and make a ton of money.
Here's the reason. You can't, and that's why there are so many empty seats and no wait on the season ticket list.
truthbluth
Registered User
- Feb 2, 2011
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In 2006-2007, I had a quarter season tickets (split with friends) at the time, we had 4 home games against each division rival. I could have sold my Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa tickets, so 6 total tickets, for 90% of what I paid for the quarter season. The math doesn't work anymore because seasons have risen over 100% since then, while the secondary market has barely budged.
In real dollars, how much have season tickets gone up since 2006-2007. My $5,072 tickets are $3,336.74 backwards adjusted for inflation for 2006-2007. I have zero idea what they cost back then.
truthbluth
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- Feb 2, 2011
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I had two tickets for 11 games. I paid $600. It was about $30/ticket. Secondary market was $150/ticket for the leafs, about $100 each for Montreal and Ottawa.
Where? I can't even get $150 USD for my Leafs tickets at the blue line row 1 in 300 levels. I have no idea where your tickets were located, but the Leafs fans don't pay that much for 300-level seats. Obviously, there would be more demand from Sabres side when team was good but I always found Leafs fans drove the price even during the good times.
truthbluth
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- Feb 2, 2011
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That's what I got offered for basically the same tickets as you. 2nd row 300's blue line. Memory might be failing me, but I recall being really tempted by that number. It was 2007.
joshjull
Registered User
I would expect that, but the wealth disparity between Niagara Region and Southern Ontario has only grown since, driving the larger crowds that attract Canadian teams and classic franchises like the Flyers, Bruins, or Hawks, which have huge fan bases in Ontario. Contrary to idiot local media pundits who think Canadiens games are filled with people making the trip from Montreal, the cross-border fans all live in the Greater Golden Horseshoe and have settled from other parts of the country and maintain team loyalty. I was at the Oilers game on the weekend; it was people from Ontario and mostly not from Toronto but from the outskirts.
If this team actually makes the playoffs and goes up against Montreal or Toronto in a series, then you will really see insane prices because that is when people from the city start pouring in for a game who will pay $500 easy for a seat.
Mattilaus
Registered User
that post you quoted was from August of 2021....
I never get asked anything at the border coming from Canada. The funniest question is do you have any guns? What? Then when I come back Canadian customs asks me if I have any marijuana. What? Why would I bring Marihuana into a country where it is available on every corner legally?
I had that one years ago. I may have told them “no but I have a hockey bag full of gear so I might pull a drive by high sticking.”
Mattilaus
Registered User
TheMistyStranger
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- May 21, 2005
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Ha. That reminds me of high school when I used to cut up old magazines and mix and match taglines onto the wrong picture. My favorite was a Sure ad, with a woman dressed like a scientist sniffing the armpit of a man, in a row of 10 men. I changed the "Be Sure" tagline to "You sly devil." It still makes me giggle to think about it.
