For years I’ve heard anecdotally that it was sometimes cheaper for Vancouver hockey fans to fly to Arizona and attend a Phoenix Coyotes versus Canucks game than buying tickets for a home game — especially when you throw food, beer and parking into the mix.
And while I never tested that particular theory, what I do know to be true is that in the past my husband and I have spent hundreds of dollars for tickets to a Canucks game in Vancouver, with food, beer and parking easily adding another $100 to $200 depending on the occasion. It got so expensive that eventually the only time we attended was if I won a couple of tickets at work and even then it wasn’t cheap.
But, due to the Canucks poor efforts recently during this “rebuilding” phase — and the Sedin twins departure — ticket prices have plummeted faster than my stomach on the wooden roller coaster at Playland. The bad news is, the Canucks doing poorly is not good for the local economy. The good news is ticket prices have dropped exponentially — especially if you’re a fan of the Minnesota Wild.
I received a Groupon today (Oct. 3) and on offer were tickets for the Wild’s Dec. 4 game at Roger’s Arena starting at $25. Tickets on the Canuck’s website for that same game start at $29. Meanwhile tickets for a more popular game, the Canucks versus the Montreal Canadiens Nov. 17, start at $93 on Groupon compared to $135 on the Canucks website.
So, I had to wonder — where are all of these extra tickets coming from? Could it be legitimate ticket sellers are cutting their losses and dumping seats, or better yet, could it be greedy scalpers taking a loss after buying up hundreds of tickets?
Even tickets for the Nov. 27 game against the very popular Vegas Golden Knights, which in their inaugural year last season placed second for the beloved Stanley Cup against the Washington Capitals, are starting at $48 on Groupon compared to $100 on the Canucks website — which is still cheap.
After their outstanding performance last season, the Golden Knights are so popular in Sin City you’d be hard pressed to find a ticket. The cheapest seat I could find for the Golden Knights versus Canucks game at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas was a single seat in the nosebleeds for US$80 and the most expensive seats starting at US$550 — that’s more than C$700. The highest priced ticket I could find for the Vancouver game against the Golden Knights was C$328 — but of course our home game doesn’t include the Blue Man Group or show girls.
So now I have to wonder if the tables have turned and American hockey fans will be flying to Vancouver to catch their hometown favourite play at Rogers Arena. After all, their American dollar can buy a lot of beer and hotdogs for the buck.
And for anyone who hasn’t been to a Canucks game, the bandwagoners’ loss is your gain and now’s the time to grab a cheap seat for what might turn out to be a really great game — fingers crossed. #gocanucksgo #weareallcanucks
@sthomas10
