A look at season ticket waiting lists
As a sport management and communication studies double major, I’ve noticed myself taking a greater interest in sport business articles. As a result, you’re going to find me writing about these articles more frequently and they won’t always be NHL business stories, but I’ll try to connect them to NHL business if a connection exists.
This is a lengthy post about the Detroit sports’ teams and their waiting lists as well as a look at every single NHL team’s ticket sales.
Anyways, I was reading a post at the AOL FanHouse about the length of the waiting list for the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL). The team has over 60,000 names on the waiting list.
According to Eagles president Joe Banner, the waiting list now contains more than 60,000 names and, last year, a grand total of 15 of them were given the opportunity to buy tickets. Fifteen!
“We don’t know what it will be this year,” Banner said. “It could be 20. It could be 12. We don’t know yet. But it’s like nobody is not renewing their tickets. For the people who already have season tickets, the renewal rate is 99.9-something percent. That’s the situation.”
Michael at the FanHouse made this observation:
At 15 a year, it’ll take 4,000 years to get through 60,000 names. So with demand far outstripping supply for tickets, why don’t the Eagles raise ticket prices? Fans often complain that it’s too expensive to get to a game, but isn’t something that is too scarce to meet customer demand the very definition of an underpriced product?
The Green Bay packers currently have 74,500 fans on the waiting list.
It’s figures like those above that remind you of how dominant the NFL is here in the United States.
The Detroit Lions have the worst league record over the past six years and the lowest team satisfaction rate out of any major professional league. Yet according to Forbes, the team has a waiting list of 7000 people for general seating. The Lions charge $25 for a deposit to put your name on the list. That means the team has made $175,000 in waiting list deposits for the worst team in the league over the past six years. Unbelievable. Ford Field sits 65,000 people with an average ticket price of $57. Despite the team’s awful record, the Lions do well in terms of ticket sales and really only struggle to sell out their club seats.
I’m a football fan. I enjoy watching hockey more, but I watch the Lions suck it up every week during the fall. However, I refuse to buy any Lions’ memorabilia or attend a Lions’ game until their GM Matt Millen is fired. Until he is gone, the team will continue to struggle (in my opinion) and I won’t give the Ford family money that they don’t deserve for hiring bad management. Think of it as a personal boycott. Sorry, I’m going off on a tangent…
Anyways, it amazes me that there are that many people interested in season tickets for such a sucky football team. I just looked at the price of season tickets given to first timers - $400/seat for the upper bowl in the end zone. I guess I can see that people would be better able to afford Lions’ season tickets in comparison to the Pistons or Red Wings who have 41 home games.
How are the other Detroit teams doing?
Back in the 1990s when Detroit really was Hockeytown, the Red Wings’ waiting list consisted of over 14,000 people. I signed up for the waiting list only four years ago. Last summer, I was sent a letter announcing that I could finally become a season ticket holder. Unfortunately, I did not have slightly over $5000 to afford two upper bowl seats and had to pass. Due to the awful economy, the team’s previous early playoff exits (excluding this postseason), and the rise of other sports teams in the metro Detroit area, the waiting list has decreased in size over the past couple of years.
Don’t forget that the Wings are in a highly competitive Detroit sports market when it comes to people spending their leisure money as you can see from a Detroit News article written in January 2006:
“Check out the Pistons and the Red Wings, who help us forget the foibles of the Lions and Tigers. By the way, the Pistons have sold out 107 straight games; the Wings 339 straight. Michigan football has 193 consecutive crowds of 100,000-plus, and Michigan State basketball has 120 straight sellouts. Even the Lions have sold out every game in Ford Field’s four-year history.”
The cheapest season ticket price is $899/seat for the Detroit Pistons (NBA) and they have a lot of great bonuses to entice people to sign up as a season ticket holder. The team also offers half season tickets and mini packs as well. It does not appear that they have a waiting list, despite having one of the top four NBA teams over the past five years. The team has had 185 consecutive game sellouts including both the regular season and playoff home games. The sellout streak dates back to January 19, 2004.
The Detroit Tigers do not currently have a waiting list and you can put down a deposit for full or partial ticket plans for the 2008 season.
How are NHL teams doing in terms of sellouts and season ticket waiting lists?
I decided to visit every team’s website to determine if there was a waiting list or not for the team.
Here’s what I found…
Only ten of the 30 teams have a waiting list. Five of the six Canadian teams have season ticket waiting lists. The Ottawa Senators are the only team without a waiting list, which is surprising since they just made a trip to the SCF. The other four teams are the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, and the NY Rangers.
Interestingly enough for me, all the ten teams with waiting lists are in cooler climates and either in or close to Canada. These teams are in solid hockey markets and it only helps their ticket sales when the team is actually a playoff contender.
No team in the Southeast or Pacific divisions has a waiting list. The Central division only has one team with a waiting list (the Red Wings). With the exception of Colorado, the Northwest division teams all have waiting lists.
Anaheim Ducks: The Stanley Cup champs do not have a waiting list.
Atlanta Thrashers: They do not have a waiting list and you can get a plan with $10 tickets for every game!
Boston Bruins: The Original 6 team does not have a waiting list.
Buffalo Sabres: This team does have a waiting list.
For the first time since 1979-1980, the Buffalo Sabres sold out every single regular season and playoff game. It’s safe to say that Buffalo really got behind their team this year between ticket sales and merchandise sales, which were first in the NHL this year.
When B. Thomas Golisano bought the team in spring 2003, the Sabres had the equivalent (including mini-pack purchases) of 5,800 season tickets. That was among the lowest counts in the National Hockey League.
This year, the Sabres have 14,800 season-ticket holders and a season-ticket waiting list with more than 6,000 names, DiPofi said.
The 2007-08 renewal packages went out earlier this spring and DiPofi said more than 91 percent have already renewed for next year. The Sabres will cap their season-ticket packages at 14,800 next year.
All 80 suites in HSBC Arena were sold this year, and while a handful come up for renewal after this season, DiPofi expects all to be renewed. The Sabres also have a small waiting list for the suites. Suites are leased in three-, five- or seven-year contracts.
Calgary Flames: The Flames have a waiting list of 2500-5000 fans (depending on the forum you visit). You actually have to pay $100/year to join the Hot House and have a chance at season tickets. Wow, that’s a lot of money for a chance to get season tickets!
Carolina Hurricanes: They do not have a season ticket waiting list.
Chicago Blackhawks: It kills me to see the fanbase for this team dwindling. The once great Blackhawks franchise currently has no waiting list.
Colorado Avalanche: It appears that the Avs do not have a season ticket waiting list.
Columbus Blue Jackets: They do not have a waiting list.
Dallas Stars: You can buy partial or full season ticket plans today.
Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers do have a waiting list, which isn’t as large as some teams because they only had a need for it after their 2005-2006 season when they made it to the SCF. It costs $200 to get on the list and then $50 annually in administration fees.
Florida Panthers: You can get some good prices on your season tickets in Florida.
Los Angeles Kings: You can purchase season tickets as low as $12/game for the upcoming season.
Minnesota Wild: Despite not having a successful playoff team, the Wild have a solid waiting list of over 7500 fans. One message board member said that he heard you have to wait 5-10 years for an upper bowl seat (lower bowl seats are easier to obtain). To get your name on the list, you must pay a one time deposit of $200 to keep your membership in the Minnesota Wild Warming House. You then must pay $100 yearly to keep your name on the list.
Montreal Canadiens: The Canadiens started their waiting list back in 2004. To get on the waiting list, you must pay a one time fee of $100 and then $39 yearly in administration fees.
Nashville Predators: As we know, the Predators do not have a waiting list and are desperately trying to increase the number of season ticket holders in an attempt to keep the team in Nashville.
New Jersey Devils: You can buy your season tickets for the upcoming season at the new arena, Prudential Center.
New York Islanders: They have no season ticket waiting list.
New York Rangers: The Rangers full and partial season ticket plans are currently sold out.
Ottawa Senators: I was surprised to find that the Senators do not have a waiting list.
Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers are currently accepting $200 deposits for season tickets.
Phoenix Coyotes: You can buy season tickets and get an autographed Wayne Gretzky jersey if you do so by July 31st.
Pittsburgh Penguins: After the great season they had, the Penguins had to implement a waiting list this offseason. It’ll cost you $200 to get your name on the list.
San Jose Sharks: They do not have a waiting list. You can send in your $200 deposit and between July 25-28, you can come in and choose your seat.
St. Louis Blues: Not surprisingly, the Blues do not have a waiting list.
Tampa Bay Lighting: They do not have a waiting list as well.
Toronto Maple Leafs: It comes to no surprise that the Maple Leafs have a lengthy waiting list.
Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks are sold out, but you can put your name on the waiting list for $100 (and it’s refundable).
Washington Capitals: The Caps have full and partial season ticket plans available.
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4 Responses to “A look at season ticket waiting lists”
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July 23rd, 2007 at 11:55 pm
The Senators have a large “walkup” crowd. I think they may be 12 thousand seasons… if you want to go to a game it is always easy to get tickets, except for Leafs and Habs games. Those sell out because the Leafs and Sens fans jump all over the unbought tickets. as for the rest there are always 2-4 thousand available for each and every game. Plus a lot of those are sold at reduced rates as the games get closer. As soon as the Sens enter a rebuilding phase they are going to have a hard time convincing people to commute all the way out of the city to watch a mediocre team…
July 24th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
WingMan- Thanks for the comment. I guess I didn’t realize that their arena was that far out of town. I still am surprised that for such a successful team over the past couple of seasons, they don’t have a waiting list…
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