JoeLassister Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 just called at the Bell Centre and asked. The girl said "Minimum of 10 years" to get your tix in ANY section !!!! 239$ to join the waiting list. this is SICK !!! I might join right now to get my tickets when i'll be 35+. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 just called at the Bell Centre and asked. The girl said "Minimum of 10 years" to get your tix in ANY section !!!! 239$ to join the waiting list. this is SICK !!! I might join right now to get my tickets when i'll be 35+. I have been on for 3 years already. I think I will throw my sisters or parents name on the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortHanded Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 Gah!!! That's HORRENDOUS! Well, I guess it shows just how much interest their is in the team, and that's a good thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wamsley01 Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 Gah!!! That's HORRENDOUS! Well, I guess it shows just how much interest their is in the team, and that's a good thing... Seven years ago in the middle of the Foule era they had season seats available. Montreal is slowly becoming like Toronto in regards to tickets. I have been making a Montreal road trip since the late 80s and I never had a problem getting tickets through the box office or scalpers.But the last 2 years it has been very difficult and expensive to get my fingers on tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 ticket price/availability is such a tough issue. To a large degree, cheap tickets for the Habs will just mean high scalper prices. I'd rather have my ticket money go to the CH than the scalpers. One can argue that the scalper price is the "true price" and as such the habs should raise their ticket prices. Of course, it is always a good idea to implement measures to stop scalping, but such attempts tend to be only minimally effective. If the Habs really have 10 years worth of queuing for season tickets, the rational thing to do is to raise season ticket prices. I bet a decent number of season ticket holders would be priced out of their seats, leaving them available to those in the queue prepared to pay more. Otherwise you basically have to hope for 1) people to die, 2) people to move, 3) the habs to suck. I wouldn't want to wish for 1 and 3, and 2 seems like a losing proposition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAK Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 just called at the Bell Centre and asked. The girl said "Minimum of 10 years" to get your tix in ANY section !!!! 239$ to join the waiting list. this is SICK !!! I might join right now to get my tickets when i'll be 35+. I guess you'll have plenty of time to gather the money needed !!! it sucks though, I wanted to join the list as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 I wonder how they calculate the length of the queue. If they are basing it on renewal rates over the last decade, you might be waiting a lot longer than 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 I wonder how they calculate the length of the queue. If they are basing it on renewal rates over the last decade, you might be waiting a lot longer than 10 years. They are basing it on a 95% renewal rate I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsfan Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 (edited) just called at the Bell Centre and asked. The girl said "Minimum of 10 years" to get your tix in ANY section !!!! 239$ to join the waiting list. this is SICK !!! I might join right now to get my tickets when i'll be 35+. HOLY Rusted Metal Batman!!! That's nuts!! You can all thank Pierre Boivin and the marketing department for this! Montreal is slowly becoming like Toronto in regards to tickets. I have been making a Montreal road trip since the late 80s and I never had a problem getting tickets through the box office or scalpers.But the last 2 years it has been very difficult and expensive to get my fingers on tickets. I wonder now that Toronto has sucked for the past 3 years(missed the playoffs) and will most probably miss them for another 2 years, will the Leafs have a harder time selling out the Air Canada centre? Probably not! Edited September 22, 2008 by Habsfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMPL Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 200$ just to join waiting list??? Someone explain why? I could understand 100, but 250 (including Tax), shocking. And 10 years, holy crap, thats a lonnnnnnnng wait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 200$ just to join waiting list??? Someone explain why? I could understand 100, but 250 (including Tax), shocking. And 10 years, holy crap, thats a lonnnnnnnng wait. a bunch of reasons, closely associated. - so people don't put themselves on the list a ton of times - dissuade scalpers from buying up the list - to keep the list a manageable size - make some money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CerebusClone Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 The Canadiens probably could raise ticket prices significantly, however I doubt they will so that : 1- the organization remains somewhat socially responsible, making sure that most fans and families can still afford to enjoy a live game every once in a while. Some would probably even argue that higher prices would favor the anglophone community, even though that's not really the truth anymore. 2- the atmosphere during games at the Bell centre remains dynamic and lively, which wouldn't be the case if the arena was filled with wealthy business men and fat cats. I wonder how large an arena the Habs could sell out 41 games a year? 25,000 seats? It's likely. 30,000? Not impossible, but I doubt it. More? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wamsley01 Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 The Canadiens probably could raise ticket prices significantly, however I doubt they will so that : 1- the organization remains somewhat socially responsible, making sure that most fans and families can still afford to enjoy a live game every once in a while. Some would probably even argue that higher prices would favor the anglophone community, even though that's not really the truth anymore. 2- the atmosphere during games at the Bell centre remains dynamic and lively, which wouldn't be the case if the arena was filled with wealthy business men and fat cats. I wonder how large an arena the Habs could sell out 41 games a year? 25,000 seats? It's likely. 30,000? Not impossible, but I doubt it. More? They have to be careful not to price out the fans that make the game such a lively spectacle. The noise, enthusiasm and atmosphere is what seperates the Bell Centre from the ACC. The ACC is filled with suits and high rollers who could care less wether the Leafs win or lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 to what degree, however, are tickets being resold by scalpers? I haven't lived in MTL for a while, so it is hard for me to judge. It seems to me that regardless of whether the habs undercharge for tickets (compared to the market price), scalpers will to a large extent negate that choice by making the real price of the tickets higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 to what degree, however, are tickets being resold by scalpers? I haven't lived in MTL for a while, so it is hard for me to judge. It seems to me that regardless of whether the habs undercharge for tickets (compared to the market price), scalpers will to a large extent negate that choice by making the real price of the tickets higher. I would say Scalpers sell a couple thousand seats to each game at a bare minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 I would say Scalpers sell a couple thousand seats to each game at a bare minimum. that's what I figured. How much of the arena is reserved for season ticket holders. Acknowledging that there is a non-insignificant crossover between season ticket seats and scalper seats on any given night, how many people who are in the rink actually paid the single-ticket face price? Maybe 4,000? Not insignificant, but it still means that most "average" people will be unable to attend games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMMR Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 that's what I figured. How much of the arena is reserved for season ticket holders. Acknowledging that there is a non-insignificant crossover between season ticket seats and scalper seats on any given night, how many people who are in the rink actually paid the single-ticket face price? Maybe 4,000? Not insignificant, but it still means that most "average" people will be unable to attend games. 15,000 season tickets I believe. So yeah 6,273 (individual and mini packs) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habsfan Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 (edited) 15,000 season tickets I believe. So yeah 6,273 (individual and mini packs) That sounds about right! Edited September 23, 2008 by Habsfan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 15,000 season tickets I believe. So yeah 6,273 (individual and mini packs) We probably have to exclude the minipacks if we want to see how the face price of a ticket affects the average family (they want 4 tickets to one game, not 1 ticket to 4 games...) so lets say 2,500 minipacks (complete guess) + 1,000 scalped tickets (stripping out the season tickets from the scalp) = 3,500 6,273 - 3,500 = 2,773 3,000 fans at an average game have purchased a single game ticket at face price. so we are talking about 14% of the attendance. I think I've been quite conservative in accounting for the scalp. It should be noted that if ticket prices were to go up, fewer people would be able to afford season tickets. I don't know if there is good data on this, but let's say that a 15% increase in prices leads to a 5% drop in renewal rate. Now these tickets will probably be picked up by the season ticket queue, but it will also hurt scalpers. The street price of a habs ticket should be unaffected by any face price that is below the current scalp price. Basically, a habs ticket is a very scarce resource with high demand and therefore scalpers don't really have to compete with each other to find buyers. As such, they will price the tickets at the highest cost the market can bear. The market will not bear a higher price just because the habs raise face prices. so let us say a $60 ticket has a true price of $120. If the habs raise the face price to $80 for that same ticket, it will still have a street price of $120. The fan pays the same price, but the scalper eats the $20 increase. Now, if you reduce profit margins for scalpers, some scalpers will drop out of the game (no longer worth their time). Obviously, increasing the risk of prosecution and the penalties for scalping have the same effect, but I'd argue that these tactics are more expensive and less effective. With fewer scalpers, it should be easier to buy tickets from the box office (marginally), so motivated buyers who can more easily make a time investment rather than a money investment will be able to buy into the market. It's more complicated than this, and there are other side-effects which could lead to higher scalp prices, but the aggregate price over non season-ticket market should stay relatively unchanged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMPL Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Thats crazy I didn't know that 15,000 was season tix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Thats crazy I didn't know that 15,000 was season tix. it makes predicting your annual net much easier. The proportion of seats in an NFL stadium that go to season tickets is even more extreme. People devise season ticket rights in their wills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMPL Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 The proportion of seats in an NFL stadium that go to season tickets is even more extreme. There is more than double seats in an NFL stadium though, so there'd be more single tickets, and less wait time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonus Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 There is more than double seats in an NFL stadium though, so there'd be more single tickets, and less wait time the proportion. They basically sell the entire stadium to season ticket holders. Go try to get a ticket to an NFL game without going to a scalper and tell me how much easier it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMPL Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 the proportion. They basically sell the entire stadium to season ticket holders. Go try to get a ticket to an NFL game without going to a scalper and tell me how much easier it is. I'm agree with you, I have actually bought scapled NFL seats (preseason yet) and its expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brboo Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 What does a pair of tickets in the Blues, or Greys go for if you were to buy from a scalper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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