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2014-15 Ticket Prices

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The renewal letter from the team came out on Tuesday:

The Carolina Hurricanes look forward to welcoming fans back to PNC Arena this Friday when the team returns for its first home game in nearly a month. In the meantime, Season Ticket Holders can be on the lookout for their electronic renewal package to arrive via email this week.

The email you'll be receiving will provide you with access to your customized renewal
e-brochure featuring details regarding your playoff and 2014-15 season ticket renewal opportunities and benefits.

While we will also be sending printed playoff and season ticket renewal invoices by mail this week, please note the printed invoices are only for those wishing to pay for their renewal by check and will only be accompanied by a business reply envelope. We ask that all STHs refer to their personalized e-brochure for details regarding renewal benefits and options and that those interested in taking advantage of credit card payment plan options do so online via their renewal e-brochure.

We do wish to make you aware that your paper invoice will feature verbiage indicating that the 2014-15 season food and beverage credit will be based on your ticket renewal which incorrectly denotes that the calculation of your credit will exclude the amount apportioned to the new NC 6.75% sales tax. The new 6.75% sales tax will be included in your season ticket price, and your 2014-15 food and beverage credit will be calculated as a percentage of your season ticket price in its entirety.

If questions come up or if we can be of any assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us by calling 1-866-NHL-CANEs (1-866-645-2263) or emailing [email protected].
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The ticket prices have been released on the website. A cursory look indicates that the base prices are flat but they increased because of the inclusion of 6.75% sales tax. My mezzanine seats went from $46 to $49. First row went from $160 to $171, etc. There are a couple of twists though. They've introduced something called "Premium Price". I can't find an indication on the website for what it is, but the prices on those are astronomical. For example, the first row season ticket price is $171, standard price is $374, premium price is $470. They've introduced the top 8 row prices all the way around the lower bowl where last year it was limited to the end zones. There is also a preferred section in the lower bowl end zones but no indication on how many rows that encompasses. So for the south end zone (the shoot twice end), tickets are $70 for preferred, $61 for normal and $52 for top 8 and $63, $55 and $47 in the north end. The balcony doesn't exist any more, it's called the terrace now.
 
Premium Price? Is that possibly the Canes answer to variable pricing where games they think are going to be bigger draws are priced higher?

Think Pittsburgh on a Friday night (premium price) versus Florida on a Tuesday night

They did mess around quite a bit with the upper sections

* They expanded the "shoot twice goal zone" to include sections 331 and 335 and jacked up the standard price all of those sections to $42 (including tax, was $30 this season without tax)

* They got rid of 'upper corners South' and changed the name to Terrace Value. They expanded that catagory to include sections 301, 306, 307, 321, 322, and 327 (which were all Balcany premier). They then set the price to $55

For season tix holders in those sections, if you are in 331 and 335 I think you will pay less. Also season tickets in 301, 306, 307, 321, 322, and 327 will be less. If you like to pay face value for tickets in what is currently the Shoot twice goal zone and Upper Corners South you are going to pay more.

Terrace preferred Standard price also went up $5 (not including the tax increase). Those were $55 now are $60 ($64 with the tax).
 
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I think the Premium price must refer to seats at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. There's no seat at the PNC that would make our team look like they're worth $470 per seat!
 
So did anyone who has season tickets here get screwed by the new catagories? Anyone going to save some money?

This whole premium price situation is an effort to make season tickets look even more valuable. They are going to be in for a rude awakening when people balk at paying huge premiums for individual tickets for those games. Not very smart to do this after likely missing the playoffs (yet again). That is the type of thing you do after your team gets through a few playoff rounds.
 
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What exactly does the premium price include? All the beer and hotdogs you can put down? A game long lap dance from a storm squad girl of your choice? An average looking escort? A happy ending?

Or do you just get to be the butt of many jokes in the ticket sales booth?

Or maybe just a hurt butt?
 
cmaleski2 said:
So did anyone who has season tickets here get screwed by the new catagories? Anyone going to save some money?

This whole premium price situation is an effort to make season tickets look even more valuable. They are going to be in for a rude awakening when people balk at paying huge premiums for individual tickets for those games. Not very smart to do this after likely missing the playoffs (yet again). That is the type of thing you do after your team gets through a few playoff rounds.
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They played that game before. I've been a STH since the 00-01 season. At the end of the 99-00 season, they announced a big price cut for the sideline seats effective wtih the playoffs (which we missed by 1 point). I had tickets in 117 for $35 each. I think it was after the 2002 Finals, they announced that ticket prices were going up. My seats were going to $57, a 62% increase, but the gate price was going to $85. They pitched it as a 33% reduction from the gate to attract new STHs, ignoring us poor shlubs who were absorbing the increase.
 
Well let me put some perspective on the Premium pricing (which I'm assuming is the Canes answer to variable pricing). Some teams already go way beyond just setting premium prices for individual game tickets. Buffalo for example has 5 different pricing levels for games...Value, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, all with different prices.

So take their most expensive seat available for single game purchase...the prices from lowest to highest go $118, $127, $146, $185, and $240. A value game is the Preds next Tuesday.

Per the Sabres web site:
Games were categorized based on the opponent, time of the year, day of the week, classic rivalries and games against marquee players.
The pricing plan for the 2013-14 season includes: one Platinum game, 8 Gold games, 13 Silver games, 10 Bronze games and 9 Value games.
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Tampa does something similar.

Once they have this in place they spin it to season ticket holders and giving them more value. Full season ticket holders are not subjected to anything beyond their flat per game price, making your ticket discount to a 'premium' game more valuable.

This is how the Bolts spin it in their web site
Will this impact the total cost of my Season Tickets?

No, variable pricing will not impact your cost, in fact it will give a true value to each of the games in your package rather than a standard average price. We hope that you will find this change to be a tremendous benefit to you as a Season Ticket Member.
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They then go on to claim that your savings over game day pricing is even better since some games are premium priced and your season ticket isn't. Expect the Canes and the ticket reps to stress this over and over again to season ticket holders...your savings 'over game day pricing' just got a lot better, what a deal!!!!!

The Canes I think are just taking the first step down this road with the Premium pricing individual ticket level. The one question to watch out for if you are a full season ticket holder is if this impacts your ticket exchanges. For example, Tampa season ticket holders cannot exchange unused tickets for a game that is a 'higher tier' game. You can only exchange tickets for same or lower tier games. I think that was the case already? You couldn't trade in your unused tickets for the Panthers for tickets for the Penguins for example (generally?)

For now it looks like the Canes are just going with 2 tiers...premium or not. I expect that to expand in the future. It will be interesting to see how many games the Canes decide to categorize as 'premium'. 5? 10? More?
 
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STH already have a premium for some trade ins. I'm going to miss the game against the Oilers on 3/16. My daughter is home for the week so we wanted to get a ticket to the Rangers game for her. I had to pay a $10 premium for the trade in.
 
This is nothing more than a way to cash in on those who purchase tickets for one or a few games a year, to see the other Metro teams when they are in town.
 
Agreed...for full season ticket holders none of this really matters. For people who pick and choose games and want to see the more popular games...well... the Canes are coming after your wallet and in a really big way...to the tune of a 30% price hike on those games you really really want to see over the games you don't want to see. And that is on top of the fact that individual game prices for standard games are already outrageous.
 
The Canes are just cashing in on what scalpers and STHers who sell their tickets are already doing.

Tuesday night against the Blues, you can probably grab $5 seats from StubHub with no problem. Saturday with the Pens in town, you're going to spend $35 for the top row of the upper end zones.

I bought 5 from StubHub early this season, when I had some family in town who wanted to go to a game. It was a last minute thing, and I got 5 good seats for $27.
 
Are there people who really try to scalp Canes tickets? That must be a depressing way to try to make a buck.

I actually ended up reselling some upper level tickets we had bought on stubhub for a profit by relisting them on Stubhub a week later when I came into better tickets that we ended up using instead. I considered myself darn lucky in that case.

The problem the Canes will have with this premium pricing plans is they are competing against people selling their season tickets on stubhub for WAY less than those premium prices. There is rarely a game where you won't find a better deal on Stubhub or not be able to find any tickets on Stubhub (it does happen, and it has happened this year, but its the exception for sure). Now that the Canes have jacked up the prices even more for these 'premium' games, they are going to send even more people scurrying to Stubhub. This might help season ticket holders get a bit more for their tickets on the secondary market, but I don't see the Canes raking in huge amounts of additional money.

The reason we go with an isolated mini-plan (ie we bought 5 games via the holiday pack for playoff priority) and then Stubhub is it allows us to sit in lots of different places and skip the games we can't go to because of kids and adult activities. If we want to go but want to cheap out we can sit in the fan zone and pay only $40 (or less) for 4 tickets. If we want to sit in the Club level we can often buy them on Stubhub for half of their standard price and below the season ticket holder price.

In another 15 years when my kids are out of college, I could see my wife and I buying full season tickets again. I did enjoy our Section 302 Mezz tickets we had 10 years ago when life was a lot simpler.
 
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cmaleski2 said:
Are there people who really try to scalp Canes tickets? That must be a depressing way to try to make a buck.
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I've never understood the incentive to scalp tickets...especially in parking lots! There can't be THAT much money in it. I bought two tickets a few years ago, from a guy in the scalper zone at PNC. We just wanted two cheap, upper level tickets, but would have paid more for decent lower level. First guy we approached, had a handful of tickets. We ended up getting two lower level seats, near the top...which was actually preferred. We paid $20 each. When we sat down ,the guy next to us asked if we had bought them from the older guy outside. Turns out he sold them to him on his way in, he ended up with two extras. We paid the same thing as this guy sold them for. I still scratch my head over that one, I guess he was happy to break even.
 
Center Ice is like $150 for the year.

I had season tickets from Greensboro till the second coming of Maurice.
Then said - I ain't paying for this!
 
Lets see, I gave up my $5000 per season full season tickets after the 07-08 season (after the 04-05 lockout 3 season discount ran out).

I figure I have saved $35,000 over that time if you figure in parking, concessions, and gasoline to get to the arena.

I bought tickets to the playoff games I wanted to attend in 2009 (the one year we made the playoffs in that time) via Craigslist.

That is what I call "cost certainty" (remember that expression)?
 
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DeputyDan said:
Center Ice is like $150 for the year.

I had season tickets from Greensboro till the second coming of Maurice.
Then said - I ain't paying for this!
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I need to put this next to my bed and read it before I close my eyes every night. I have been a season ticket holder since 2001. I can usually only make a little over half of the games due to my work/travel schedule. I base my decision on buying season for the next year tickets based on how easy it is to sell the games I can't make. It has gotten harder and harder (due to the aforementioned Stub Hub affect)to sell tickets for what I paid for them. This may be the year I finally throw my hands up and not re-up.
 
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