You’ll pay the price if Jets get into playoffs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/03/2015 (3855 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets will charge a premium of between 57 and 82 per cent for playoff tickets — if they’re able to emerge from their funk and qualify for the post-season — but the mark-ups are a lot higher in other NHL cities.

In fact, Rukkus, a New York-based provider of sports and entertainment tickets on the secondary market, says the average premium across the rest of the playoff and possible playoff teams in the first round is more than 70 per cent.

“You’re not going to find anything lower than $100 to get to a playoff game; it doesn’t matter what team you’re talking about,” said Craig Kleila, community manager at Rukkus.

“The prices are around double from the regular season for pretty much every team.”

The average playoff ticket price in Winnipeg will be $224.34, but that will pale in comparison to Montreal ($412.32), Vancouver ($275.41) and Calgary ($266.32).

They will also be considerably less than two perennial favourites, the Chicago Blackhawks ($313.11) and the Los Angeles Kings ($350.56).

Ticket prices are almost universally raised for the playoffs in the sporting world, and one or two rounds in the post-season can often mean the difference between a profitable or losing season.

Rukkus compiles its data from online ticket sites, including Ticketmaster and Stubhub, as well as a network of more than 1,000 private brokers.

Jets fans don’t have to worry about having to pay the total amount up front. The team is offering a “pay as we play” option where the balance is only due once a playoff round is confirmed. Credit from games that weren’t played will be applied to the amount owing for each subsequent round or next year. If you do pay in full for the playoffs, any balance left over at the end of the Jets’ playoff run will be applied against next year’s regular season seats.

Seats that weren’t reserved by Friday’s deadline will be released.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca