Rogers Place sneak-peek tickets a hot commodity
The first public event at Rogers Place was the hottest show in Edmonton on Monday after 10,000 free tickets to the Sept. 10 open house were given away within 13 minutes.
“I’m expecting a very positive response from the public. Edmontonians have been waiting a long time for this,” said Rick Daviss, the city’s arena project executive director.
“They want to see what it looks like on the inside. They have seen it on the outside.”
People can order up to four tickets each through Ticketmaster to visit the facility, either online at www.ticketmaster.ca/RogersPlace-tickets-Edmonton/venue/140602 or by phone at 1-855985-5000.
A total of 50,000 tickets are available, with some being distributed through social agencies for those without home computers.
By 9 p.m., seven hours after they became available, 29,700 tickets had been sold.
Visitors must book an arrival-entrance slot between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. to reduce crowding and will receive a souvenir booklet with maps for the self-guided tour, expected to last between 60 and 90 minutes.
The concourse levels and the Winter Garden pedestrian crossing over 104 Avenue will be open, but visitors won’t be allowed into the seating bowls or on to the ice surface.
Daviss would only say the event will cost “lots,” explaining that although the budget hasn’t been finalized yet, the money is included in the arena’s $613-million price for construction, land and other items.
About 1,200 workers are still on the site, but the building looks fabulous, Daviss said.
“We expect everything to be ready on the 10th. There’s going to be little nicks and things … Maybe we should have a contest, ‘Did you notice anything that wasn’t done?’”
While visitors will enter the arena through the Winter Garden, for the next two years they’ll have to reach this structure by walking along a paved, block-long “pedestrian portal” surrounded by hoarding so they can get past Oilers plaza construction.
The walkway entrance is on 103 Avenue east of 103 Street.
“It’s kind of strange that you’re not entering off 104 Avenue, but because of construction activity you’re entering off 103 Avenue,” Daviss said.
There will be space on 104 Avenue near the Baccarat Casino to drop off people with limited mobility who arrive in a DATS vehicle or have a disabled parking placard, but they’ll have to find parking themselves.
Rogers Place general manager Susan Darrington said they’ll hold a contest at rogersplace.com and on social media for people to indicate what they most want to see in the arena, with the five winners being the first ones allowed inside.
“It’s incredibly exciting. We have staff in the building now and we have started all our training exercises … We hope to have a great time.”
The arena’s first paid event is a Keith Urban concert Sept. 16, while the Oilers’ opening pre-season game will be Sept. 26 against the Calgary Flames.