Leafs release seats on the cheap

Prices have dropped as the team lost the first two games of series

Before the Maple Leafs highly anticipated playoff series against the Boston Bruins began, there were 96 seats available to the public for the first game in Toronto.

Last Tuesday, they sold out in a matter of hours. Then something strange happened — more than 300 additional tickets gradually trickled out to the box office.

But as the Leafs dropped the first two games of the series, those additional tickets became far less desirable and prices have dropped alongside the team’s fortunes on the ice.

A ongoing Star/CBC investigation into ticket pricing reveals the remarkable volatility of prices, even between games in a playoff series. For Game 3, in some cases box office prices fell by 50 per cent over the course of the first two games, both of which the Leafs lost.

A single gold ticket in Section 101, Row 10 was listed for $646 last Tuesday. On Sunday, it was priced at $528. Then $350. On Monday, the same ticket was available for $250. It was a similar story for a pair of reds in Section 112, which went from $513 to $440 per ticket.

On Monday, Leafs fan John Tasikas watched as several lower bowl tickets in the box office dropped by $100 in just over half an hour, down to $250.

“Which is half the price that the original season ticket holder paid,” Tasikas wrote in an email. “I wonder if this is one of the benefits of being a (Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment) season seat holder!” MLSE declined to comment about the additional tickets and lower prices. Ticketmaster said it has no answers because it doesn’t own the tickets.