CANUCKS TICKET-HOLDERS FACE A CASH IN OR SELL CONUNDRUM
First home playoff games since 2015 could yield tidy profit for sellers,
Capitalist math: supply + demand = price.
Just like when the container ship Ever Given's 2021 crash in the Suez Canal caused a worldwide shortage of sex toys and subsequent spike in prices, the Vancouver Canucks' ticket resale market is also about to sail to new records.
Those who were lucky enough to be season-ticket holders, or grab some of the early access tickets to the playoffs, scooped up some reasonably priced tickets to the team's first post-season run (with fans) since 2015. Those who weren't will now face the full “dynamic pricing” in the resale market.
The get-in-the-door price for a Game 1 ticket for the yet-tobe-determined playoff opponent was $266 for those who nabbed early access. As of Thursday afternoon, resale sites like Stubhub had the cheapest seat for $373 in the upper bowl.
And they're only going to go up. “At the beginning of the year it was drastically different,” said Keith Armstrong, who's been selling off some games from his season ticket package this year. “I think for a long time, the last eight (years) or so since we haven't made the playoffs and the team performance hasn't been great, people have probably been accustomed to the prices being at or below cost. No one was pencilling in and definitely not Sharpie-ing in the Canucks to be contenders this year.
“A lot of season-ticket holders ... take a loss in some cases. Whether or not they can't make all the games and they kind of just carry it over in hopes that eventually the team might be successful enough again, that they can kind of reap the rewards or even having access to playoff tickets.
“The market's come around since then. But it wasn't all like rosy, even at the beginning of this year.”
The resale market for Canucks tickets has been on a steady climb as fans have realized the team is for real this season. They've been at or near the top of the NHL standings since the beginning.
Season-ticket holders are now facing the realization that the cost of their tickets, 41 regular-season home games, will be far outstripped by post-season costs.
Jovan Heer, a.k.a. DJ Heer, a local DJ who's performed at Canucks, Vancouver Whitecaps and Lions games, was happy to pony up.
“If the Canucks (make) it to the Stanley Cup Final, my playoff tickets will be around $4,700 total for the entirety for two upper bowl seats,” he tweeted. “My season ticket cost for two upper bowl seats for 41 games plus pre-season was $4,500. Regardless, I'm pumped for Canucks playoff hockey!”
Most fans have reacted positively to the early access pricing, pointing out the cost hasn't increased much since the last playoff run, in 2015. That year is the only season in the past decade that the Canucks played post-season hockey in front of fans.
Armstrong says he and a friend partnered up to pay $6,000 each for lower bowl seats this year, with a plan to sell off a few to help mitigate the overall cost — plus going to the head of the line for playoff tickets. He's using Facebook Marketplace to sell, so he and his partner can avoid the massive fees from the official resale sites, and has gone as far as posting a picture of his driver's licence to engender trust in potential buyers.
Most of the time early on, he sold his tickets for cost or just above.
Now he's sweating the decision yet to come: Cash in or sell? The resale market for the post-season is going to see a spike. Just across Griffiths Way, the Vancouver Whitecaps are experiencing a massive surge in prices for May's game against Inter Miami — the one featuring a player by the name of Lionel Messi — seeing prices range from nosebleed upper bowl seats for just under $300, to the overly optimistic $10,000 plus for seats close to the pitch.
During the Stanley Cup run of 2011, seats were between $400 and $600 on the resale market during the first round. By the time Game 7 of the Cup final rolled around, the average price for an aftermarket seat off of Stubhub was $2,975. At the high end, it was $6,500 for a seat, and a couple suites were listed for $164,710 and $205,888, respectively.
The decision to get season tickets for Armstrong, 37, was because he's a longtime fan, and he's never had the chance to attend a playoff game in person. But everyone has their price. He just doesn't know what his is, yet.
“The ratio of where does it move the needle (to sell)? That's the question me and my partner have been asking ourselves when it comes to the playoffs,” he said. “That's the ultimate test. It's what's more important to you
... being in the seats or making a profit?
“Nothing in this life is guaranteed. And it goes both ways for that, right? Like, you may never get another chance to make that income or see (them in the playoffs). That's the crazy part. I just don't know.”