On Tuesday, the Washington Capitals released single game tickets ahead of general sale for season-ticket holders. The home opener, against the Boston Bruins on October 3rd, was one of the games made available. There were some restrictions on purchasing home opener tickets, due to the Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony being held that night, which included no discounts off the door price, and a two ticket limit.
However, when tickets did become available for season-ticket holders to purchase, there appeared to be another barrier to entry for Capitals fans: the cost. In some cases, almost a 400% increase in price from the usual face value expected for tickets was implemented.
Capitals fan Peter H. (no, not that Peter H.) contacted us about his experience purchasing additional tickets for the opening game of the 2018-19 regular season, having been a season-ticket holder since 1974.
“I’m a year one STM. I just bought two extra tix for wife and friend for Opening Night during pre-sale event,” he wrote. “Price was $510.95 each, a mere 400-plus percent from the normal rate of $106. Very disappointing.”
He added, “The price for the same tix in for the Vegas game the following week were about $106. Not a great way to treat loyal customers/fans.”
We took a look at the cost of tickets available to season-ticket holders during the pre-sale event. The lowest cost ticket came in at $258, without fees, and was located in the Mezzanine Corner: Defend – Back. A ticket in this same section, on Sunday February 3rd 2019, also against the Bruins, is on sale for $76. A new Playstation 4 costs $300.
For further comparison, a ticket on Monday, December 31, 2018 costs $41 (Predators), and on Wednesday, November 7th 2018 costs $36 (Penguins).
@CapsSTH211 also pointed out that tickets available to season-ticket holders in the pre-sale carried a higher price than StubHub.
Wow #Caps opening night STH pre-sale prices are actually higher than StubHub, even after fees. Lower level center ice for $877/ea. Club level attack for $637/ea.
— Capitals STH Sec 211 (@CapsSTH211) August 7, 2018
Those same tickets were for resale (at the time of writing this article) on StubHub for $778.97 (lower level center ice) and $652.71 (club level attack), including fees. The above prices in the tweet from the season-ticket pre-sale did not include fees.
A season-ticket holder, who sits in Center Preferred: Attack, told us that tickets in their section were also being sold for $877 each, but season-ticket pricing is typically $160 per game. In comparison, that same season-ticket holder paid, at most, $425 for those same seats during the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. That is an increase of $452 per ticket, just for the home opener.
With some ticket prices increasing over 400 percent from their usual face value cost, it is little wonder that Capitals fans are feeling priced out of celebrating their historic win on Opening Night.
