By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights’ take-the-vow playoff ticket strategy from Round 1 will continue unchanged for Round 2, with season ticket holders who promised to not re-sell their postseason tickets getting a 30 percent price break compared to a Round 2 Golden Knight-San Jose Sharks single game ticket.
But here’s something to consider. While that price break for agreeing to not re-sell Round 2 tickets is appreciated by fans, all Round 2 tickets — in general — will cost 35 to 40 percent on average higher than the tickets purchased for the same Round 1 seats when the Knights swept the Kings.
In the NHL, it’s typical for teams to hike seat prices anywhere from 15-50 percent from round to round as the team moves forward in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But one Golden Knights upper bowl fan said he paid $50 for a seat under the vow deal for Round 1 and now faces paying $90 for the same seat in Round 2, according to an email he received from the Golden Knights Thursday.
That means he faces an 80 percent ticket markup from Round 1 to Round 2 for the same ticket.
It’s too late for Golden Knights season ticket holders to take the “vow” now to not re-sell tickets for Round 2 when the Golden Knights will host Games 1 and 2 and possibly Games 5 and 7 at T-Mobile Arena. The dates for the Knights-Sharks games are to be determined based on when other Round 1 series end around the NHL. The first home game at T-Mobile Arena will likely be in the April 24-26 range. Here’s a wrap-up of the Round 2 ticket policy in a press release.
Season ticket holders are receiving the Round 2 playoff ticket information Thursday. Generally speaking, they liked the vow deal for Round 1 and the fact is that the crowds for the first two home games against the Kings were mostly VGK fans. Several season ticket holders remarked about a different vibe in the arena when it’s mostly Knights fans.
The Golden Knights instituted the special two-tier ticket price “Vow” deal to motivate season ticket holders to not re-sell tickets so that home crowds would be composed of mostly partisan Knights fans. There were games during the regular season when visiting team’s fans filled half the T-Mobile Arena seats, and cheers filled the venue when visiting teams such as the Flyers, Wild, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Oilers and Ducks scored goals.
But team President Kerry Bubolz and Todd Pollock, VP for ticket sales and suites, said they were pleased with the overwhelming Golden Knights fan crowds for Games 1 and 2 against the Kings in Round 1. It appeared as if the ticket vow sales strategy worked.
Pollock said the “vast majority” of season ticket holders agreed to the “vow” deal in Round 1, declining to identify the percentage of season ticket holders who took the deal. Pollock said the team tracks attempts by any fans who take the vow to re-sell tickets on not only StubHub but also on social media and through other secondary market ticket brokers.
On Monday, the team will also have less than 1,000 tickets available for the public, ranging in cost from $125 for an upper-bowl seat to $495 club seat. Those tickets go on sale 12 noon local Las Vegas time.
Fans should also know that the team also receives tickets back from the NHL that are not used and fans should check on the availability of those tickets two or three days before a game. There could be as many as 500 of those tickets available, too.
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Gate revenues are a bonanza for NHL teams in the playoffs because home games are typically packed to capacity or more and the ticket prices are higher.
The teams do take a certain percentage of the ticket revenues and give that money to the players.
Also, in Nevada, the Golden Knights benefit from the state’s entertainment tax not applying to sporting events.
LVSportsBiz.com estimates the Golden Knights would generate $3.2 million per home game in Round 2 if the arena is packed at 18,500 fans paying an average of $175 per ticket. The Golden Knights consider capacity at 17,367 and the team packed the venue to nearly 104 percent of capacity for the 41 regular season games.
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