By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
It’s the Western Conference Finals for the Vegas Golden Knights — the Big Times in Sin City for the local team’s pursuit of the Stanley Cup.
So, Golden Knights season ticket holders who vowed not to re-sell their playoff tickets under a special VGK postseason ticket program will face about a 50 percent (on average) increase in their conference final ticket prices over their ticket costs from Round 2. The ticket prices from round 2 to round 3 (conference final) increased from 40 to 60 percent depending on the season ticket holder’s seat location
While season ticket holders told LVSportsBiz.com they are bracing for the steep playoff ticket price increases, VGK ticket chief Todd Pollock said the biggest complaint from fans has been they want to buy to more tickets for the postseason games.
“They can’t get as much as they want,” Pollock said Tuesday
But one upper bowl season ticket holder told LVSportsBiz.com said his conference final game ticket increased to $150 from $90 in round 2 — a 67 percent increase. LVSportsBiz.com has inquired with the team about his ticket price situation.
Pollock and VGK President Kerry Bubolz also warned fans to not buy printed tickets because those tix are counterfeits. They showed examples of fake tickets when briefing media on the conference finals ticket situation. There have been about 12 cases of fake tickets through the first two rounds at T-Mobile Arena, Pollock said.
Take a look at the phony tickets. Do not buy these printed types of tickets.
Season ticket holders can start Wednesday morning buying their playoff tickets for the conference finals. The Golden Knights’ opponent will be determined Thursday when the Nashville Predators, the defending NHL Western Conference champs, host the Winnipeg Jets in a winner-take-all Game 7 Thursday.
The Predators team president, Sean Henry, posted a funny item on Twitter Tuesday saying the local mayor has declared no work or school on Thursday when the Predators host Game 7.
The Golden Knights will play the first two games of the Western Conference Finals on the road in either Nashville or Winnipeg May 12 and May 14 before hosting Game 3 on May 16 and Game 4 on May 18. The May 16 game starts locally in Las Vegas at 6 p.m., while Game 4 two days later starts even earlier at 5 p.m. local time in Las Vegas.
Bubolz wanted fans to plan ahead for that Game 4 starting time at 5 p.m. (That would be a great day for Las Vegas, Clark County, and the state of Nevada to declare no work or school so that fans can prepare for Game 4 at home at 5 p.m.). Here’s the Western Conference Final schedule.
Ticket prices will not come cheap. The lowest get-in ticket price for season ticket holders for an upper bowl seat is $125, while the same ticket would sell on the secondary market at StubHub for $360, Pollock said.
The Knights will also release about 1,000 tickets to the general public at 12 noon Thursday, with the lowest ticket price at $125 for a Hyde Lounge seat with no view (get in the building but no seat to watch game), $175 for a Hyde Lounge ticket with a view and $225 for an upper bowl seat.
The NHL and NBC and other game-related companies have about 500 tickets among them, and the Golden Knights can sell any of those unused tickets, too, Pollock said. Check the Golden Knights website for availability of tickets, including any unused by the NHL or NBC TV network.
On Thursday, the fans who signed up for season tickets on a waiting list called “Can’t Wait” will get a crack at buying conference finals game tickets.
The Golden Knights’ strategy of enticing season ticket holders to take a “vow” and not re-sell their tickets on the secondary market in exchange for lower-priced playoff tickets has created partisan Golden Knights crowds where there have been a small percentage of Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks fans at Golden Knights home playoff games.
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But even with the ticket price break under the “knight’s vow” playoff ticket program, fans do face a considerable price hike from round to round.
Season ticket holder Dave Castro, of Las Vegas, who has a quarter-season plan, feared the increasing prices for the conference finals.
“I can only imagine what I’m looking at, probably $300 or $350 a piece. If we reach the Stanley Cup final, I would imagine it would be $500 for a face value ticket,” Castro said.
Here is the Golden Knights’ official release on the conference final deal.
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