I wake up to buy tickets to a Calgary-Edmonton game because its on a Saturday as I work and live 2.5 hour out of Edmonton. They went on sale at 10Am and at 10:10 when I started spamming the saite, EVERY seat was sold out.
I look on Ebay and there are of course a hundred posts already for $500-1200 for the 200 sections.
This is BullCRAP! This is whats its come to where a fan cant even get a ticket to a game, even if he is on the ball and trying!? Like really how could it be showing sold out after 10 minutes? Is there some kind of pre-entry?
I understand it "is what it is", but I feel it is a steaming pile of crap.
/angry that he will pay 2X more then the ticket price at a place that says that is illegal.
I wake up to buy tickets to a Calgary-Edmonton game because its on a Saturday as I work and live 2.5 hour out of Edmonton. They went on sale at 10Am and at 10:10 when I started spamming the saite, EVERY seat was sold out.
I look on Ebay and there are of course a hundred posts already for $500-1200 for the 200 sections.
This is BullCRAP! This is whats its come to where a fan cant even get a ticket to a game, even if he is on the ball and trying!? Like really how could it be showing sold out after 10 minutes? Is there some kind of pre-entry?
I understand it "is what it is", but I feel it is a steaming pile of crap.
/angry that he will pay 2X more then the ticket price at a place that says that is illegal.
I could be wrong but I think for that particular Calgary Edmonton game, only single seats went on sale, as the rest of seats were sold-out to minipacks and season seat holders. As of 10:30 there were still singles available.
I think what the ebay ticket sellers do, is usually sell the tickets at face value, but add in a hockey card, or something of no significance, and any extra value goes towards the card, instead of the tickets, thus they're not actually selling the tickets above face value.
Nope they allow ticket sales, but they do have a policy that you can not sell tickets for more then their face value. The sellers (scalpers to the buyers) get around this by saying their auction is for a Bob Beers hockey card with free tickets.
check out stubhub, i see there's a few tickets in the 200's for ~$200 a pop
I bought tickets off StubHub earlier this week. I knew getting tickets was going to be next to impossible, so I was able to snag 6 Gallery seats for opening night for $60.00 each. They're in the first row of the Gallery, so that's a positive.
__________________ "How many Twix does that make for you today? Like eight Twix?!"
I actually find it best to buy them off Ebay from season ticket holders long before they go on sale. They usually sell them for close to face value and then you just have to wait a bit for them to receive the tickets before they can send them out to you. That is what I did for the first pre-season game coming up. I also did that for a regular season game last year against Colorado. It all worked well for me.
I have done it in the past for Flyers tickets when the Oil come to town.
I actually find it best to buy them off Ebay from season ticket holders long before they go on sale. They usually sell them for close to face value and then you just have to wait a bit for them to receive the tickets before they can send them out to you. That is what I did for the first pre-season game coming up. I also did that for a regular season game last year against Colorado. It all worked well for me.
Yep, buying them before they go on sale (and thus, before the mad rush for tickets begins) is the best option.
I wake up to buy tickets to a Calgary-Edmonton game because its on a Saturday as I work and live 2.5 hour out of Edmonton. They went on sale at 10Am and at 10:10 when I started spamming the saite, EVERY seat was sold out.
I look on Ebay and there are of course a hundred posts already for $500-1200 for the 200 sections.
This is BullCRAP! This is whats its come to where a fan cant even get a ticket to a game, even if he is on the ball and trying!? Like really how could it be showing sold out after 10 minutes? Is there some kind of pre-entry?
I understand it "is what it is", but I feel it is a steaming pile of crap.
/angry that he will pay 2X more then the ticket price at a place that says that is illegal.
You can get tickets to the game. Buy seasons tickets. Supply and demand sets the price and if you can't afford them, that's your issue. You could also try checking the site at 10:00 instead of 10:10. You snooze, you lose.
You can get tickets to the game. Buy seasons tickets. Supply and demand sets the price and if you can't afford them, that's your issue. You could also try checking the site at 10:00 instead of 10:10. You snooze, you lose.
Hah, I'm currently #1400 on the season seat registry. I would LOVE to buy season tickets
A true fan would be at his computer with his finger ready at 9:59
I do agree that I dropped that ball there...stayed up to late, and even got the text message to my blackberry at 9AM.
Regardless, its truly sad that ticketmaster is now the middleman. I would buy season tickets but I am on the waiting list as well, because IF I get season tickets I want gold.
Whatever, like everything else, corporations/companies/ticket brokers make profit and the endusers bend over.
The thing is that, I will get tickets in the end so its not that I have to pay 2 or 3 times the price, if I cared that much I wouldnt buy them. Its the principle of the whole thing. When I was a teen I could grab some friends and go to a game and I didnt have the disposable income I have now. Today, unless mommy and daddy extend you a line of credit good luck doing that. A father wants to bring the family or even one child yo a game on a budget...NOPE sorry. Sad, to say the least. Anyone who remembers their first hockey game will know how great it was and that everyone should experience that.
IMHO, thats why this system can GO SCREW.
Sure it's wrong but the decision makers behind the system feed this monster.
I tried buying mini-packs for the Oilers this year but got screwed over. My order got kicked because I waited too long (which wasn't the case, I was loading up tickets left and right) and what was left was slim pickings.
Now why would there be so few tickets left after only a day? Maybe the fact the Oilers let people buy up to 6 or 8 at a time, that may have something to do with it. But let me guess, there are families out there that have a whole fleet of people to go and they're loading up on mini-packs.
Right.
More like, there is a whole fleet of ticket brokers out there looking to load up and sell to you on eBay or stubhub.
These teams could try some anti-scalping policies. Not rules per say, but how about ticket packs geared for families? Charge face value but block people from being able to sell them to anyone else. Maybe you have to declare who is going (let's say mother/father + kids) and you get all your tickets at the door and have to enter the building after buying them? You can't leave and "come back" only to have your tickets in the hands of someone else. Something that lets the Oilers get the money they deserve and gets families and fans into the arenas without hosing them anymore than the pro-sports business model does.
I have no problem with teams charging tons of money to go to games (don't like it? stay home.)
I have no problem with people selling their property at a price higher than what they paid for it - if you do have a problem with that I have no problem buying your home at 1989 prices.
It would just be nice if the model didn't make the systematic, economic drawn-and-quartering of it's customers acceptable practice.
I bought tickets off StubHub earlier this week. I knew getting tickets was going to be next to impossible, so I was able to snag 6 Gallery seats for opening night for $60.00 each. They're in the first row of the Gallery, so that's a positive.
First couple rows of the gallery can be BRUTAL. Had season tickets (2nd row) up there last year and there was a handrail in my line of sight. I guess you could have the same problem in the first couple rows of the 200's also.
First couple rows of the gallery can be BRUTAL. Had season tickets (2nd row) up there last year and there was a handrail in my line of sight. I guess you could have the same problem in the first couple rows of the 200's also.
Yes, I remember some areas having that problem - but fortunately I've sat in these same seats before, and the view was just fine.
I have got seats right behind the Oiler and visitor bench (front row) many times from my company. Its hit and miss, but even the hits kinda stink.
You are looking through glass or at the back of fat Hitchcock. Out of the 15 or so times I have sat in that front row, I was able to move to some untaken seats a few rows up about 7x. One time I brought my 8 yr old niece and the attendant moved us across the ice behind the penalty box because the visitor coaches and trainer wouldnt move and they were right in front of us. Those seats you end up watching the game on the jumbotron.
My favorite seats in the place are rows 2-10 of the 200 anywhere in the neutral zone or in the 100s row 5-10 in the neutral zone...for hockey anyways.
I found decent tickets to the home opener against Colorado, Detroit and Boston this morning at a few minutes past ten. Only singles for Calgary and Toronto. I do have season tickets, but I wanted some extras for friends. In the end I didn't buy any of the seats because I was really looking for the Toronto and Calgary game, and even though the other tickets were decent, they weren't lower bowl and that is what I really wanted.
For those of you who don't like how it is in Edmonton, keep in mind that in Toronto and Montreal it has been like this for years. It is simple supply and demand. I have no problem with the way things are.
I recall being a season ticket holder in the early 90's when I couldn't give the tickets away to anyone or where the first reaction would be, "who is playing" (as in they didn't give a crap about the Oil, only the visiting team). I remember phoning 20 people or more and noboby wanting to go to the games, for free! If I gave the seats to clients they would often sit empty, so I stopped doing that. Some might not remember that time in Oilers' history, but for those that do, it was dire indeed. It still boils my blood that there was such apathy for the Oilers and NHL hockey generally at that time.
I still remember when friends of mine would show up 10 minutes before a game and get better seats than I was sitting in for half the price, because that is all the scalpers could get. Did I get pissed off that, as a season ticket holder, I was getting screwed becase the street value of the tickets were often lower than what I was paying for them? No. I wanted to support the club and I had no problem with that. Just like I have no problem with things now.
Even with a larger building I think the appetite for tickets will strip the supply. I love it. About damn time that people cared this much for NHL hockey in this city.
Also, I have never had a problem getting tickets for most games. If you're looking for the "hot" ticket, it can be very expensive and/or elusive. However, I will tell you right now that anyone wanting Columbus, LA, Nashville, or other games, will have no problem finding reasonably priced seats. Heck, I'll sell some of mine to you if you want. So it isn't a problem finding Oilers games, only the hot games, and that is understandable.
its so true.
