Re: Boston Frozen Four tickets
Regarding Providence and Albany there are factors that tug both ways. They are small (i.e. sub-NHL size, maybe around 10,000 seat) venues, so a lot of tickets may have gone to diehards who were not necessarily from New England. They were also very tough tickets. I tried to buy tickets to Providence but was shut out, so I bought my way into Albany (they had a deal that if you bought tickets for the 2000 regionals, you were guaranteed tickets for the 2001 FF).
Correct. As you will see, my experience closely parallels yours.
It's relevant to note that in 2000, tickets were sold on a first come, first served basis. That was the normal arrangement during those years. Tickets went on sale right after the Anaheim tournament was over, and were gone by the end of the Summer -- a startling development at the time. During the 90's it was common for the regulars to buy tickets a full year in advance. In return, you generally got very good seats. But while the initial flurry typically took lots of prime seats off the market, it didn't come anywhere close to a sellout. So if you didn't buy in the first couple of weeks of the sale, the tendency was keep your wallet closed, then attend to the matter after hockey resumed in the Fall. But those of us who did that for Providence got shut out of the public sale. FWIW, that's why my personal priority point total is one below the maximum.
I'm not sure who snapped up all the Providence tickets. Haven't thought about this for quite a while, but my ongoing assumption has been that local people got the memo that tickets were going fast, and made purchases quickly. In other words, before the news spread nationally. But as per your alternative theory, the defining characteristic could have simply been shrewdness. In other words, people who were smart enough -- regardless of mailing address -- to realize that given the experiences of 1995 & 1998, Providence 2000 might be a really tough ticket. Gotta admit, your theory sounds plausible too.
As for Albany, I believe that the crowd was mostly New Englanders. For one thing, BC had a very heavy presence that year. But while I personally did the 2000 Regional + 2001 FF deal, my observation was that few other Midwesterners did. Then, as now, traveling to a distant regional as a neutral fan just wasn't very common.
What does all this mean for 2015? Maybe there's fewer potential buyers at Level 4 than I've been projecting, and perhaps at Level 3 as well. If so, that would be good news for those at Levels 1 & 2, if nothing else.
I'll admit I'm surprised that there are so few $600 seats left. I thought they were overpriced, but looks like they're going to sell out in the initial sale to me.
They are moving surprisingly well.