Re: Ohio State Buckeyes - Coach Rohlik - First Year in the Big Ten
Received email today for ticket purchase for the B1G hockey tournament at $140.00 a seat. Really ****es me off as that's only $10.00 less than a OSU season ticket package! Also the CCHA for their finals at the Joe a front row seat against the glass were only $35.00 a day!
Time will tell if the B1G overreached on this.
But quite honestly that number is not out of line with what college hockey costs in the Twin Cities market. The Gophers get $35 per seat for regular season games, and routinely sell out. I don't know what the WCHA Final Five charged for an all-sessions pass, but I was able to find out that last year's title game went for $46 a ticket. That's on top of $41 plus $46 for the semi-finals -- two separate sessions. The two first round games were also separate sessions. While my info isn't complete, it looks to me like they're very much in the same ballpark as the Final Five.
The Final Five did have an economy option in the upper deck, behind the nets. If the B1G decided not to offer that option, that's a shame.
It will be interesting to see what they charge at The Joe in 2015. My completely uninformed guess is that it will be more than the $70 you enjoyed at the CCHA tournament, but less than this year's $140.
Of course customers would always rather pay less, but prices are going to be a function of supply and demand. So will B1G fans be willing to fill The X at $140 a pop? The guaranteed presence of six brand name schools suggests yes. The distance of five of those schools from the arena suggests no. The local availability of the large Gopher Hockey fanbase suggests yes. The absence of the North Dakota fanbase -- who attended the Final Five in large numbers -- suggests no.
For my part, I'll be watching with great interest -- but watching on TV, right here in Columbus. Maybe that suggests that demand from outside of Minnesota will be limited, or maybe that's just me.
Stay tuned.
