Abbotsford Canucks Season Ticket Pricing Announced

[-AJ-]

Got an email today about the season ticket pricing:

 

https://abbotsford.canucks.com/tickets/?mc_cid=f06c96ab93&mc_eid=25396a7b76

 

Maybe it's just me, but some of these seem on the expensive side to me, at least to get decent tickets. Maybe I'm just too unfamiliar with the prices of good tickets to hockey games.

[King Heffy]

Definitely more expensive from the Dub, especially for anything in the neutral zone.

[JM_]

16 minutes ago, King Heffy said:

Definitely more expensive from the Dub, especially for anything in the neutral zone.

better games tho. How many home games will there be? 

 

If I lived out there I'd probably go for a 1/2 season. 

[King Heffy]

7 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

better games tho. How many home games will there be? 

 

If I lived out there I'd probably go for a 1/2 season. 

Definitely, still pretty good value.  From what I recall ECHL was about the same price as junior; the jump in quality of competition is definitely worth it.  I'd be going to a few games for sure if I lived in the area.

[tas]

best seats in the house work out to about $70 a shot when you commit for 3 years, which is the shortest term. 

 

does seem steep to me, but demand should be high with the inaugural season and pandemic weariness. 

[Kootenay Gold]

2 hours ago, tas said:

best seats in the house work out to about $70 a shot when you commit for 3 years, which is the shortest term. 

 

does seem steep to me, but demand should be high with the inaugural season and pandemic weariness. 

If you look into the sheer number of 6 digit salaries that will be playing for the Abby Canucks this year the prices are not all that surprising. Not very many 70K players on the roster.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Kootenay Gold

[-AJ-]

3 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

better games tho. How many home games will there be? 

 

If I lived out there I'd probably go for a 1/2 season. 

34 games makes up all the home games. I probably just didn't realize how expensive hockey tickets are, since I've never purchased full price tickets to anything more than WHL games.

 

I was hoping maybe a small 10-game pack or something would be viable, but I may just have to go to a few games instead. For some reason I was hoping the prices would be comparable to CHL games.

[Captain Canuck #12]

2 hours ago, -AJ- said:

34 games makes up all the home games. I probably just didn't realize how expensive hockey tickets are, since I've never purchased full price tickets to anything more than WHL games.

 

I was hoping maybe a small 10-game pack or something would be viable, but I may just have to go to a few games instead. For some reason I was hoping the prices would be comparable to CHL games.

I was hoping for the same type of ticket package as you.  My guess is that they will probably come out with options for half-season and smaller ticket packages after they get as many people to buy full season packages as they can.

[bigbadcanucks]

I have never been in the Abbotsford Centre...for those who have, can you comment on sight lines?  Strikes me that buildings like the Abbotsford Centre and Save On Arena in Victoria (where I have seen a number of Salmon Kings/Royals/Salsa games) do not have a bad seat in the building. 

 

IMHO, the best seats in the house for full view of the ice surface without fan obstruction are all the seats from the goal line and behind. The corner arena seats are my favorite (especially the ice level corners).

[Dumb Nuck]

I’m having a hard time deciding, I like the idea of going up on the founders wall, we had season tickets to the first year of the Canucks, but I have reservations.

 

Tickets are pricey, was thinking if I could get corner tickets it would be worth it but the way the picking goes I probably wouldn’t so to get a shot at decent tickets you’d have to go club and those are minimum 3 year commitment.

 

Im also concerned we may see more shutdowns, at least of fans as it’s not going well with the Delta variant and who knows what will come out next.

 

Don’t know how hard it would be to resell tickets as I’d want some money back and couldn’t make all the games anyways.

 

I think I’ll wait, maybe it won’t go well with sales and they offer a better deal later but I’d sure love to get on the wall.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

On 8/18/2021 at 9:49 PM, -AJ- said:

34 games makes up all the home games. I probably just didn't realize how expensive hockey tickets are, since I've never purchased full price tickets to anything more than WHL games.

 

I was hoping maybe a small 10-game pack or something would be viable, but I may just have to go to a few games instead. For some reason I was hoping the prices would be comparable to CHL games.

Not as many games as a NHL season (home games) plus significantly smaller arena capacity.  Not too surprising the tickets end up not being that cheap.

[Comet Fan 0727]

To give comparisons and not trying to be a Dick, here is what I pay for Utica Comets tickets 5 rows behind the Comets penalty box.  $875 for the entire season per seat. Works out to about $25 per game. 
 

Looks like the Canadian dollar, travel costs and lots of high priced veterans will impact the ticket prices. $70 per game…I would never pay that for AHL hockey. 

[Googlie]

Utica has some nice Corporate sponsorships, though, that must contribute a fair amount to the franchise.

[bigbadcanucks]

19 hours ago, Comet Fan 0727 said:

To give comparisons and not trying to be a Dick, here is what I pay for Utica Comets tickets 5 rows behind the Comets penalty box.  $875 for the entire season per seat. Works out to about $25 per game. 
 

Looks like the Canadian dollar, travel costs and lots of high priced veterans will impact the ticket prices. $70 per game…I would never pay that for AHL hockey. 

$875 USD = $25,000 CDN (actually, approx. $1,110 CDN, or $32 per game, which makes it 45% of what it will cost for an Abby Canucks game).

 

Average house price in Utica: $154K USD / $194K CDN

Average house price in Abby: $675K USD / $850K CDN

 

Ticket prices are a bargain in Abby when comparing the cost of living between Utica and Abbotsford.

 

@Comet Fan 0727: you'd probably be making 3x the money you are Utica in Abbotsford, so you'd probably have the disposable cash to pay $70 per game without blinking an eye.  Things are expensive in Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley, but everyone gets paid more for the same work that's done in other parts of North America (other than Greater Toronto, New York City (including parts of Long Island, Westchester County, White Plains, Fort Lee), Bay Area/Silcon Valley).

[Comet Fan 0727]

1 hour ago, bigbadcanucks said:

$875 USD = $25,000 CDN (actually, approx. $1,110 CDN, or $32 per game, which makes it 45% of what it will cost for an Abby Canucks game).

 

Average house price in Utica: $154K USD / $194K CDN

Average house price in Abby: $675K USD / $850K CDN

 

Ticket prices are a bargain in Abby when comparing the cost of living between Utica and Abbotsford.

 

@Comet Fan 0727: you'd probably be making 3x the money you are Utica in Abbotsford, so you'd probably have the disposable cash to pay $70 per game without blinking an eye.  Things are expensive in Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley, but everyone gets paid more for the same work that's done in other parts of North America (other than Greater Toronto, New York City (including parts of Long Island, Westchester County, White Plains, Fort Lee), Bay Area/Silcon Valley).

You can spin it anyway you like, but it’s still a lot to pay for AHL hockey.  Do the same analysis for Rochester NY for home prices etc and get back to me.  Ticket prices there are pretty much the same as in Utica. 
 

also time will tell if “paying $70 without blinking an eye” holds true.  Will be interesting to see the attendance numbers, especially in the middle of the year once the newness has worn off. 

[GoldenAlien]

On 8/24/2021 at 3:48 PM, Comet Fan 0727 said:

You can spin it anyway you like, but it’s still a lot to pay for AHL hockey.  Do the same analysis for Rochester NY for home prices etc and get back to me.  Ticket prices there are pretty much the same as in Utica. 
 

also time will tell if “paying $70 without blinking an eye” holds true.  Will be interesting to see the attendance numbers, especially in the middle of the year once the newness has worn off. 

The median sale price of a home in Rochester is around US$170K, which is barely any higher than Utica and translates to under C$215k.  The average home in Abby costs nearly 4x that, plus the city's an hour drive from Vancouver, where the median home hovers around C$1.2M - C$1.3M, which is US$950K-$1.03M.  For comparison the median sale in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens in June 2021 was US$769K. 

 

Pricing is all relative.  C$70 or US$55 can get you a good amount in Utica, but it wouldn't get you very far in NYC, where a single cocktail can set you back $25 after taxes and tips.  $10k is a lot to someone making $50k a year, and nothing to someone making $5M a year.  What we see as expensive or cheap is totally relative to what we make and what everything else costs.

 

At the end of the day, NHL teams don't use AHL teams to make money.  Whatever profit or loss they rack up is a rounding error to a $725M franchise like the Canucks.  The ticket price has as much to do with what a business think people will pay as the actual cost of the product.  For example Ranger tickets often sell for more than twice that of the Devil's, even though MSG is a 30 minute drive from Prudential Center and I'm sure the Rangers don't spend twice as much on their team.  But you can find a lot more people willing to pay big bucks in Manhattan than in Newark, and that's why the ticket prices are set that way.

 

Most importantly, US$55 is definitely a lot less than the cost of flying to Utica and buying a ticket to watch the Comets.  I'm sure most Canucks fans would rather have the option to spend $55 to watch a game, than watch on AHL TV but entertain the thoughts of $20 tickets.

Edited August 29, 2021 by GoldenAlien

[Crabcakes]

Face it, a big part of the decision to bring the AHL team to Abbotsford was a business case.  Rich people don't become rich by being fools.  The Abbotsford Canucks are going to have to at least break even for the decision to make any sense at all.  

 

Player salaries are the same in either city so any discussion on that is a red herring.  Rookies like Klimovich are getting $80K and guys like Woo are getting $70k which is fine for a kid to live in an apartment or billet out in AHL cities.  AHL veterans often earn $400k.

 

Travel, and I dare say arena leasing is certainly going to cost more than in Utica but whoever said that the AHL Canucks will charge what the market will bear is correct.  The big club did a lot of market research to determine what they could charge for seats.  The AHL is not Junior.  I would expect to pay a lot more than for the Giants.  They have all sorts of data from the Calgary AHL club who played in Abby recently.  Also there's the old Chilliwack Bruins data.  

 

There are some really smart people with economics degrees who figure out what they can charge and whether the club moving to Abby was viable at all.

[Comet Fan 0727]

7 hours ago, GoldenAlien said:

The median sale price of a home in Rochester is around US$170K, which is barely any higher than Utica and translates to under C$215k.  The average home in Abby costs nearly 4x that, plus the city's an hour drive from Vancouver, where the median home hovers around C$1.2M - C$1.3M, which is US$950K-$1.03M.  For comparison the median sale in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens in June 2021 was US$769K. 

 

Pricing is all relative.  C$70 or US$55 can get you a good amount in Utica, but it wouldn't get you very far in NYC, where a single cocktail can set you back $25 after taxes and tips.  $10k is a lot to someone making $50k a year, and nothing to someone making $5M a year.  What we see as expensive or cheap is totally relative to what we make and what everything else costs.

 

At the end of the day, NHL teams don't use AHL teams to make money.  Whatever profit or loss they rack up is a rounding error to a $725M franchise like the Canucks.  The ticket price has as much to do with what a business think people will pay as the actual cost of the product.  For example Ranger tickets often sell for more than twice that of the Devil's, even though MSG is a 30 minute drive from Prudential Center and I'm sure the Rangers don't spend twice as much on their team.  But you can find a lot more people willing to pay big bucks in Manhattan than in Newark, and that's why the ticket prices are set that way.

 

Most importantly, US$55 is definitely a lot less than the cost of flying to Utica and buying a ticket to watch the Comets.  I'm sure most Canucks fans would rather have the option to spend $55 to watch a game, than watch on AHL TV but entertain the thoughts of $20 tickets.

Whatever makes you feel better. You can quote all these big numbers, and I don’t believe them for one second.  

[GoldenAlien]

On 8/29/2021 at 10:48 PM, Comet Fan 0727 said:

Whatever makes you feel better. You can quote all these big numbers, and I don’t believe them for one second.  

You don't believe what, exactly?  That housing prices and cost of living in the Fraser Valley/ Metro Vancouver region are significantly higher than that of Utica or Rochester?  That a drink cost more in NYC than Utica?  That the Rangers charge more for their tickets than the Devils?

 

One of the largest global real estate brokerages, CBRE, ranks Vancouver top three in most expensive cities to live in the world, ahead of L.A. and NYC.  Are you suggesting that businesses don't take the area's cost of living and average income into account when they set prices?   

 

You're the one who asked someone to "Do the same analysis for Rochester NY for home prices etc and get back to me."  If you have any sort of evidence that points to Rochester being similarly expensive as Abbotsford, please feel free to share.

Edited August 31, 2021 by GoldenAlien

[GoldenAlien]

On 8/29/2021 at 10:30 PM, Crabcakes said:

Face it, a big part of the decision to bring the AHL team to Abbotsford was a business case.  Rich people don't become rich by being fools.  The Abbotsford Canucks are going to have to at least break even for the decision to make any sense at all.  

 

Player salaries are the same in either city so any discussion on that is a red herring.  Rookies like Klimovich are getting $80K and guys like Woo are getting $70k which is fine for a kid to live in an apartment or billet out in AHL cities.  AHL veterans often earn $400k.

 

Travel, and I dare say arena leasing is certainly going to cost more than in Utica but whoever said that the AHL Canucks will charge what the market will bear is correct.  The big club did a lot of market research to determine what they could charge for seats.  The AHL is not Junior.  I would expect to pay a lot more than for the Giants.  They have all sorts of data from the Calgary AHL club who played in Abby recently.  Also there's the old Chilliwack Bruins data.  

 

There are some really smart people with economics degrees who figure out what they can charge and whether the club moving to Abby was viable at all.

Besides the economics of the AHL, I think there's a bigger business case here overall.  People like the Aquilinis tend to play chess, not checkers.  An AHL team, in the end, is just a rounding error to their empire.  Even the best AHL team would have trouble fetching over $10M on the market; the Canucks were last valued at $725M.  The real X-Factor here is the value that the Abby Canucks can add to the NHL team.  It could say, grow the local fanbase, and fans in the Fraser Valley could easily attend NHL Canucks games, buy merchandise etc., and the NHL level pricing is where the money's at.  The Canucks were valued at $800M back in 2014 when attendance/ ticket prices were higher.  Building sustained fan interest increases the NHL Canucks' value, and that extra value is worth far more than any losses or gains at the AHL level. 

 

Also if more people in the region watch the NHL Canucks, the higher ratings could leverage a better local TV rights deal.  For example, the Canucks currently makes $25M a year from their local deal with Sportsnet, and this deal pays them nearly twice as much as their old one.  If they get higher TV viewership and add an extra $10M/ year to their next TV deal, that itself would pay for all the operating costs of an AHL team.  Not to mention, the Aquilinis wouldn't get the rights to operate Abbotsford Centre without bringing in an AHL team, and they can make extra money with concerts and shows. 

 

Plus, the Aquilinis have long had business interests in the Fraser Valley, and were rumoured to have wanted to buy the Abbotsford Centre and its real estate.  I wouldn't be surprised if their long term plan is to convince the city to sell them Abbotsford Centre and redevelop the area, just like they primarily bought the Canucks for the value of Rogers Arena and the surrounding land.  Bringing the AHL Canucks to Abby certainly garners some goodwill with local voters and politicians.  Even without the potential new developments, they're one of the largest landowners in the Fraser Valley due to their farms and also has the Falls golf course in Chilliwack, on which they have built and sold homes.  They have a real interest in seeing a thriving Fraser Valley and furthering their brand in the region.

Edited August 31, 2021 by GoldenAlien