From a Chicago Bloger:
Tickets Could Be In Short Supply For Many NHL Fans On January 1st
August 23, 2008, 8:56 PM ET [21 Comments]
It is still a long time until New Years Day 2009 but if you have thoughts of attending the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field you may want to consider the following.
As a story was told to me from someone closer to the situation than most, there could be fewer tickets available for NHL fans than I would have ever imagined. Considering that the Wrigley Field seating capacity will be kept at approximately 41,000, available tickets for sale to the general public could be only a few thousand.
The story that I have heard is that Hawk Season Ticketholders, Red Wing Season Ticketholders and Cub Season Ticketholders will all be in the mix for ticket purchases before the general public. Although this view is not official it does make sense in a few ways.
Cub Season Ticketholders have had a chance to buy seats in advance for other events held at Wrigley Field in the past. There hasn’t been that many times where this has occurred but Jimmy Buffet Concerts were instances whereby Cubs Season Ticketholders got a chance to buy first. It should also be remembered that the same happens with some Hawks and Bulls Season Ticketholders when there are concerts and other events held at the United Center.
It would make sense to me that Detroit Season Ticketholders were given some preferential treatment also. As most Hawk diehards know Wing followers come in droves to watch games at the UC. For the last ten years Detroit fans have far outnumbered Hawk loyalists at most UC games between the two rivals. In recent years Hawk/Wing contests were played to near capacity crowds at the United Center all due to the fact that Wing fans travel well. Detroit fans will have a far more difficult time finding a United Center seat for the upcoming 08-09 campaign.
Hawk full Season Ticketholders now number in excess of 13,000, a dramatic increase from around 3,500 at the start of last year. I am not sure how many Partial Season Ticketholders there are in total, but I do know those Plans sold out before single game tickets went on sale August 11th. For the sake of discussion, let’s say there will be a total of 14,000 Blackhawk Season Ticketholders before the Winter Classic tickets go on sale as Partial Plans won’t get preferential treatment for that event.
As the story goes, this once again has not been substantiated by the NHL….
10,000 seats each would be offered to Wing and Cub Season Ticketholders = 20,000 + 14,000 (Hawk Season Ticketholders) = 34,000 tickets which could be pre-sold.
Now we can’t forget the NHL who may want to distribute another 2,500 tickets or so to whomever they see fit. If so, that would leave only about 4,500 seats available to the general public.
I had previously thought that there would be about 10,000 temporary seats added at field level for the upcoming outdoor game. That assessment was far from correct as there are no current plans to add additional seating so that sight lines won’t be compromised. I do not question the NHL on that one as this game will not be about sheer numbers at the live event. The NHL may have a mission to make January 1st synonymous with the Winter Classic and TV viewership will be of utmost importance.
Another view is that there may have been some trepidation on the NHL’s part to have the Classic at a larger venue in Chicago. In reality there really wasn’t much choice. The only other place that may have been available for ample advance set up would have been U.S. Cellular Field, the home of the White Sox. I do believe that seats might have been more easily added to the Cell Field surface than at Wrigley but the permanent seating capacity is less there than at the home of the Cubs. US Cellular went through some modifications after the 2003 season when seats were eliminated. The seating capacity was decreased from just over 47,000 to slightly over the current 40,000.
Besides having a unique park like atmosphere, Wrigley Field turns out to be the largest outdoor facility available in Chicago to house the Winter Classic. For the 2006 season the seating capacity increased at the North side home of the Cubs to its current total of 41,118. Many thought, as did I, that Soldier Field would be the obvious choice for an outdoor hockey game in Chicago as the seating capacity there is 61,500.
The mystique of Wrigley Field may have been too much to look beyond for the NHL when considering a home for the Winter Classic. Couple Wrigley’s mystic with the fact that the Bears play at Soldier Field on December 22, which would only allow for nine days of set up, there really wasn’t much choice. A fact which also can’t be overlooked is that the NHL dealt with some difficult weather conditions during their set up process before last years game in Buffalo.
As I recall high winds were a big problem at Ralph Wilson Stadium last December and Chicago is not called the “Windy City” because it sounds cute. Parlay the unpredictable winter weather here, as it could be in the 50’s in late December or 15 degrees below 0 with the wind, and added prep time for this event is critical. Upon closer scrutiny all factors point to Wrigley Field as being a great choice.
What about the fact that there will be about 30,000 less in attendance than in Buffalo last year?…Doesn’t matter to the NHL at all and justly so.
If tickets are priced about the same as they were in Buffalo there would have been no problem selling 70,000 tickets for this upcoming event. I would have to believe that upwards of 60,000 tickets would have been sold if sales would have been conducted in the Chicago and Detroit areas alone. All that doesn’t matter because the NHL knew there would be no place to accommodate a very large crowd on January 1st in Chicago as that wasn’t their aim. Regardless the match-up and setting couldn’t be better and if the weather cooperates it should be a great event.
If in fact Hawk, Red Wing and Cub Season Ticketholders all get a first crack at seats it will be interesting to see how many tickets each group will be allocated. Needless to say virtually every Hawk Season Ticketholder will buy their outdoor game seats as most will attend. Those that do not want to get up early on New Years Day will have no problem selling their tickets… most likely at a profit if they choose.
It will be very interesting see how the Winter Classic ticket situation plays out. For those NHL fans looking to travel to Chicago on January 1st you may want to increase your trip budget and buy tickets as early as possible.
