Red Wings giving Blue Jackets fans discounts on tickets

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

They will probably only do this for the first round but regardless I found it interesting. Sad to see us struggling to sell playoff tickets.

Not trying to be a downer or anything just though it was worthy of discussion.

Heres the Link

Blue-hair guy and scores of his Jacket Backer buddies will be in Detroit Thursday night to root on the Blue Jackets -- and you're welcome to join them.

All it takes is $44 per ticket, and you, too, can be in the Joe, surrounded by a sea of red-clad Red Wings fans with ho-hum attitudes for yet another first-round playoff game in the franchise's long-and-storied history.

Detroit is the defending Stanley Cup champion; upstart Columbus is in the NHL playoffs for the very first time.

Not surprisingly, tickets for playoff games in Columbus are tough to come by and quite expensive, while plenty of less-costly seats are available for games at the Joe Louis Arena in Hockeytown.

Seats are so available that Red Wings officials called the Jacket Backers -- the team's official fan club -- and offered a group discount. A very bad Detroit-area economy also is hurting sales.

"Let's be honest: They're used to making the playoffs, and a first-round game's not that much of a big deal to them," said Andy Whitmer, a Jacket Backer known for wearing a big blue wig to games.

All this Columbus passion and Detroit's lack of it have played out on Ticketmaster's Ticketexchange, the NHL's official Web site for selling and reselling tickets.

The site listed 475 tickets yesterday evening for resale by ticket-holders for Game 1 in Detroit -- and they ranged in price from $44 to $275.

By comparison, only 123 were available for Game 3 on Tuesday in Columbus, the first home playoff game in franchise history. The price range was $109 to $1,035.

Red Wings officials aren't surprised by the difference in enthusiasm -- and ticket availability.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say Columbus fans were extremely excited, and it's great for the league," said Red Wings spokesman John Hahn. "We're at the other end of the spectrum."

That spectrum, he said, includes 18 consecutive trips to the playoffs and four hoistings of the Stanley Cup.

OK, we get it -- stop rubbing it in.

Only a few single seats remain for the games on April 21 and 23 at Nationwide Arena, although tickets could be released by the NHL and Red Wings, said team spokeswoman Karen Davis.

In addition, 250 Huntington Green Seats will go on sale for $20 each two hours before all first-round home games, and 200 Rush CBJ high-school and college-student tickets will go on sale for $30 one hour before each first-round home game.

Whitmer, a fan since the team's first game in 2000, is so jacked up he hasn't been able to sleep much since Sunday, when the Blue Jackets learned they would face the mighty Red Wings.

He jumped online and bought tickets through Ticketexchange to the first two games in Detroit for $150 each.

Soon after, Jacket Backers co-travel directors Anne and Jeff Little -- that's right, they're so organized they have co-travel directors -- got a call from the Red Wings ticket office, asking whether the club was interested in a group rate: $45 for $60 seats in the upper level.

That's like asking Rick Nash whether he enjoys scoring the game-winning goal in overtime.

About 15 of the 300-plus members of the Jacket Backers said yes.

The number would have been a lot higher, said Jeff Little and Jacket Backers treasurer Brian Maurer, except many members already had bought their tickets online.

About 50 Jacket Backers said yes to the group rate for the second game on Saturday.

"I think they expect to get through the early rounds and save their money for the later rounds," Maurer said of Red Wings fans.

And then there's the economy.

"Things are bad in Ohio, but they're even worse there," Little said.

Hahn said the recession has indeed affected Red Wings ticket sales.

"For the first time, we've had to be creative and create packages, and we're selling more to groups," he said. "Five or 10 years ago, all we had to do was open the doors and the building filled."

When the doors open Thursday night, the Jacket Backers will be carrying the flag and wearing jerseys -- and a few blue wigs.

Maurer, who's a little more low-key than Whitmer, said he will wear a team sweat shirt. But Julie, his wife and the Jacket Backers president, will be sporting a bright blue wig.

The couple expect a few hoots and jeers from Red Wings fans, but no real problems.

"They've always been respectful," Brian Maurer said of his many previous trips to the Joe.

But this game will be different.

"In all the other games, we were irrelevant," Maurer said. "But this time, the game really matters, there's more at stake and there will be more give and take."

And hopefully, a lot of Blue Jackets fans.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Son of a Wing

[OsGOD 3]

Moneybags should lower the ticket prices for us... you know the old "home team discount"

meh whatever