2024 Season Ticket Renewals / Playoffs

[jeffff]

Why don't you guys share the tickets with 1 or 2 buddies or more? Even 5 guys into 45 games....9 games each....1 every few weeks throughout the season.

I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned more often here.

 

[Simby]

Why don't you guys share the tickets with 1 or 2 buddies or more? Even 5 guys into 45 games....9 games each....1 every few weeks throughout the season.

I'm surprised it doesn't get mentioned more often here.

It doesn't make a ton of sense economically because you only get 1/5 of the good games then. You might not attend all of the good games but selling the ones you don't go to helps reduce the cost of the tickets you kept and good games are easy to sell.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Don't take this the wrong way since I appreciate the amount STH's do to make it possible for there to still be a team in Edmonton. But this is why teams are pricing things so high. They know that there are some games that draw secondary prices like these and they want the money rather than letting STH's use them to recoup part of the cost of having to pay for a Yote's game at 8:00 on a snowy Tuesday in February.

For years now when I go to a game I try to sit in about row 10-15 in the lower bowl on the end the Oilers shoot twice. Several years before the pandemic I was going to about 5-7 games per year. For a couple of those years I sat in one of the same two or three seats which it seems were always for sale. When I was a STH I never sold a single ticket in almost a decade. The very few games I missed I just gave my tickets to a relative or friend. But at $8-14 bucks per ticket it would not have been worth the trouble of trying to sell them. The thing was that almost everyone around me was the same. I hardly ever saw a strange face near me. And if you did it was someone with with someone who had ST's. Now things seem to be different. I wonder how many STH's go to even half the games.

I should have prefaced my tickets are Loge Ledge and cost $700 for the pair per game so I’m not making money except the Leafs game and lost on the Coyotes.

Believe it or not these are the first tickets I’ve ever sold in 40 years of having seasons tickets. I went to nearly every game for 4 decades or my kids did. When the whole Copper Jacket thing started I bought another pair for my business and those went to staff primarily and some customers.

Sold my businesses almost a decade ago but still have my 2 personal tickets and been to every game or gave them to friends or family. Never miss.

However the prices are getting absurdly high and with playoffs around the corner and my being in South America for almost 2 months I decided to try selling some tickets to put towards playoff tickets.

First time I’ve ever done it. So I’m not making money here, just breaking even to pay for playoff tickets for 16 games which is something like $24,000. Last year it was about $19k iirc. That’s a massive increase.

Best 2 seats in the house though!

 

[Fourier]

I should have prefaced my tickets are Loge Ledge and cost $700 for the pair per game so I’m not making money except the Leafs game and lost on the Coyotes.

Believe it or not these are the first tickets I’ve ever sold in 40 years of having seasons tickets. I went to nearly every game for 4 decades or my kids did. When the whole Copper Jacket thing started I bought another pair for my business and those went to staff primarily and some customers.

Sold my businesses almost a decade ago but still have my 2 personal tickets and been to every game or gave them to friends or family. Never miss.

However the prices are getting absurdly high and with playoffs around the corner and my being in South America for almost 2 months I decided to try selling some tickets to put towards playoff tickets.

First time I’ve ever done it. So I’m not making money here, just breaking even to pay for playoff tickets for 16 games which is something like $24,000. Last year it was about $19k iirc. That’s a massive increase.

Best 2 seats in the house though!

Thanks for clarifying!! I really appreciate the context and I was not judging your decision. And as I said I appreciate your willingness to put your money into this. The Oilers are a great passion of mine. If it was not for people like you being willing to support the team they would not be in Edmonton. Unfortunately, I agree that it is going to get harder and harder to justify spending the money. Imagine also what happens when McDavid is done.

I'll add this though. If I want to get a pair of tickets to see the Leafs play the Oilers next week I am looking at about $1400 for a pair in the lower bowl. If I want to see them play the Devils on April 11th it would cost me less than $300.

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

I should have prefaced my tickets are Loge Ledge and cost $700 for the pair per game so I’m not making money except the Leafs game and lost on the Coyotes.

Believe it or not these are the first tickets I’ve ever sold in 40 years of having seasons tickets. I went to nearly every game for 4 decades or my kids did. When the whole Copper Jacket thing started I bought another pair for my business and those went to staff primarily and some customers.

Sold my businesses almost a decade ago but still have my 2 personal tickets and been to every game or gave them to friends or family. Never miss.

However the prices are getting absurdly high and with playoffs around the corner and my being in South America for almost 2 months I decided to try selling some tickets to put towards playoff tickets.

First time I’ve ever done it. So I’m not making money here, just breaking even to pay for playoff tickets for 16 games which is something like $24,000. Last year it was about $19k iirc. That’s a massive increase.

Best 2 seats in the house though!

Thanks for helping to keep the team in Edmonton all these years.

 

[Sra1974]

Thanks for helping to keep the team in Edmonton all these years.

Back in those days of the Copper Jackets it was absolutely true, guys like this with small businesses picking up four seats was the difference maker. Hard to believe that time existed, hopefully it doesn’t come around again but Winnipeg is a warning sign. Fortunately we’ve got some petrochemical stuff coming for the next 5 years or so, so that will help,

 

[harpoon]

I won’t bore people with endless anecdotes about the good old days when I could get a seat for $5, park for free and a hot dog cost 25 cents. At the end of the day we are living in 2024 and going on and on about why one won’t spend money on this product, in a thread intended specifically for folks who do, is kind of tiresome.

I’m no great fan of Daryl Katz. From the outset I disliked the way he strong-armed the investors into selling him the team. Some of the things he appears to have done to make sure that Northlands sits like an unused blight on the landscape seem kind of shady. Can’t really blame a smart businessman for snapping up real estate for pennies on the dollar and out-negotiating the rubes on Edmonton city council, but he sure did serve his own interests in that whole process. However I do have an appreciation for an owner who doesn’t cheap out. We can probably all agree that Katz doesn't know the game and has been the victim of some bad advice which has led to a lot of money wasted (Holland as the highest paid GM in the league is but the latest example of that). But he has opened up the wallet when required. Stabilizing the farm team situation is also to his credit imo.

That said, a double digit price increase for season seats (coming off a pandemic and a lot of instability) just smacks of greed to me. Since buying the club, Katz has seen its value almost double to anywhere between $1 and $1.3 billion depending on whose valuation you believe. OEG Inc which in addition to the Oilers (and the various spinoff real estate ventures surrounding Ice District) dabbles in everything from movies and gaming to weed and restaurants has been very very profitable. Revenue generated by the Oilers + travesty is also included in that. So his investments surrounding the purchase of the team have paid off extraordinarily well.

If I were a season’s ticket holder I would be quite annoyed that on top of raising prices by 10+%, OEG Inc appears to be trying to prohibit me (or at least make it very difficult) from selling tickets for in demand games at a price that would help subsidize the cost of my loyalty. It shows a poor understanding of the market imo, but beyond that it’s unnecessarily alienating to the very people who are your best customers.

About Us | OEG Inc.

OEG Inc. is a North American leader in sports and entertainment, retail cannabis and hospitality.

www.oeg.ca

 

[bellagiobob]

Don't take this the wrong way since I appreciate the amount STH's do to make it possible for there to still be a team in Edmonton. But this is why teams are pricing things so high. They know that there are some games that draw secondary prices like these and they want the money rather than letting STH's use them to recoup part of the cost of having to pay for a Yote's game at 8:00 on a snowy Tuesday in February.

For years now when I go to a game I try to sit in about row 10-15 in the lower bowl on the end the Oilers shoot twice. Several years before the pandemic I was going to about 5-7 games per year. For a couple of those years I sat in one of the same two or three seats which it seems were always for sale. When I was a STH I never sold a single ticket in almost a decade. The very few games I missed I just gave my tickets to a relative or friend. But at $8-14 bucks per ticket it would not have been worth the trouble of trying to sell them. The thing was that almost everyone around me was the same. I hardly ever saw a strange face near me. And if you did it was someone with with someone who had ST's. Now things seem to be different. I wonder how many STH's go to even half the games.

We had our ST’s for over 40 years, and we didn’t even dream of selling them for the first 30 years or so. Tickets were relatively cheap, and the online resale business was just in its infancy. I always hated going to Leaf/Habs games and seeing so many opposition fans, and I vowed to never sell our tickets for those games. But then ticket prices starting rising at sharp levels, the team continued down a dark path, and having a busy family life all combined to start us on the path to selling the odd game, to try to make the overall cost make sense. Shamefully even the Leafs/Habs games, which always went for stupid money. Interesting how it evolved for me, never would have thought that’s how it would end up.

 

[K1984]

It doesn't make a ton of sense economically because you only get 1/5 of the good games then. You might not attend all of the good games but selling the ones you don't go to helps reduce the cost of the tickets you kept and good games are easy to sell.

This speaks to the generally poor value that season's seats provide. I currently have season's seats, but only because the team is in a clear compete window which means I have the tickets at less than market value and I get all the playoff tickets for far less than market value (even with the high face value). The calculus was that I may as well get tickets to enjoy the team while they are at a peak, and if we went all the way I would end up probably more or less breaking even vs. trying to acquire Finals tickets on the market for anything less than a pound of flesh. Being in a compete window might not happen for a long time, so I figured I would enjoy while it's here and that is worth it for me.

Having said that, there is not a snowball's chance in hell I keep the tickets the moment the team is anything less than "contender." There is simply zero value to having them if the team is anything lower than elite.

 

[Arpeggio]

They're gouging us, describing it as anything else is a misrepresentation. You go up and buy four beers and it's $80, it's a complete rip off no matter how good the product on the ice is. Oilers Plus or whatever is such a slap in the face, they're demonstrating that they'll do anything to pick up a dollar or two.

I still go to a game here and there due to friends or when tickets are cheap, because it's so much fun to watch this team play. But they are in for a rude awakening when this team is bad again.

 

[Simby]

This speaks to the generally poor value that season's seats provide. I currently have season's seats, but only because the team is in a clear compete window which means I have the tickets at less than market value and I get all the playoff tickets for far less than market value (even with the high face value). The calculus was that I may as well get tickets to enjoy the team while they are at a peak, and if we went all the way I would end up probably more or less breaking even vs. trying to acquire Finals tickets on the market for anything less than a pound of flesh. Being in a compete window might not happen for a long time, so I figured I would enjoy while it's here and that is worth it for me.

Having said that, there is not a snowball's chance in hell I keep the tickets the moment the team is anything less than "contender." There is simply zero value to having them if the team is anything lower than elite.

I totally agree with your thinking. I had season tickets for 15 years and cut them prior to start of last season. I almost renewed at the last minute but with 2 young kids (not old enough to watch a game), my dad's dwindling interest to attend live games (diehard Oilers fan), and the Oilers rep saying it was too late to get Oilers bucks, I didn't take the tickets. Ended up just buying a couple regular season games against teams we wanted to watch and then bought playoff tickets at face value for 1 game each round. Will do the same this year. It'll only backfire if the Oilers make the finals, in which case the ticket prices go insane. But once the contender phase is over, there's really no point in keeping season tickets. Regular tickets are available in abundance and if there's no hope of winning the cup, playoff tickets are not essential as the game you go to will probably end up in a loss.

 

[mitrovicaman]

I won’t bore people with endless anecdotes about the good old days when I could get a seat for $5, park for free and a hot dog cost 25 cents. At the end of the day we are living in 2024 and going on and on about why one won’t spend money on this product, in a thread intended specifically for folks who do, is kind of tiresome.

I’m no great fan of Daryl Katz. From the outset I disliked the way he strong-armed the investors into selling him the team. Some of the things he appears to have done to make sure that Northlands sits like an unused blight on the landscape seem kind of shady. Can’t really blame a smart businessman for snapping up real estate for pennies on the dollar and out-negotiating the rubes on Edmonton city council, but he sure did serve his own interests in that whole process. However I do have an appreciation for an owner who doesn’t cheap out. We can probably all agree that Katz doesn't know the game and has been the victim of some bad advice which has led to a lot of money wasted (Holland as the highest paid GM in the league is but the latest example of that). But he has opened up the wallet when required. Stabilizing the farm team situation is also to his credit imo.

That said, a double digit price increase for season seats (coming off a pandemic and a lot of instability) just smacks of greed to me. Since buying the club, Katz has seen its value almost double to anywhere between $1 and $1.3 billion depending on whose valuation you believe. OEG Inc which in addition to the Oilers (and the various spinoff real estate ventures surrounding Ice District) dabbles in everything from movies and gaming to weed and restaurants has been very very profitable. Revenue generated by the Oilers + travesty is also included in that. So his investments surrounding the purchase of the team have paid off extraordinarily well.

If I were a season’s ticket holder I would be quite annoyed that on top of raising prices by 10+%, OEG Inc appears to be trying to prohibit me (or at least make it very difficult) from selling tickets for in demand games at a price that would help subsidize the cost of my loyalty. It shows a poor understanding of the market imo, but beyond that it’s unnecessarily alienating to the very people who are your best customers.

About Us | OEG Inc.

OEG Inc. is a North American leader in sports and entertainment, retail cannabis and hospitality.

www.oeg.ca

That is exactly my point for not renewing my seats. I have season seats so that I can go to about 10 home games a year. I go to the non-top tier team games. Why do I do this? So that I can sell all the rest and end up going to the 10 games for little cost. That being said I still have to pay the OEG $16K for my seats. At one point there was a waiting list for season seats. My seats went up by 25% since the 21-22 season. And playoff ticket prices went up by way more. In fact if the Oilers make it to round 3, I will pay 105% more for my seats than in the 21-22 season. I don’t have to like the increases. I understand why the OEG group is trying to increase their profit margin by taking away the profit from the STH resale profit. If I had a lot of money I wouldn’t care, and I would go to as many regular season and playoff games that I could.

 

[lbc9876]

This speaks to the generally poor value that season's seats provide. I currently have season's seats, but only because the team is in a clear compete window which means I have the tickets at less than market value and I get all the playoff tickets for far less than market value (even with the high face value). The calculus was that I may as well get tickets to enjoy the team while they are at a peak, and if we went all the way I would end up probably more or less breaking even vs. trying to acquire Finals tickets on the market for anything less than a pound of flesh. Being in a compete window might not happen for a long time, so I figured I would enjoy while it's here and that is worth it for me.

Having said that, there is not a snowball's chance in hell I keep the tickets the moment the team is anything less than "contender." There is simply zero value to having them if the team is anything lower than elite.

I have asked many SSH the last few years about that and I mean its pretty obvious it will be a shtkicking once that day happens. Even IF the Oilers were able to succeed Oakland A's style, the fans aren't going to be treading through 10 inches of snow in February... They don't do that now!

In my opinion, unless you have a REAL strong network of people who will by tix from you, there is no way to break even, Especially if you count your time and effort. We had them for a decade but after the great pandemic heist of delaying our canceled games money for months, we decided enough was enough. Then all these increases just was icing on the cake.

 

[lbc9876]

I totally agree with your thinking. I had season tickets for 15 years and cut them prior to start of last season. I almost renewed at the last minute but with 2 young kids (not old enough to watch a game), my dad's dwindling interest to attend live games (diehard Oilers fan), and the Oilers rep saying it was too late to get Oilers bucks, I didn't take the tickets. Ended up just buying a couple regular season games against teams we wanted to watch and then bought playoff tickets at face value for 1 game each round. Will do the same this year. It'll only backfire if the Oilers make the finals, in which case the ticket prices go insane. But once the contender phase is over, there's really no point in keeping season tickets. Regular tickets are available in abundance and if there's no hope of winning the cup, playoff tickets are not essential as the game you go to will probably end up in a loss.

You know what... If the Oilers make the final it's not going to backfire. Ok take that with a grain of salt. If it's the Leafs, Rangers, or Bruins say... Ya games will be crazy in demand. But if it's the Canes, Panthers, or Caps... just my opinion but I don't think many people are going to pay $1800 a pair to sit in the upper bowl. Maybe? I would see more people deciding to take the $1800 and go to Miami for example and spending $300 and enjoying South Beach.

 

[K1984]

You know what... If the Oilers make the final it's not going to backfire. Ok take that with a grain of salt. If it's the Leafs, Rangers, or Bruins say... Ya games will be crazy in demand. But if it's the Canes, Panthers, or Caps... just my opinion but I don't think many people are going to pay $1800 a pair to sit in the upper bowl. Maybe? I would see more people deciding to take the $1800 and go to Miami for example and spending $300 and enjoying South Beach.

Seats were re-selling in the Gallery section at Rexall for north of $700 in the 2006 Final (based purely on memory from when I looked), and that was before it was easy to list and make a sale.

Finals is Finals, doesn't matter if we played the lamest on paper opponent possible. So many people (including myself) have seeing the Oilers win a Cup on their bucket list, and something that may not happen again for a long time or even ever will draw people to spend way more than normal for the experience. It's a unicorn situation.

 

[lbc9876]

Seats were re-selling in the Gallery section at Rexall for north of $700 in the 2006 Final (based purely on memory from when I looked), and that was before it was easy to list and make a sale.

Finals is Finals, doesn't matter if we played the lamest on paper opponent possible. So many people (including myself) have seeing the Oilers win a Cup on their bucket list, and something that may not happen again for a long time or even ever will draw people to spend way more than normal for the experience. It's a unicorn situation.

True... I remember picking up seats to Game 6 trying all afternoon on TM and finding some blue line seats right beside the Canes bench for I think about $300 face.

I think the time was different though and we didn't all blow our wads just GETTING to the finals. Like I said, I think many people who would be thinking of dropping 5k for lowers would just suck it up and hit the beach, or NYC, or whereever. Unsure.

I would say that I'd be more confident that each round up to the Final will be much lower demand then everyone thinks. The Kings, Flames, Vegas, Avs... All had seats available game day afternoon. TM just suppresses them 2 or 4 at a time which makes them look sold out. I'm also not saying they will be cheap but less than face being face will be so high.

 

[K1984]

True... I remember picking up seats to Game 6 trying all afternoon on TM and finding some blue line seats right beside the Canes bench for I think about $300 face.

I think the time was different though and we didn't all blow our wads just GETTING to the finals. Like I said, I think many people who would be thinking of dropping 5k for lowers would just suck it up and hit the beach, or NYC, or whereever. Unsure.

I would say that I'd be more confident that each round up to the Final will be much lower demand then everyone thinks. The Kings, Flames, Vegas, Avs... All had seats available game day afternoon. TM just suppresses them 2 or 4 at a time which makes them look sold out. I'm also not saying they will be cheap but less than face being face will be so high.

This has always been common, you just have to be lucky when you look. A certain number of seats get reserved for families, dignitaries, etc and when those don't get used (usually gamed morning) they go up for sale. Again, have to get lucky for that though, like it seems you did in 2006 (very jealous).

 

[lbc9876]

This has always been common, you just have to be lucky when you look. A certain number of seats get reserved for families, dignitaries, etc and when those don't get used (usually gamed morning) they go up for sale. Again, have to get lucky for that though, like it seems you did in 2006 (very jealous).

Different era of Ticketmaster. We used to check at just after noon. Just after lunch basically when they would be input into the system and they were always great seats if you could snatch them. Felt like I hit the lottery that day. Didn't even know who I was taking, but needless to say it didn't take more than one phone call. I wish I knew where the stub was but It was roughly $300 maybe $350 at most.

 

[Slats432]

It is funny, as much as I love the Oil, I generally won't buy tickets. Happy to watch on TV and if there is a good timing special occasion we might buy a pair.

There are times free tickets from suppliers show up.

We can afford it, but for one game, a few hundred bucks is poor value to me.

 

[mitrovicaman]

Yeah now that my lower bowl attack twice tickets are $400 for the pair it is just not worth going to games. That is a ridiculous amount of money to spend when I can watch it on TV. One day left to decide on whether or not to buy playoff tickets

 

[Gordy Elbows]

I should have prefaced my tickets are Loge Ledge and cost $700 for the pair per game so I’m not making money except the Leafs game and lost on the Coyotes.

Believe it or not these are the first tickets I’ve ever sold in 40 years of having seasons tickets. I went to nearly every game for 4 decades or my kids did. When the whole Copper Jacket thing started I bought another pair for my business and those went to staff primarily and some customers.

Sold my businesses almost a decade ago but still have my 2 personal tickets and been to every game or gave them to friends or family. Never miss.

However the prices are getting absurdly high and with playoffs around the corner and my being in South America for almost 2 months I decided to try selling some tickets to put towards playoff tickets.

First time I’ve ever done it. So I’m not making money here, just breaking even to pay for playoff tickets for 16 games which is something like $24,000. Last year it was about $19k iirc. That’s a massive increase.

Best 2 seats in the house though!

When I read comments like this, I’m reminded that Edmonton really is a big town. We’re not a metropolis that has a lineup of big corporations supporting pro teams here. Witness the Oilers prior to Katz…the demise of every pro soccer club that ever tried….the current issues with the Elks.
It’s always been the “small” businesses and owners that formed the backbone of so many sports and cultural endeavours here. Unsung, and often unappreciated, they carried on when there was no one else.
Bravo!

 

[Simby]

Yeah now that my lower bowl attack twice tickets are $400 for the pair it is just not worth going to games. That is a ridiculous amount of money to spend when I can watch it on TV. One day left to decide on whether or not to buy playoff tickets

You have to buy playoff tickets. The only point of having season tickets is to guarantee playoff tickets.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

You have to buy playoff tickets. The only point of having season tickets is to guarantee playoff tickets.

I want the Oilers to win the cup in 16 games meaning 8 home games or lose in the first round 4 straight meaning 2 home games so either way the impact on my bank account is minimized.

 

[GMofOilers]

Its not just the oilers, this is going on everywhere in the NHL games are expensive, season tickets are expensive, the USA is expensive now a days.

Its $15 USD now for a beer at a hockey game. NFL is even more expenisve

Its actually cheaper to have season tickets in Edmonton than many USA markets.

 

[Fourier]

It is funny, as much as I love the Oil, I generally won't buy tickets. Happy to watch on TV and if there is a good timing special occasion we might buy a pair.

There are times free tickets from suppliers show up.

We can afford it, but for one game, a few hundred bucks is poor value to me.

Being there when your team wins it all is something incredible. I am not really sure how to put a price on it. I am an old man but those were some of the best memories of my life.

That said I think everyone has their own threshold beyond which its just not worth it even if you can afford it. Back in the 80's I knew people who were offered $1000+ for a pair of tickets game 5 of the 1984 finals. Frankly I would not have sold my ticket to that game for $1000 even though that was A LOT OF MONEY for me back then. Today if I was offered a game 7 ticket for say $1500 I don't know if I would take it even though I could afford it far more than I could back then.

Its not just the oilers, this is going on everywhere in the NHL games are expensive, season tickets are expensive, the USA is expensive now a days.

Its $15 USD now for a beer at a hockey game. NFL is even more expenisve

Its actually cheaper to have season tickets in Edmonton than many USA markets.

Life is expensive. I have to go to a conference in Manhattan, After fees my hotel will cost me close to $2000 CDN for 4 nights in a fairly basic hotel.