Canucks fans brace for high prices as playoff tickets go on sale
Cheapest tickets around $250 disappeared quickly on Monday, broker says
Tickets for the first Vancouver Canucks home playoff games in nearly a decade went on sale to the general public on Monday, with resale prices quickly rising to hundreds of dollars.
Kingsley Bailey, who re-sells event tickets through his business, Vancouver Ticket, says the cheapest tickets for the Canucks' upcoming opening round game were in the range of $250, but those disappeared quickly.
The cheapest Game 1 tickets available on Ticketmaster via verified resale as of Monday afternoon cost more than $400, including fees.
Standard tickets were still available for more expensive seats, starting in the $700 range.
But Bailey says the prices he's seeing now on resale sites are high and he wouldn't be surprised to see a market correction.
"I would say probably within 48 hours of the game, if there's a lot of inventory, prices, I think, will correct ... These prices are high."
The Canucks became the first Canadian team to book their spot in the NHL post-season after the San Jose Sharks defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-0 on Saturday night.
The team last made it to the playoffs in 2020, when games were closed to the public due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Canucks last played home playoff games in front of fans at Vancouver's Rogers Arena in 2015, when the club lost its best-of-seven opening-round series against the Calgary Flames four games to two.
Bailey says prices were more reasonable in 2015 because the Canucks had "limped" into the playoffs. Tickets ahead of the matchup with the Flames were around $80 to $300, according to a Vancouver Sun article at the time.
Bailey said he's still seeing a lot of interest among fans, but concerns about rising ticket prices mean fans are buying fewer tickets each.
He says in past years he would often see fans purchase tickets for two games in a playoff round. Now, fans may be looking at attending fewer games.
"It's going to affect discretionary spending on events like this," Bailey said of rising costs. "So when they used to go to two or three games, they're now maybe going to pick one."
Canucks fan Kevin Danchella, who visited Bailey's downtown Vancouver storefront on Monday, said tickets are expensive and he may attend only one playoff game.
"I'll probably just watch the rest on TV," Danchella said.
Dates and times for the Canucks' opening-round games have not been determined, nor has their opponent.
With files from Sohrab Sandhu and The Canadian Press