Several things working in ticket brokers' favor
Just days before the Blackhawks play their first home playoff game since Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final last June, ticket madness has yet to kick in at Chicago-based Front Row Tickets.
Which isn't necessarily unusual for a secondary ticket marketplace.
The Blackhawks may be the defending Stanley Cup champions, but plenty of tickets remain available for next week's two playoff games at the United Center.
After opening the postseason in St. Louis on Thursday night, the Blackhawks face the Blues in their home rink again Saturday, before the best-of-seven series moves to Chicago for Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Wednesday.
"The early rounds are usually a little softer," Front Row Tickets manager Dale Soderholm said. "People nowadays kind of wait until the last minute because the cost of everything is so expensive."
The good news for ticket brokers is, with the Blackhawks playing the rival Blues, the tickets should sell.
"I'm glad we're playing St. Louis in the first round because people like to watch St. Louis," said Max Waisvisz, a partner at Gold Coast Tickets in Chicago. "Ticket (sales) are actually pretty good for a first round. Usually, it could be very slow. What makes it much better is that we don't have home-ice advantage. For me, as a ticket broker, that's always better, because it's not (a situation) where the game is announced and then it's played right away."
National websites such as stubhub.com, vividseats.com and cheapseatstickets.com show available standing-room tickets for Game 3 ranging in price from $63 to $108. Which doesn't include parking.
As of Thursday afternoon, according to its website, StubHub! had 1,403 tickets available for Game 3, with the cheapest standing-room ticket costing $80.22. On its website, frontrowchicago.com, Front Row Tickets shows Game 3 tickets priced similarly.
"It looks like you got a million seats, but you really don't," Soderholm said. "When you see them at (a certain price), generally what you're going to see is another percentage being added to that when you go to close out."
This week, Vivid Seats released a report for the NHL's first round of the playoffs. It showed the most expensive matchup is Game 4 of the Blues-Blackhawks series, which has a median ticket price of $340. The report includes prices for each of the first four games for every series.
Waisvisz appreciates that the series is not opening in Chicago, as it buys Gold Seat more time to sell tickets.
"Monday and Wednesday night is actually good. I didn't want Easter night," Waisvisz said. "A Sunday (game) would have killed us. (Monday-Wednesday) usually allows more corporate America to get to the game."