In Case You Didn't See Them

2010-11 New York Ranger Ticket Prices:

Monday Meanderings

No proper Peepin' Foes for the Pens, as we just played them. Sorry, just some random notes:

*Matt Cooke got two games for his hit on Arty. A guy with a history of trying to hurt people getting a slap on the wrist. It is like being suspended from school for these guys - ooo, you miss your friends but hey, you don't have to go to school. These guys get a nice break from the long grind and they are multimillionaires, losing two day's worth of salary means a whole lot less than it would to you or I.

*Denis Potvin has been on NHL on the Fly a bit lately. He still sucks.

*Which "calming" presence that was missing on Saturday do you think was a bigger factor in the loss? No Hank or no Redden? Yeah, thought so.

*The Rangers will certainly claim a complete sellout for tonight's tussle with the Pens but the building won't be full again. Rangers Ticket Exchange had 864 seats being sold by season ticket holders remaining at 2 p.m. and plenty more were available on eBay. Prices are too high and the product isn't entertaining enough.

*If Glen Sather ever had the nerve to talk to the fans - you know, be accountable to the people he is supposed to entertain - I can only imagine his explanation for having Donald Brashear making more than a million bucks when you can have the younger, cheaper, more mobile Dane Byers on the lineup. Dane beat up a baby Isle over the weekend, accounting himself well despite the presence of visors. Is he a heavyweight? No. Do the Rangers need a heavyweight? Brash hasn't been one all season, so why not save the money?

*I will not, NOT stop lamenting the loss of Blair Betts - even with Bettsy on the IR for the second time this season. Brian Boyle is a waste of a jersey (what an offensive improvement, he has three points, Betts has two - and in 12 less games) and the Rangers are a woeful 47.3% in the faceoff circle. Sorry Torts, you can't play your all offense, puck possession style if you can't get the puck. Hopefully Dubi will come back and improve upon the percentage a bit but Drury, Boyle and Arty need a lot more practice or, better yet, need to be replaced.

I'm sure there is more but I have to get moving. Catch you guys tonight with a recap of the game ...

Damn Dolan

Arrived in Pittsburgh to get a text from a friend and an e-mail from the team with bad news. Garden ticket prices have gone up again. Granted, it was completely expected, but still. After the hardest season to be a fan since the lockout, prices continue to skyrocket well above what they were prior to the work stoppage - when we were supposed to get relief as owners got cost certainty. Yet again, they lied. Yet again, we the fans get screwed. I don't have the actual prices, I will amend this post with them when I get a chance. To make you feel better, below is the farce of a letter from Glen Sather trying to justify the raise with how wonderful the team is ... I wonder if you subtract the remainder of Redden's contract, would it offset the increase?

Rangers Subscribers,

Five years ago, we made it our priority to build the New York Rangers team for long-term success by developing a core foundation of young players and adding key veterans as our youngsters matured. Our philosophy remains steadfast, and this past season, six young players whose NHL careers began here in New York played major roles in taking us to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.

Although we were not satisfied with this past season's results, we believe we are on the right track. We continue to focus on the development of players and are excited about several talented prospects in our system. At the same time, we still have work to do as we strive toward our ultimate goal — to compete for the Stanley Cup each and every season.

Under the direction of our new Head Coach, John Tortorella, you will see a retooled Rangers team in 2009-10 that will feature a system that emphasizes aggressive forechecking and puck possession. This up-tempo approach has made John an accomplished winner in the NHL, earning a Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year and delivering a Stanley Cup to Tampa Bay in 2004.

The key objective for this off-season is to complement our strong defensive play and league-leading penalty-kill with more goal-scoring, stemming from this aggressive system. We are determined to add players who make significant contributions in 2009-10, enabling us to dictate the pace of the game on a regular basis.

With an All-Star goaltender, and a mix of accomplished veterans and hungry youngsters, we expect to make our fans especially proud this season. Your loyalty and enthusiasm has always made The Garden a very intimidating place for visiting teams, and you will see a team whose style of play makes it even tougher.

We remain humbled and thankful for your energetic support and look forward to seeing you at The Garden for a great season of Rangers hockey.

Sincerely,

Glen Sather, President and General Manager, New York Rangers

You Know Your Franchise Is In Trouble When ... 2

New York Islanders Holiday Pack
Pick 3 of the 7 Games Below!
Plus Receive a $50 Debit Card!

Date Day Time Opponent
12/26 Fri 7:00PM MAPLE LEAFS
12/31 Wed 2:00PM* PANTHERS
1/13 Tue 7:00PM RANGERS
1/15 Thu 7:00PM BRUINS
1/17 Sat 7:00PM DEVILS
1/19 Mon 2:00PM* CAPITALS
1/21 Wed 7:00PM DUCKS

Features:
Receive Over 50% Off of Box Office Prices!
Great Gifts Included with Package…
$50 Debit Card!
Islanders Team Duffle Bag!

Prices are based on two seats
2 seat $299.00 $249.00 $199.00
4 seats $598.00 $498.00 $398.00
6 seats $897.00 $747.00 $597.00
8 seats $1,196.00 $996.00 $796.00

So with the card, you essentially get two tickets to three games for $150 and not have to pay ticketmaster fees or anything? You also get a team duffle bag that you can give to charity - this being the holidays and all. And, it being the Islanders and all, you surely can move to better seats with no problem ... such a deal!

Is The Garden In Trouble?

The official attendance on the scoresheets of the first three New York Ranger home games was the same each night - a sell-out of 18,200. For those of us actually in the building, we have noticed a good number of those supposedly-sold seats empty. Usually empty seats in MSG is just chalked up to corporations not giving away their tickets but it may be a sign of something worse.

Adding to that simmering feeling of dread is the repeated e-mail updates, ads on the scoreboard and new banner ad on the website advertising that tickets were still available for the next three games. Now how is that possible? Those next three games are on Friday against an Original Six foe, Monday against Sean Avery's new team and Saturday the 25th against the Cole Harbour Queen Cindy Crosby.

Their rotating ad on the homepage links you to a Ticketmaster page where you buy tickets directly it doesn't take you to the TicketExchange where season ticket holders are selling their own seats. That means that there are even more seats available that went unsold.

As of 1 a.m. on Thursday night/Friday morning there were 868 tickets for the Leafs, 1,029 for the Stars and 491 for the Pens available on the Exchange.

It is utterly shocking to me that 1 - there would be tickets still available for those games and 2 - the Rangers would have to aggressively advertise to fill the seats. These aren't the Panthers who have to give tickets away for free. These aren't the Coyotes who made things as family friendly and wallet friendly to get anyone to come to their home opener. And this isn't Nashville; the beer is cheaper here.

What could it be? Rangers are 5-1 so it can't be performance related (unless anyone else got as physically ill as I did watching the Buffalo game). Is it name recognition? No, because Toronto Maple Leafs, Sean Avery and Sidney Crosby are three of the biggest names in the game. Is it the crowded New York sports market? No, the Yankees and Mets didn't make the playoffs, the Knicks haven't started their regular season yet and neither New Jersey-based football team is setting the NFL on fire right about now. Since I refuse to think that New York's taste for hockey is waning, it leaves one thing: ticket costs. The prices are just too exorbitant in this difficult economic climate. With the NYSE index looking like a Six Flags roller coaster ride, hockey fans are finding the Garden's ticket prices too costly for their limited disposable income to handle.

While I am not going to advocate cutting ticket prices - I am not completely delusional - I do think that the Rangers can fix this. You know how?

*Increase game-night giveaways. The only giveaway thus far was a magnetic schedule before the Devil game. People like free stuff and the Rangers have no promotions listed on their home page and are notorious for not doing much of anything in recent years aside from schedules and cheesy towels during the playoffs.

*Increase contests. Everyone likes to win something and the chance to win something big is always nice. And I am not talking about a signed Petr Prucha stick for winning the human puck race or pedal car race during the intermissions. I am talking about seat upgrades, tickets to future games or even game-worn jerseys.

*And the easiest and cheapest way: increase the drama. Nowhere on the Rangers website is it mentioned that Sean Avery is coming to town. A fan favourite who left town to get a big contract, Sean can easily be set up as a villain and as Avery himself has mentioned, this league needs villains. The same goes for golden boy Crosby, who is kinda good and has performed some last-second heroics before in MSG.

Now I am not being Chicken Little and crying that the sky is falling, but I am saying that there is cause for concern and the matter needs to be closely watched going forward. The Rangers have artist renditions of the upcoming renovation to the Garden standing up in the lobby and unless they do something soon to ensure fans keep coming, they may have to bust out the erasers.

You Know Your Franchise Is In Trouble When ...

I am speechless.

Tough Luck Getting Tickets ...

Individual tickets will go on-sale on Saturday, September 20 at 12:00 noon. Tickets will be available for purchase at newyorkrangers.com, Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 212-307-7171 and Ticketmaster outlets. Your purchase will be limited to four (4) tickets per game. Please be aware, inventory for 2008-09 individual games is extremely limited.

I think that basically means no chance for the general public to get Ranger tickets as brokers will eat them up in seconds. There is always StubHub or Ebay but I would suggest looking at season ticket holders who can't make it but want to sell to other Ranger fans. The two best places, if you are willing to make a leap of faith, are on the Rangers' Bulletin Board and HFBoards.

Happy hunting ...

I've Seen The Future, And It's Expensive

The Rangers finally sent out their invoices for season tickets Wednesday and they give subscribers 20 days to send in their payments, lest they lose their seats.

Ticket prices for the 2008-09 season have, of course, gone up. I have two seats in section 329 and they will cost me $52 per seat per game. That is up six bucks from last season, 10 from the season before and 12 from the first season out of the lockout (which was four cheaper than the year prior). Now $52 is not quite the extravagant cost from the first round of last year's playoffs - $75 - but it is still a significant raise ... and for what?

The ticket costs, which you can pay outright or over a six-month pay plan, cover 43 games. As the Rangers are losing a regular season home game to Prague, that means that they are forcing you to pay full price for three preseason games. As many subscribers have experienced, if you can't attend those games, it is virtually impossible to resell them for cost so you are instantly losing money. And, being as the Rangers are playing two preseason games in Switzerland, you can be assured not to see the actual New York Rangers. The good part about that is that every prospect, every free agent, everyone will get a chance to show their stuff before the real games begin. That is great for hockey geeks like me but terrible for ticket resale value. And, believe it or not, members of the Rangers season subscription office are recommending resale to recoup costs as they understand the position that they are putting fans.

Even if you think that the moves that Sather and company made last week were good ones (I don't), you should be prepared for the worst out of the gate. There will be eight preseason games, two in Switzerland and then the two season-opening games in Prague ... all of that travel sets this team up to struggle right off of the bat. The Olympic break doomed the 2006 squad because it came right in the middle of the year - by the time they faced the Devils, the main players had already played seven, eight more games than their competitors while flying to and from Italy. One can only hope that this group of guys will be able to recover over the long grind that will come once they return from their Eurotrip. But I wouldn't bet on it ...

Another question worth asking is that jet lag or not, will the 2008-09 Rangers be worth watching? The personality of the Rangers is gone - no Shanny, no Avery, no Jagr. Markus Naslund and Wade Redden are both mild mannered a la Chris Drury. And while a guy like Aaron Voros is sure to make some waves with his physical play, he can't infuriate the way Sean did. The new Rangers are a more generic, vanilla squad and yet the front office is charging you more to watch them.

I, for one, am hoping that there are enough gullible people in New York willing to pay big bucks for bad hockey because it looks like it will get rough, and quickly. They can have all of the number retirements and honoured numbers they want, but if this team doesn't play better than it looks on paper, they will be in trouble in terms of fans. Should they miss the playoffs, then they will surely see a large ticketholder turnover next summer, when they are certainly going to raise costs again to start paying for the MSG renovation.

It is New York so it is almost assured that the team will be able to get whatever price it wants, but it is just sad that the diehard fans are slowly being priced out. The atmosphere suffers and MSG will cease to be one of the best places to watch hockey in the NHL. It has become a much more corporate building over the last 20 years and when you take the personality of the fans out, and let the players with personality go, what do you have left?

Not something worth $52 a game, that's for sure ...

Required Reading

Yahoo! Sports posted a fantastic article last night that is about a pair people who go to Dodgers baseball games but it really holds true for fans across all sports and the unfortunate position many find themselves in this day and age. It certainly carries over to Ranger games as ticket costs are skyrocketing and will only get worse when the renovation begins. If you have some free time or are procrastinating at work, I highly recommend reading:

Attendance soars even as economy sags