Winter Classic tickets still available -- if you're willing to pay
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Wondering what to do with all that extra money you have from those returned Christmas gifts? Can you take out a second mortgage on your home, too?
Though the 2011 Bridgestone Winter Classic has been sold out for months, tickets are still available through scalpers and secondary ticket marketplaces.
But they aren't cheap.
The average resale price for a single ticket to the 2011 Winter Classic ticket is $439 on StubHub.com, though at face value ticket prices ranged from $145 to $269. Postings on Craigslist.org are seeking as much as $850 for a single ticket, and listings on eBay.com are as high as $1,250 per ticket.
"Once it goes to the second market, there's nothing you can do," Penguins vice president of communications Tom McMillan said. "That's pure capitalism."
The NHL controls ticket distribution for the Winter Classic, but McMillan said the Penguins wanted to ensure each season-ticket holder was offered a chance to buy Winter Classic tickets.
For Penguins home games, the club reserves a portion of tickets for a walk-up crowd in order to grow its fan base. But the team did not have that opportunity for the New Year's Day game.
Washington Capitals season-ticket holders also had the opportunity to buy Winter Classic tickets. Nate Ewell, the Capitals' director of media relations, said he is certain some will sell their tickets for profit.
"That happens all the time," he said. "But ideally, we want 20,000 Caps fans."
The NHL took measures to protect fans against aggressive ticket scalpers. The league distributed the majority of tickets to the Penguins and Capitals, the remaining NHL teams, the Steelers, local youth hockey organizations and NHL corporate sponsors.
The remaining tickets were made available to the public through a lottery system in an effort to limit the number of tickets brokers could access. Those selected by the lottery could purchase a maximum of two tickets.
First Published December 27, 2010 12:00 am
