From balcony seats at TD Garden, even 6-foot-9-inch Bruins captain Zdeno Chara appears miniaturized. The Jumbotron offers the best views, sometimes the only hope for tracking the puck way, way below. These are the cheap seats for a reason. At least they were until the Stanley Cup Final came to town and sent ticket prices soaring.
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Over the weekend, the cost of balcony seats for tonight’s Game 6 against the Vancouver Canucks ranged from $400 to a couple of thousand dollars apiece as the secondary ticket market reacted to supply, demand, and fan passion. During the regular season, balcony seats sold by the Bruins start at $37.50, loge seats at $100.50, and front row glass seats at $251.50.
“I paid an arm and a leg — $480 per seat before service charges,’’ said Matthew Lang of Abington, a lifelong Bruins fan who purchased a pair of seats through a ticket broker. “We’re in the balcony in one of the last rows, but I don’t care. I’m in the building. To me, it’s worth it. It may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’’
With a 21-year gap between Stanley Cup Final appearances for the Bruins, and a 39-year championship drought, such rationale is common among big-spending fans of the Black and Gold. Asking prices on the secondary ticket market reached astounding highs — as much as $1,831 being asked for standing-room-only space, $3,500 for balcony tickets, and $5,000 for luxury suite seats — when Game 6 loomed as a potential Cup clincher for the Bruins. After the Bruins lost Game 5 Friday night in Vancouver, eliminating the possibility of a Cup-clinching win in Boston, the Game 6 market bottomed out, then started rebounding yesterday afternoon.
“The first time your team goes to a championship after a long drought is really when things hit peak,’’ said Jim Holzman, chief executive of Ace Ticket. “I think a lot of people that were scared off when the lowest prices were around $1,000 are coming back.’’
When asked how demand and prices compared with numbers posted by the Celtics, who filled the Garden for the 2008 NBA Finals after a 21-year championship series absence, Holzman said NHL business has been “even bigger, which is shocking.’’ By bigger, Holzman meant the price to enter those least-expensive balcony seats available on the secondary market.
For the 2008 and 2010 NBA Finals featuring the Celtics and Lakers, seats at the Garden ranged from $300 to $10,000 on the secondary market, according to tracking by Ace Ticket. Most tickets to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final have fallen within a $400 to $6,000 range. Comparisons with the Red Sox appearances in the 2004 and 2007 World Series are not as meaningful because Fenway Park is a different venue, though prices ranged from $1,000 to $10,000 in 2004 and $550 to $5,000 in 2007.
