The buildup and excitement for the Winter Classic has become unavoidable in the Philadelphia area. Talks of rink preparations, team apparel and the games leading up to the Classic have surrounded the Flyers and Rangers since the beginning of the season and have dominated the month of December.
One topic from a fans point of view that may not be a popular talking point is ticket prices.
With the Winter Classic just around the corner, SeatGeek, a ticket search engine that pulls together ticket listings from all major secondary ticket websites (e.g., StubHub, TicketsNow, TicketNetwork, RazorGator), has done some analysis into ticket prices for the Jan. 2 matchup between the Flyers and Rangers.
1. Tickets to this year's Winter Classic at Citizens Bank Park are averaging 489.16. This is over 80 or 19.7 percent more than the average cost of tickets to last year's game between the Penguins and Capitals (408.50).
Note: The capacity of CBP (43,500) is significantly smaller than last year's venue, Pittsburgh's Heinz Field (68,111).
2. Over the last six weeks, the average cost of a ticket to the game has actually dropped almost 49.5 percent. On Nov. 14, average prices peaked at 745, but within the last three days (Dec. 25-27), prices have averaged 376.
Note: SeatGeek expects ticket prices to stay in the mid-to-high 300 range before dropping slightly this weekend.
NHL
3. Surprisingly, the Winter Classic will not be the most expensive regular season game this season. Tickets to the Winnipeg Jets' home-opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 9 averaged 744 on secondary ticket markets.
Note: First, it was Winnipeg's first game at home since the original Jets were relocated to Phoenix. Second, their arena, the MTS Centre, holds only 15,004.
4. Winter Classic tickets are selling for higher average prices than any Eagles home game over the last three seasons. What about the Phils? Only a set of five playoff games (three World Series, two NLCS) from the 2009 NL Championship season averaged higher prices than this year's Winter Classic.
Note: Winter Classic tickets are currently priced at higher average prices than were tickets for any of the Phillies three 2010 NLCS home games against the Giants.
5. The least expensive available ticket currently on SeatGeak is for 131 (Section 424, Row 11), while the most expensive ticket is going for 11,008 (Section 115, Row 23).
Note: 11,008? Are you kidding me?
All of SeatGeek's ticket listings can be found on their Winter Classic page here.
Sound off
Are you still looking for Winter Classic tickets? If so, what is the maximum amount of money you would spend on a ticket?
E-mail Tim Riday at triday@comcastsportsnet.com