We had very good renewals for season tickets and plans. We started the season at close to 85 percent and I believe we are now at close to 88 percent renewals. So the notion that we raised ticket prices and have driven customers away is just silly and wrong. Our ticket prices are basically the same as they were in 1999. Can you name another entertainment product that has had essentially flat pricing for that long of a period of time? The small churn we have in ticket renewals is because the individual can
Ted's Take
They already tried to stop selling tickets to Pittsburgh fans…worked about as well as Ron Wilson’s “We’ll beat them anywhere” claim.
Pens fans have every right to come down to DC and buy tickets for a game. The Caps should appreciate the financial support the Pens fans give them. When the CAPS are a good team and can have a solid sell out crowd fan base, then the team and fans can say something. Until then, they will wither in the south east division and fail to prevent the Pens fans from entering the Verizon Center. LETS GO PENGUINS… LETS GO STEELERS!
Teddy, be an owner take the money and go buy some talent. Stop investing in state of the art facilities and start putting the money into the team. REBUILDING is OVER…
I will keep on wearing my Pens Jersey to games cause I love the PENS, love hockey, and end up giving the caps my money to see games there.
we are coming, we are going to watch you lose to our team (as always), and we will sing Steeler songs once the game is in the bag.
Oh, but if we’re going to make the trip, you could at least have some decent beer on ice for us when we get into town. thanks.
I hope someday that the Caps will get back to their glory days and have lots of sellouts. A fun atmosphere.
I also hope Pittsburgh has an economic revival so all the Pens fans can return home.
Of the two, I put my money on the Caps.
I am a 16 year season ticket hold of tickets in the 100 section. My company uses the tickets to entertain clients and sometimes I bring my wife. I love the fact that you have kept the pricing in tact for our seats. They are affordable for our business. In contrast, we have given up our Wizards season tickets. I suspect prices will increase as the team gets better. The Caps season ticket representatives are a class act and really care about what folks like me say. Kudo’s to Greg Monares.
I basically don’t go to certain games such as Pissburgh, Buffalo, NY Rangers, Philly because I don’t want to put up with their obnoxious fans.
Dear Mr. Leonsis,
I am able to afford season tickets in all areas of the arena, however I don’t see any reason to purchase them or single game tickets from the box office as long as it is substantially cheaper to buy unwanted tickets online through craiglist, ebay, stubhub, etc.. I think you’d have more success filling the building if the face value of a ticket more closely reflected its market value.
Pittsburgh has a much smaller arena that the Verizon Center so a sell-out is easier (even then, they have standing room areas, as well as a number of obstructed view areas…ugh!)
They also have a team that made the playoffs last year (we didn’t). Once the Caps get on a roll, and I think they will, the people will come back to watch. Guarantee it. Nothing sells tickets better than wins.
Stop selling tickets to Pittsburgh fans! The worse was their “Lets go Steelers” cheers at the end of the game on Saturday.
“We have RAISED the prices on walkup tickets on game day to DISCOURAGE other team’s fans from coming to the game.”
The Washington metro area is a very transient area, and people aren’t going to change their team allegiance simply because they move here. As a fan of one of those Six-Pack teams, I can feel for Caps fans when several thousand fans of the opposing teams are in your house. When Caps fans have come to my team’s home arena, they’ve always been classy and very vocal – I try to be the same way. Of course, I buy my tickets in advance, so if you’re trying to discourage me from visiting you should try something else. What’s sad is that I love hockey, and I’ve gone to just as many Caps games to cheer them on against other teams. If your attitude is that I’m never welcome because I have a different favorite team, maybe I’ll just stay home in the future and watch Center Ice. I think it’s important that hockey be in Washington, and I like to think I show that support by coming to games. Several times I’ve decided to come to Caps games at the last minute – ironically to cheer on the Caps. Nice to know a last minute decision is now DISCOURAGED.
My season ticket prices came down this year. Last year, I bought the 11 game plan and was then given an opportunity to by seats in the 403 section at half the price I was paying for a full season. I cannot go to all 41 games, so I was able to split my seats with another Caps fan. Now I can go to 20 games for less than the cost of the 11 game plan. I can’t complain with that offer. I even like my seats better. I also used to have seats in the lower bowl, and I still like these seats better.
It is true that there are a lot of people from Pittsburgh in the DC area. People forget it is only 4 hours away and is the closest big job market outside of Cleveland, if that even counts. I went to college in Pittsburgh and people who were not staying to work in Pittsburgh, where mostlty coming to DC. So not sure if the Pens fans ‘problem’ can ever be solved.
im sure it has been worse, but not that much worse. the place was CRAWLING with pens fans, it made me sick to my stomach.
Actually, price increases at all of my Six-Pack teams have been either minimal or non-existent over the past few years (and I’m holding my original $20/fixture price moving to the Nationals’ new ground, albeit in a part of the ground with a less favourable view). So my own personal experience on the ticket-pricing front has been quite positive in recent years…others (such as the ones who had season tickets in the upper rows of the Side Mezzanines at the Caps matches up through this past season, who got a considerable price increase for the current season) may beg to differ.
“So the notion that we raised ticket prices and have driven customers away is just silly and wrong.”
You raised my season ticket price $13 per ticket per game. I declined to renew based on this fact alone. The notion is NOT silly and wrong. Perhaps one specific customer is unimportant to you given the others you cater to, but if one customer falls into the category then it cannot, by definition, be wrong. And the more you talk about this point the more put off I become towards the Capitals because I take your comments to be a direct indication you only care about the fans who blindly buy tickets.