We didn’t sell any group tickets to any fan clubs from Detroit. We didn’t sell any tickets to any travel agencies from Detroit either.
We didn’t have to since we were sold out with fans from our own community. My goal is to start next season with 14,000 season tickets sold!
What I do see happening though now is this: Many season ticket holders are now selling off some key games against big rivals on ticket exchange services. They get a huge markup on their tickets that helps defray the cost of tickets for the rest of the season.
There were about 5 rows in front of me where there are usually a large group of season ticket holders that had sold their tickets to local Detroit fans. I may have to find a way to get first right of refusal on resell of our seats. 
Many fans that were rooting for Detroit are actually our season ticket holders. They are happy Caps fans and loyal customers and they root for the Caps always except when we play Detroit. When we sell out the bottom and top bowl, the club seats go on sale via Washington Sports and some of those tickets get sold as groups or online to Detroit fans.
It is obvious that we have made progress. Perhaps ten percent of the arena was rooting for Detroit at yesterday’s game. I won’t rest until we have 100 percent Caps fans in our building but I admire what Detroit has built in terms of fan loyalty. Thank you Caps fans for being loud and proud. We are building a Hockeytown right here in DC.
I am a Caps fan. This year has been very tough financially for me. I don’t want to give up my caps tickets and I want to go to as many games as possible.
I sold the Det and the 1st pens game and I made enough on those games to cover 5 additional games I wanted to go to.
It’s a tough call, but I would rather go to more games even if it means selling a High valued game.
It’s up to every season ticket holder to do his/her part to manage their seats, but I can tell you that it’s difficult. Sometimes we can’t make games and have to sell, and we don’t always know who is buying them.
I do question the loyalty of Caps fans that sold tickets for the Detroit game though. How can that be possible? How do you call yourself a fan?
I will agree with others about the Philly/Pit fans on how rude and obnoxious they can be. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with Detroit fans. Just before the game a Detroit fan let me get in front of him during a traffic jam on New York Ave. A Philly fan would have pushed me to the curb and probably flipped me off as he passed by.
I was a Detroit fan before I was a Caps fan (and Bears season ticket holder).
I root for the Caps except when they play Detroit.
Since I now in MD, should I not be able to come and support my favorite team, even if it at the expense of the home team and my second favorite team?
I totally agree with FFSEnough and I think that means “Flyer Fans SUC.Enough…said.”
Flyers are “In your face” when they come here. They are obnoxious people!!!
A few of them sat in the Green Turtle talking about how bad the CAPS are and said some very nasty stuff about Ovie. If, I were a guy, I would have whipped his azz right then and there!
After the last “Flyer Fan Suc.” game I broke up a fight on the metro between two “Flyers’Suc.” fans and three CAP fans. Ted, we need fly repellent!!
I can understand selling a few games to help pay for the total cost. But how can you sell a game as big as the Detroit game?!?! No amount of money can be worth not being there when we beat the defending champs.
to nathalie in Charm City. Monday thru Friday you can take the MARC train from Baltimore into Union Station in DC. From there take the Red Line on the Metro to the Chinatown stop right outside of Verizon Centre. On the weekends you can take the AMTRAK from Baltimore and the Red Line to Verizon. Hope that helps
I have to agree with some of the points made in the previous comments. I had about a dozen Wings fans around me Saturday. They were all very pleasent toward me and the Caps. They were very knowledgeable of not only the game, but the Caps as well. I hate to say it but the rudest person by me was a Caps fan….
This is my first year to have season tickets to any team in any sport. Guess you can call this my mid-life crisis !! I’ve been a Caps fan since day 1 and am having a great time at the games. I have an 11 game plan and I do hope you don’t get rid of this option. Some of us Caps fans work until later hours and weekends and this plan fits into my schedule. I’ve been to every wednesday and sunday game this year !
Thanks for listening.
Go Caps !!
Nathalie, what are you talking about? I’ve never noticed anything like that. Try riding the Red Line and you see that people are riding into MD going in both directions, less so on the yellow or blue line into VA.
For a team HQ’d in Arlington, I don’t think it tilts towards VA for its fan base at all.
Love the Caps and would love to come to a Caps game, but I can’t afford tickets to even 1 game let alone any kind of STH package. Plus there is no public transportation to DC from Baltimore; Caps seem to be inclined towards the VA fans much more than the MD fans.
I’m one of the opposite types of those fans.. I love both Washington and Detroit like them, but when they meet, it’s all about the Caps!
@SA-Town: The Caps provide a service called Ticket Exchange that lets season ticket holders sell their tickets if we want. I sell a few that way every year, but only for games I can’t get to. 41 games is a lot of games, and with holidays, etc. there’s no way to get to them all.
I won’t say I sell them at face value, I set the price based on what other sales are out there.
I think the idea Jmac has is a good one, in that we can limit who can buy the tickets to partial plan holders. I’d certainly be in favor of that…
What if you waived the broker fee if season ticket holders sold to partial season ticket holders?
The fans we really need to keep out are Flyers fans. There is a special place in hell reserved for Flyers fans but until they get there we need to keep ‘em out of the Phone Booth.
I agree with Jim about the partial packages. PLEASE keep them around, too. Being from southern VA, we pledge to make every weekend home game; but the weekday games are impossible due to our work/travel schedules. I sat with friends that I buy our package with–the same type of fan you spoke of–Detroit transplants who are “diehard” Caps fans except maybe one game per season. Since they wore their Federov jerseys I let it slide!
I’ll take 2,000 Detroit fans over 1 Philly/Pitt fan any day.
Ted, Winning Championships cures all.It takes time but it will happen.I have center ice and see and hear fans from opposing teams cheering on in ALL buildings including Detroit,Pittsburgh,NY,Philly.Happens everywhere.
In past years, we would have said, “wow, there weren’t that many Wings fans at the game.” It’s funny how things are changing in DC. IMO, there were more Pitt, NY, and Philly fans (percentage) at Skins games this year than at Caps games. The Skins no longer enjoy a true home field advantage while the Verizon Center is now “Our House”. Who would have believed it? Keep raising the bar Ted!
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There is nothing wrong with being a Detroit (or any other team) fan in a Washington (or any other city) building. We are all hockey fans and grateful to the local team, the Caps (and Ted Leonsis) for bringing good hockey and good teams to the city.
I have been a Red Wings fan longer than there has been the Washington Capitals. Old loyalties die hard.
Both teams played well Saturday. The Caps’ best player was the difference maker. The Caps deserved to win. And the Red Wings fans in the building deserved to be there and see the game.
So, thank you, Ted, for bringing the Wings to town.
Ted, you got it right. We sold 2 of our 4 for both games this weekend. When you are talking about a 25% price raise in our categorty (mythical 16 to 20 mentioned in the post) please don’t yell at me for using a feature you advertised.
In defense of the Wings fans next to me, great couple who loved hockey. There’s only so much money, for me to keep my tickets I need to sell some. If it makes you feel better we kept our Pens tix in house.
What are the laws about re-selling tickets over face value?
Ted (and perhaps you know this): Another thing that happens is Caps season tickets (as hot sports tickets in general) are now being owned by ticket brokers. I sit low in section 100 and there are numerous seats near me owned by ticket brokers. (The four next to me are owned by a NJ firm.) I know because I’ve asked the always-different fans who show up for big games (Detroit, NYR, etc.) and noticed the always-empty seats for lesser games (Tampa, Vancouver). They even gave me the name of the brokerage house in NJ.
I understand, of course, that brokerages have just as much right to own seats as anyone else. But in case you aren’t aware, there are several in the lower bowl that are owned by brokerages and ALL those seats were filled with Wings fans yesterday.
BTW: I’d love to buy more seats in 100. I was told last year they are all sold out. If this isn’t the case, let me know.
If you are looking to keep the tickets in Caps fans hand, then you should make sure your drive to sell full season tickets is cooled. Partial plan ticket holders are much less likely to sell their tickets, obviously, because they only have 22 or 11 games or whatever. You keep selling to newbie full season people and squeezing out the loyal partial plan holders, you will never reach your goal of 100% Caps fans exactly because full season ticket holders sell many of their games.
While I’d love a 100% Caps house every night, it’s not going to happen in a town like DC. Too many people come here from all over and bring their loyalties to the home team with them. The logistics of it would be a real pain (how are you going to determine who is a Capitals fan versus who is a Detroit fan in an online transaction?) And if WS&E or the Caps sell tickets to local Detroit fans (again, how do you tell the difference in an online transaction), restricting fans from reselling on Ticketmaster exchange or another ticket exchange site just looks bad – you’re willing to take the money of a Detroit fan but won’t let a Capitals fan do the same? Relax, accept a couple of outsiders in the house, and recognize that we’ve come a long way from attendance levels of 10,000 to approaching the franchise sellout streak.
Ted as a season ticket holder, and a diehard Caps fan, I was still proud of the crowd yesterday. Yes many local fans might be detroit fans that have adopted the Caps (I mean how can you not love them, and enjoy watching Ovi create history every night)but I was still impressed that even though there were a lot more opposing fans there we were still loud and proud especially in the third. And as a season ticket holder and a caps fan I have no problem having visiting fans come to our games. Its when the fans are obnoxious and rude, and abusive that I find horrible (i.e. Penguins, Flyers fans in particular). Every Detroit fan that I passed, or happened to sit near yesterday was there because they love hockey and love their team. They were respectful, and pleasant. If I have to see Verizon “invaded” by opposing fans I would so prefer them to behave like the Detroit fans did, it also doesn’t hurt when the opposing team has similar colors so that visually it looks like all red in the stands! LOL
But really Ted as much as I appreciate your sentiments I am not sure you will ever win this “battle” if you will, but good luck trying. If you could figure out a way to do a personality and behavior screening prior to selling tickets that would be a concession I could live with! LOL
LET’S GO CAPS!
I hope you are pleased fans of hockey show up! Cultivating a love of the game should be the first thing on a owners mind That is how to build a fan base. that said you will always have Guin fans who either travel from Pittsburgh or are transplanted Pittsburgh living in your beautiful area coming to games.. Again revel in the skill of great players like Alex (I saw him beat my Pens a couple of weeks ago He took over the 3rd period) and great players on opposing teams.
Thanks
This team is the real deal, Ted. Thank you. I’m in for two next year.