NHL Franchise Boys

A season ticket in the Bell Centre’s nosebleed seats costs the average Montrealer 62.1% of a month’s salary, second-highest after Toronto.

The least expensive seat for a Canadiens game is about $50 and that means today’s young fans have to flip burgers or toil at some other minimum-wage task for four hours in order to pay for a ticket. Another hour of work doesn’t even cover the cost of one beer.

Research shows Canadians are spending a fair bit of their hard-earned money to see games. The study looked at the lowest price for a season ticket and calculated the percentage of the average monthly salary in that market.  Fans in Toronto had to fork out 62.4 per cent of a month’s salary to get an entry-level seat, while Montreal fans are next, spending 62.1 per cent of a month’s salary to sit in the nosebleed seats. Vancouver (62 per cent) and Winnipeg (52.3 per cent) are the only other cities where NHL fans pay more than half a month’s salary. Ottawa is last in the NHL in attendance with 11,732 fans a game, but fans can gets season ticket for less than $1,300 and that represents 18.5 per cent of a monthly salary.

The Minnesota Wild has the highest ticket price in the NHL, but these figures represent the least expensive seats. The Maple Leafs, the New York Rangers and the Canadiens lead the way at the top of the market. High ticket prices have been cited for a softening of the market in Montreal and Toronto. It’s possible to buy tickets at the box office on game day in both cities and that was unheard of five years ago.

Tickets are available in abundance on TicketMaster but I’d rather go to Juliano’s and enjoy the great food and watch the game on large screen TVs with my buddies! Who’s in?