Gold-medal hockey game tickets red hot
If you're looking for the hottest ticket in Canadian sports history, look no further than Sunday's gold-medal men's hockey matchup.
Canadians, anticipating that their team will play for the gold, are paying top dollar to get into the arena for the game.
"This is our 25th year of business and I've never seen anything like this in Canada," said Mario Livich, CEO of Showtime Tickets, which is located right across from the GM Place arena. Livich said that the cheapest seats are going for $3,000.
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Jon Rydberg of TicketNetwork.com, which has also sold seats to the men's gold medal game, says the average ticket price for the game is $5,000. Compare that to the average Stanley Cup Finals ticket, which Rydberg says hovered around $3,600.
Ticket prices for the game plummeted by 40 percent, according to Livich, after Canada shockingly lost to the United States earlier in the week. It rose 15 to 20 percent after Canada beat Germany and then to higher prices than previously were being paid after the Canadians easily beat the Russians on Wednesday night. Canada has to beat Slovakia Friday to be in the gold medal game. Finland is playing the USA to fight for the other slot.
"If Canada is not in that game, the value plummets by more than half," Livich said.
The tickets cost a lot of money, but Livich said it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"Hockey is religion here," Livich said. "People want to say they were there when Canada won gold."
Since 1956, Canada has only won gold in men's hockey once – in 2002 at the games in Salt Lake City.
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