Habs gouge fans because they can

[Habsfan84]

"If I was the owner, I'd be laughing all the way to the bank."

STU COWAN, The Gazette


How come the Canadiens charge full price for preseason hockey games?
The simple answer to that question is because they can. It's a case of Economics 101 and the law of supply and demand.
But here's the answer Ray Lalonde, the Canadiens' vice-president of marketing and sales, gave Gazette reporter Brenda Branswell when she asked him how the club justifies charging full price for exhibition hockey, while working on a story that appeared in yesterday's Extra section:

They don't do it in Buffalo, where tickets for the Sabres' two home preseason games ranged in price from $15 to $40. Children 12 and under received 50 per cent off all price levels with the purchase of an adult ticket (limit of four kids tickets for each adult ticket purchased). And they don't do it in Washington, where the Capitals asked about 20 players to make 20 phone calls each to help sell tickets for this season.
While the Canadiens have sold out the 21,273-seat Bell Centre for every game since January 2004, the Capitals ranked 27th out of 30 teams in attendance last season, with an average of roughly 13,900 per game.
Don't expect Saku Koivu to be calling you at home any time soon about Canadiens tickets.
Canadiens season-ticket holders have no choice but to buy tickets to all five preseason games at the Bell Centre at full price ... they're part of the package. And if that might turn someone off from renewing their season tickets, the Canadiens have a waiting list of people who want them.
To get on that waiting list, you have to pay a $100 registration fee per ticket, which is non-refundable but is applicable toward the future purchase of season tickets. Oh, yeah, there's also an annual $39 administration fee that is non-refundable and isn't applicable toward any further purchases. The most expensive season ticket this season in the Platinum section costs $6,801.10 (plus tax), while the cheapest season ticket in the Blue section is $1,021.20 (plus tax).
All this for a team that missed the playoffs last season and hasn't won a Stanley Cup in 14 years.
The Canadiens' Lalonde maintains there isn't a huge difference between a preseason game and a regular-season game at the Bell Centre.
"Because in the end, those five games are as much an event as any other Canadiens game," he told The Gazette's Branswell. "There's 46 games - five of which don't count in the standings - but remain actual Montreal Canadiens games at the Bell Centre. We don't have less quality music, we don't have a less better show. We don't have colder food. You see what I mean? The building is not less clean that night. Everything is about the event."
Speaking of food, there's a special this season at the Bell Centre: two hot dogs, a french fry and a "small" draft beer for only $16.89 plus tax. If you just want a beer, a "regular" size draft costs $8.34 plus tax.
If you've been to a game at the Bell Centre and complained after paying $10 for a Molson draft, ask yourself this question: who's crazy ... the person selling beer for $10 or the people waiting in line to buy it?
If I was the owner of the Canadiens, I'd be laughing all the way to the bank.
But I imagine there are a few season-ticket holders who aren't laughing during the preseason. Luckily, the majority of them are holding corporate tickets, which means they can write off about 50 per cent of the cost on their taxes. That's why the Bell Centre - especially the lower bowl - has become a corporate country club.

"They should do something about the preseason games," the president of a Montreal car dealership who has had a pair of season tickets since 1991 told me (he asked that his name not be printed). "It's a real rip-off and it's not right. They should offer the season-ticket holders an option to purchase them or not, and not hold a gun to your head. I don't want those tickets.
"What they should do, if they were good corporate citizens, is discount (preseason) tickets heavily to allow the average Joe Blow to have access to these seats," added the car dealer, whose tickets cost between $113 and $136 per game, depending on which team is in town. "Make them half price. It's the only time where the average guy could afford to take his kid and put him in a decent seat to see the Canadiens.
"I consider myself very, very fortunate because I'm able to attend a game when I want and have the privilege of having season tickets ... that's the way I look at it," he added. "But I can tell you something very interesting: some of the guys I go to the games with - some other (car) dealers and people like that - invariably, every time we're at the Bell Centre, we always shake our heads in disgust, saying: 'Tabernac, $10 pour une bière! C'est un ostie de rip-off.' And it's a bloody draft on top of that.
"We always come away with that feeling and that's not very good for any business when your clients feel that way. It would be like me charging $75 for an oil change.
"But, like we say, you know what? The *******s know they can get away with it."