RealGM

Heard it on the fan590. By 3.5% on average.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Toronto/2009/02/23/8498306-sun.html

Sounds like Raptors will stay the same (whew)!

The good news is Raptor ticket pricing remains the same next year, following an 8% increase in 2007-08.

I guess they will try to make money wherever they can. If they know the tickets will be sold, why not steal as much as possible? Brutal....

95% of other sport franchises are reducing ticket prices significantly to get fans in the door & MLSE is completely taking advantage of the dedicated Toronto fan............ as always.....

Hey....but if this means they are budgeting for the Raptors to go over the cap, I'm all for it!!!!

dollah dollah bill y'all.

being in nyc, let me tell you that rangers fans are LIVID right now at sather. to the point where some are thinking of not renewing after the ridiculous increase in prices this year.

Leaf tickets are worth thier weight in gold in this city.

You have em, you can sell at a huge markup and people will still buy them.

I had two friends go the Vancouver game and the night (before the bar tab) was over $700 for the ACC Leaf experience.

The Leafs make big money and MLSE knows they can charge anything for the tickets and the people will still but. Kind of reminds me of the government constanly raising cigarrette prices, people pay the price no matter what.

Leafs won't be able to do this much longer. I mean, five more years maybe. Not more, IMO. More and more kids don't care to go to a Leaf game.

The Leafs are selling Brian Burke to the Leaf fans. That's the sizzle to support an increase. It means plenty of change and a high pick to stimulate interest.

I was just at a breakfast for UBC athletics and Pat Quinn was the guest speaker. During his speech he was talking about what it takes to build a winning team. He applauded the Canucks former owners, as well as Steve Stavro, the former owner of MLSE, and then took a bit of a shot at the company today. He referred to it as a faceless corporation and implied that he had no faith in the company to build a winning team for the Leafs. He might as well have been talking about the Raptors though. MLSE have put them in the same boat as the Leafs with little too look forward to. It's a real shame we don't have a real "owner." The franchise needs a face and someone who cares about winning running the show.

What they aren't high enough already? Geezz

The poor saps

The real issue is that the league brought in a cap and the Leafs made out like bandits. A major cost of theirs was slashed and a season lost but no savings was passed onto the fan. People are getting angry over a 3.5 percent increase but every business needs/should raise prices with inflation. My double-double at Tim Horton's goes up every year by at least 3.5 percent and I'm sure it will again this year without public outcry.

Nohandle wrote:I was just at a breakfast for UBC athletics and Pat Quinn was the guest speaker. During his speech he was talking about what it takes to build a winning team. He applauded the Canucks former owners, as well as Steve Stavro, the former owner of MLSE, and then took a bit of a shot at the company today. He referred to it as a faceless corporation and implied that he had no faith in the company to build a winning team for the Leafs. He might as well have been talking about the Raptors though. MLSE have put them in the same boat as the Leafs with little too look forward to. It's a real shame we don't have a real "owner." The franchise needs a face and someone who cares about winning running the show.

BC is the face and he wants to win.

Leafs won't be able to do this much longer. I mean, five more years maybe. Not more, IMO. More and more kids don't care to go to a Leaf game.

Who cares what kids do? They don't have any money. If you're reffering to said kids growing up, then they've got a long way to go.

Leaf Tickets will always be a hot item in this city, and if the team is good, they'll be a ridiculously hot item.

That's why people should be screaming for another team in Toronto. And Bettman should be listening.

I already got my renewal package for the Raps, and the price was the same as this season.

Platapie wrote:

Leafs won't be able to do this much longer. I mean, five more years maybe. Not more, IMO. More and more kids don't care to go to a Leaf game.

Who cares what kids do? They don't have any money. If you're reffering to said kids growing up, then they've got a long way to go.

Leaf Tickets will always be a hot item in this city, and if the team is good, they'll be a ridiculously hot item.

The sad fact is that most good Leaf tickets are owned by businesses instead of by fans. These guys use tickets to schmooze people for deals and the like. That's why you see so many empty lower bowl seats during games. Those guys are in the platinum lounge. Also, MLSE knows that the waiting list for Leafs season's tickets is huge and that there's always somebody waiting to grab them. I know of people that got Raps season's tickets because that bumped them up on the waiting list for Leafs tickets.

New York is doing the same thing. Both cities are commerce hubs for their respective countries and the status of having those tickets is far too valuable for business. Smaller markets like Memphis, etc. can't pull these types of things because the corporate money isn't there and won't handle constant price increases.

MLSE would increase Raps tickets as well, if they could but, the Raps ticket doesn't hold the same prestige amongst the business world that the Leafs ticket does.

Platapie wrote:

Leafs won't be able to do this much longer. I mean, five more years maybe. Not more, IMO. More and more kids don't care to go to a Leaf game.

Who cares what kids do? They don't have any money. If you're reffering to said kids growing up, then they've got a long way to go.

Leaf Tickets will always be a hot item in this city, and if the team is good, they'll be a ridiculously hot item.

Must be my age. I'm talking about college age kids and up. But even people in their 30's. In five more years when the people making the decisions have to choose where to spend money....and the workers below them aren't putting their hands up for hockey tickets.....it'll catch up to them eventually.

Nohandle wrote:I was just at a breakfast for UBC athletics and Pat Quinn was the guest speaker. During his speech he was talking about what it takes to build a winning team. He applauded the Canucks former owners, as well as Steve Stavro, the former owner of MLSE, and then took a bit of a shot at the company today. He referred to it as a faceless corporation and implied that he had no faith in the company to build a winning team for the Leafs. He might as well have been talking about the Raptors though. MLSE have put them in the same boat as the Leafs with little too look forward to. It's a real shame we don't have a real "owner." The franchise needs a face and someone who cares about winning running the show.

Ahhhh...that's better....feel like myself again.....

I agree with Quinn's comments. It says a lot coming from somebody who was working from essentially the same position on the organizational chart as BC for many years. He would know just as well as anyone possibly could.

The teachers union is simply in this to make money. Good for them, but very unfortunate for us.

As many media outlets have pointed out, many successful sport franchises in the US are owned by Billionairres that have purchased the team as a "hobby". They are ultra-competitive personalities (as anyone in their position would be) & bought the team to put a winning product on the floor.....bragging rights, so to speak. Look at Dallas.

The Leafs are a huge money maker in this city. They are an original 5 team & a place where many of the top players would love to win the cup. There is no reason for them (from a financial standpoint) to not be able to afford to bring top notch free agents here. The MLSE board treats the team more like investments/ stocks rather than a sports team. Money is first & foremost, image is next in line.....I am not sure where winning ranks in that list of priorities.

There is nobody for he fans to point the finger at. It is a corporation.

Hopefully Larry can continue to buy shares & eventually take over. I highly doubt that ever happens though. The only way the teachers union gets forced out is if fans stop going to games, stop buying merchandise & the Leafs become a non-profitable investment.

I agree though...getting another team in town would make things interesting. Unfortunately, most die hard Leaf fans are committed to the team by their emotions, while the people running their team are committed to a money making venture.

I havn't been to a Leaf game in 26 years

this is the case with 99.9% of sports. very few owners are like george steinbrenner.

I have never been to a Leafs game. I was offered tickets years ago from suppliers (when I worked for Honda), but didn't take them.

How many sports teams don't really have a defined owner?

Imagine an owner who "cared" like Robert Sarver.

Or in hockey there are those clowns that bought the Tampa Bay Lightning. They got the first round pick in the last draft (Stamkos), and then proceeded to sign a bunch of offensive guys, instead of a proper defense, and they hired the mullet, Barry Melrose, as the coach. Melrose hadn't coached in over a decade.

Sorry to say, but MLSE is doing just what we want. They have put the team in the hands of a respected basketball man.