Ducks Lower Ticket Prices

Faced with a rapidly dwindling fan base, the Mighty Ducks will reduce season ticket prices on 9,053 seats--mostly on the upper level--for games at the Arrowhead Pond next season. Prices elsewhere will remain frozen, including individual game tickets.

“It is our 10th season, so we wanted to make a nice gesture to fans to say thank you,” said Doug Moss, the Ducks’ senior vice president of business operations. “Like every business, we reviewed the situation. Are we priced correctly?”

Fans would have to say “no,” considering the Ducks’ performance in recent seasons.

The Ducks have reached the playoffs only twice, and finished last in the NHL’s Western Conference in 2000-01 and were tied for 13th in the 15-team conference last season.

The lack of success on the ice cost the Ducks at the box office. They were once a hot ticket and played to 99.4% capacity in the 17,174-seat Pond during the 1997-98 season. But the team’s poor performances and controversial moves by management eroded the fan base.

“We have to mend fences and show people we care about them,” Moss said.

The Ducks were last in the NHL in attendance and had only 67% capacity at the Pond last season. In 41 home games, they had the 21 smallest crowds in franchise history. And that counts all tickets sold. Fans actually at the games last season dwindled to as few as an estimated 5,000 on several occasions. Per team policy, the Ducks don’t release information on season-ticket sales. But where season tickets were once capped at about 13,000, they were down to an estimated 8,000 last season.

With the changes, the average Duck ticket costs $40.34, down from $43.51.

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*--* Duck Decreases 2002-03 season seat prices for Duck games at the Arrowhead Pond: Location Season Per Game Price Reduced Plaza Glass $162.50 0% Plaza Rear Glass $112.50 0% Plaza Main $67.50 0% Plaza Corner $60 -11.11% Plaza Corner $50 -25.93% Terrace Lower $37.50 0% Main $25 -12.28% Loge $21 -13.40% Loge Value $10 0% Note: Game day prices will remain the same Source: Mighty Ducks

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