Facilities Fee for Ducks Fans

Fans attended NHL games in record numbers this season after many teams cut ticket prices in the wake of the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season.

Now it appears many of those fans will pay more for such loyalty.

Flush with the knowledge that their sport wasn’t abandoned, some teams -- including the Mighty Ducks -- are seeking to recoup some of the revenue lost to the lockout by raising ticket prices or with other fee hikes.

The San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild are among the teams that announced they would increase their season-ticket prices. The Ducks are taking a different approach.

According to Tim Ryan, chief executive of Anaheim Arena Management, a “facilities” fee will be attached to every ticket purchased for an event at the Pond, including Ducks games.

For every ticket to a Ducks game priced above $25, a $3 facility fee will be required, team officials confirmed. Tickets costing $25 or less will be assessed a $1.50 fee.

“It’s a fee that’s pretty much standard in our business,” said Ryan, who is also the Ducks’ chief operating officer. The team and the arena’s management company are owned by Henry and Susan Samueli.

A look at other facilities supports Ryan’s contention. In 2001, officials with the Pepsi Center in Denver instituted a $1 surcharge for all tickets purchased except for season-ticket holders. Tickets priced $7.50 or below had a 50-cent surcharge. Another example is Nationwide Arena, the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, where a $1 facility fee is attached to every ticket.

The Ducks, Ryan said, have not reneged on a promise made when the lockout ended last summer to not raise season-ticket prices this coming season. They also had rolled back prices this past season by as much as $9 a seat. Other teams, such as Ottawa, made similar promises or reduced prices.

And even though the Ducks advanced to the Western Conference finals, they are expected to lose money this season, as much as $15 million, according to General Manager Brian Burke.

“We held out as long as possible,” Ryan said of the facilities fee, adding that the money would be used solely to maintain the 13-year-old Pond and pay for upgrades, such as a new sound system.

Staples Center, home of the Kings, does not have a facilities tax but has long had a 3.5% fee for each paid ticket that reimburses the city of Los Angeles for land the company purchased around the arena, according to a spokesman for owner AEG. Any arena improvements, he said, are paid for through the operations budget.

The Kings have yet to formulate their ticket prices for the 2006-07 season but a team spokesman said, “We do anticipate an increase and any increase will have correlation with our future team payroll.”

Some teams, such as Detroit and Pittsburgh, have announced they will not raise prices.

Ryan acknowledged that the facilities fee could be seen as a way to raise ticket prices without calling it that. “Anything can be perceived in a particular way,” he said. “Our prices are consistent with competing facilities.”

In the case of the Sharks, tickets will increase by as much as 8%, according to chief executive Greg Jamison, even though the team averaged 16,831 fans at the HP Pavilion, about 96.2% of capacity.

Through a team official, Jamison said the increase was put in place to offset financial losses last season -- reportedly about $5 million. “I’ve heard very little negative feedback,” he said.

As for the Wild, team spokesperson Bill Robertson said their increase is the first in three years. “We just felt we needed to do that in light of rising operational costs,” he said.

Becky Wallace, executive editor of Chicago-based Team Marketing Report, said it isn’t surprising that teams are raising prices. “The 2005-06 NHL season turned out better than a lot of people expected,” Wallace said. “There is a mentality in professional sports that if you can get the fans in the gates once, they are more likely to become repeat customers.”

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NHL tickets

Average ticket prices for NHL teams in the 2005-06 season, highest to lowest. The league average was $41.19.

*--* TEAM PRICE 1. Philadelphia $54.81 2. New Jersey $54.67 3. Vancouver $54.08 4. Boston $53.05 5. Minnesota $50.11 6. Toronto $49.23 7. Montreal $47.58 8. N.Y. Rangers $44.63 9. Tampa Bay $44.27 10. N.Y. Islanders $44.01 11. KINGS $43.82 12. Edmonton $43.46 13. Detroit $43.13 14. Atlanta $41.68 15. Columbus $41.62 16. Calgary $40.92 17. Ottawa $40.76 18. St. Louis $39.92 19. Colorado $38.48 20. Chicago $38.26 21. Washington $38.15 22. Nashville $37.33 23. Pittsburgh $36.61 24. Florida $34.31 25. Dallas $34.24 26. San Jose $33.00 27. DUCKS $30.32 28. Buffalo $29.73 29. Phoenix $27.37 30. Carolina $26.15

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Source: Team marketing reports