Florida man goes to hockey game, sees home team win, gets free ticket to next home game.
While the average ticket price of a scalped ticket to a Toronto Maple Leafs home game is running $368.60, the Florida Panthers are now treating NHL tickets like that second set of Keds at a shoe outlet store. Buy one, get one free.
Or, as the Panthers marketing team has put it, “We Win You Win.”
The cheapest Panthers ticket already sells for the Tuesday-movie-night-in-the-1990s price of $7. But ownership is eager to get fans into the seats at Sunrise’s BB&T Center.
Beginning Oct. 25 — when the Panthers host the very beatable Buffalo Sabres — fans who buy a single game ticket will receive a ticket for the next game free of charge — if Florida wins. The promotion ends on Dec. 23.
Until that date, there is no limit on how many free tickets the club will award. Theoretically, if the Panthers go on a crazy home winning streak, one could see a dozen games on the house.
Beats the hell out of a free pizza slice.
“We want to promote a passionate and energetic home ice environment at the BB&T Center,” Panthers president and CEO Michael R. Yormark said in a statement, “and we believe this new promotion will help get our fans even more excited about the string of 13 home games we have over the next two months.”
Through five home games this season the Panthers are averaging 14,339 supporters a night, a decrease from the 16,992 per game who attended last season.
Last week the Panthers advertised showing a Boston Red Sox postseason game on the arena’s televisions in order to boost attendance at a hockey game versus the Bruins.
