Oh, Florida. I love you for a number of reasons: the numerous beaches, the countless parties, the endless wilderness and the…cheap hockey tickets? As any person who follows hockey would know, Florida’s teams aren’t exactly the best (although the Tampa Bay Lightning is first in the league right now, not sure how). This translates to low demand from fans for tickets, making them pretty cheap. However, that would usually only make them mid-range price. Trust me, I’ve been through some droughts where the Washington Capitals were doing quite terribly for long amounts of time, yet those tickets were never this cheap. I love the Capitals, but so does the entirety of Washington, D.C., and so do many people across Maryland, so those ticket prices are no joke.
This leads me to the other factor that I’ve found seems most greatly contributes to the low price of these seats. Floridians in general just doesn’t love hockey. This isn’t just a baseless assumption. When I watch Panthers games, the stadium is rarely even half filled; on game days, whether walking around or driving around, I’ve never seen any Florida team jerseys; and when I walk around the NSU parking lot, the only hockey magnets I’ve seen on cars have been Blackhawks, Blues and Capitals. Even when driving around Davie, I’ve seen numerous hockey team magnets from teams all around the country, but Florida team magnets? I’ve seen about two in my time here. This factor especially makes the tickets to these games insanely cheap – that is, around $20 most of the time.
One thing is for sure; even though I feel a little bad for these teams’ lack of support from the people of their state, I am certainly not complaining. Coming from a state with a team whose decent tickets haven’t been under $100 in years and who just won the Stanley Cup (the last game I went to cost upwards $500 a ticket), I love being in a place where I can get game tickets for a mere $20. While this is great for me and other people who actually enjoy the sport, let’s remember the work that they and other teams put in to be where they are today. They earn lots of their money from fans, and just like anyone else, it feels good to be supported. You don’t have to love hockey or sports, but if you ever find yourself bored or needing a date idea, think of your local National Hockey League teams. All it costs to support them is a $20— in Florida, that is.
