The Senators have “sold close to 600 season ticket packages” since March 1, the “best uptick in sales” since the club’s last playoff foray in 2017, according to Wayne Scanlan of SPORTSNET.ca. On Tuesday alone, the club “sold 50 season ticket packages and handled more than 200 inquiries after the playoff spot was clinched.” If the Senators face the Maple Leafs in Round 1, fans can “expect a much more favourable allotment of Ottawa fans in the stands compared to the regular season.” That is because season ticket holders are not only expected to hang onto their existing seats for the playoffs, but they have also been “offered access to two additional seats, at a discounted price, for every home game.” The “only proviso: the tickets cannot be resold on the secondary market.” Ottawa seat holders “routinely sell off their tickets” to Leafs and Canadiens home games during the season, using the resale profits to “help pay for their other tickets.” That is “not going to fly in the playoffs, where the largesse of the organization to offer extra seats comes with the caveat that they can’t be resold.” The club “will track these tickets to be sure they stay in hands of the fans that had access to them, along with their families and friends.” Violators “could lose their seat privileges” (SPORTSNET.ca, 4/10).
BUSINESS IS BOOMING: In Ottawa, Bruce Garrioch wrote the Senators do not release season-ticket numbers, but team President/CEO Cyril Leeder has “never hidden the fact that the first goal is to get the club back to the 10,000 mark,” which would “be a huge step closer to the league average of 11,000.” A long playoff run can “help assist with those sales,” but Leeder noted that he does not “have a percentage increase goal in mind.” He noted that the “further the club can go, the better it is for the business side and selling seats.” Leeder: “We expect this year to be quite a big lift because we haven’t been there in eight years. We noticed in the 2000s that the further you went (in the playoffs), the more the numbers went up. We’ll get that benefit early this year because it has been eight years” (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 4/9).
