The Abbotsford Canucks released season ticket prices and potential fixed-term packages for fans on Aug. 18.
The three-, four- or five-year term packages are completely unique to British Columbia and could be a plan adopted by the Vancouver Canucks moving forward.
Multi-year term season ticket packages are not unusual to professional hockey, as the St. Louis Blues used the concept last year by offering three-year packages. The Edmonton Oilers have offered three-, five-, or seven-year packages in the past. The Vegas Golden Knights have also sold season ticket packages for as long as 10 years.
The contracts obviously encourage fans to commit to longer terms to receive an increase in savings. Most of the other Canadian-based American Hockey League teams do not offer multi-year season ticket packages at this time. The Toronto Marlies, Manitoba Moose and Laval Rocket only allow fans to purchase single-season tickets, but yearly renewal options are available.
The Belleville Senators do offer fans the chance to purchase two-year packages.
The Abbotsford Canucks have split the Abbotsford Centre into 11 different price zones, which is on the higher end for the way Canadian-based teams divide their arenas. The Belleville Senators have 16 different zones, Laval has seven, Toronto has six and Manitoba has three.
The average price for a single season ticket for the teams costs the following:
- Abbotsford - $978.42
- Belleville - $873.61
- Laval - $1,004.85
- Manitoba - $880
- Toronto - $1,133
Abbotsford and Belleville season ticket price averages do drop when purchasing multiple years. Abbotsford fans can only purchase “CLUB” season tickets on a minimum of a three-year term. The Family Zone tickets are only available on a single-season term. When “CLUB” seats are included the average price for season tickets on three-, four- and five-year terms are:
- Three-year: $1,463.74
- Four-year: $1,374.43
- Five-year: $1,284.80
The Abbotsford Canucks enter a Lower Mainland market with a number of other professional and junior sports franchises. Here are the average costs for season tickets for those teams:
- BC Lions (seven games, 2021 season) - $542.80
- Vancouver Whitecaps (2019 season, 17 games) - $1,187.16
- Fraser Valley Bandits (2019 season, 10 games) - $388.88
- Vancouver Giants (2021-22 season, 34 games) - $805.83
- Vancouver Warriors (2019 season, nine games) - $270.67
- Chilliwack Chiefs (2021-22 season, 27 games) - $299
The Abbotsford Heat, who occupied the Abbotsford Centre from 2009 to 2014, had similar season ticket pricing to the Abbotsford Canucks in year one. The average season ticket price cost was $992.58 in the inaugural 2009-10 season.
These were the season ticket prices in 2009-10 for year one of the @abbotsfordheat (taken from @waybackmachine) @AbbyCentre https://t.co/JuS9VlWOTj pic.twitter.com/jxK9JJ2rZA
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) August 19, 2021
However, due to the lack of popularity of the team, prices eventually dropped and the average season ticket price fell to $828.62 in 2013-14. The final year saw season tickets go as low as $427.
There were some big discounts later on when the team was struggling though. You’re not wrong about that pic.twitter.com/3x6iRIRcZ8
— Ben Lypka (@BenLypka) August 19, 2021