Last week, at the conclusion of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, we shared some interesting stats on how NHL Ticket Demand was on the Rise Following Thrilling USA - Canada Olympic Gold Medal Game

We said then, and it seems even more true today, that with a week to reflect, “sports fans around the world got to see hockey at its finest and they like what they saw.” We took a look at NHL ticket demand to see if the Olympic hockey interest was translating to the NHL. We found that  “demand is now surging for NHL tickets as hockey’s elite players return from Vancouver to resume the NHL season.”

Biggest Movers as of March 1: The following were the teams that saw the biggest demand in tickets while the  NHL season was on hiatus for the Olympics (Feb 12 - March 1).

1. Nashville Predators (tickets) are up 10.57%
2. Detroit Red Wings (tickets) are up 10.15%
3. San Jose Sharks (tickets) are up 9.56%
4. Pittsburgh Penguins (tickets) are up 9.14%
5. St Louis Blues (tickets) are up 8.00%

So, a week later, with a week more of the NHL season under their belts, are the Olympics a distant memory? Was the thrill of the Gold Medal game just a blip on the NHL ticket demand radar, or have teams been able to parlay that excitement into something more lasting. We took a another look at those same teams to find out.

Biggest Movers as of March 8: This time we looked at the period between the start of the Olympics and today (Feb 12 - March 8).

1. Nashville Predators (tickets) are up 60.51%
2. Detroit Red Wings (tickets) are up 9.24%
3. San Jose Sharks (tickets) are up 7.91%
4. Pittsburgh Penguins (tickets) are up 15.97%
5. St Louis Blues (tickets) are up 14.70%

The Predators continue to be the hot ticket with the biggest post-Olympic bump. The Pens and Blues are also up over last week. The Wings and Sharks, while they remain up since the Olympics are not up by as much as they were last week.

Christian

According to the Media Decoder blog at the New York Times, “the Canada-USA gold medal hockey game was seen by a huge audience of 27.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched hockey game on American television since the famous U.S. upset over the Soviet Union in 1980.

The 27.6 million viewers put the game ahead of such recent high-profile sports contests as the Masters golf tournament (14.3 million), the Daytona 500 (16 million viewers), the top game from last year’s NBA Finals (16 million), the NCAA basketball final (17.6 million), Game 4 (the most watched) of the 2009 World Series (22.8 million) and the 2010 Rose Bowl (24 million).”

SportsBusiness Daily calls the 17.6 Nielsen overnight For Gold Medal Game from 3:15-6:15pm ET, a 45.5% increase from the same matchup in ‘02.

Puck the Media has the regional breakdown and says, the audience peaked at 34.8 million viewers (18.6/34 hh rating) from 5:30-6 p.m. ET, when the USA’s Zach Parise(notes) (New Jersey Devils) sent the game to overtime with the tying goal with just 24.4 seconds left in regulation.

Top 5 Metered Markets for USA-Canada Olympic Gold Medal Hockey Game:
1. Buffalo, 32.6/51
2. Pittsburgh, 31.9/50
3. Detroit, 26.9/47
4. Minneapolis, 26.4/53
5. Milwaukee, 24.5/43

Check out the Puck the Media post for the top 25.

As we wrote earlier today, NHL ticket demand is on the rise following the USA - Canada Olympic Gold Medal Game.

Christian

“Thrilling” is not a big enough word to describe the Team USA Olympic hockey run or the Gold Medal final against Canada. Sports fans around the world got to see hockey at its finest and they like what they saw. Demand is now surging for NHL tickets as hockey’s elite players return from Vancouver to resume the NHL season.

Following the most highly anticipated matchup of the Winter Games, and perhaps in the history of Canadian sports — USA - Canada in the Gold Medal hockey final — NHL tickets are heating up in the U.S and Canada. The hottest teams saw average ticket prices for remaining home games increase by between eight to 10 percent during the Olympic Games. This of course, is unusual given no NHL games were played during the Winter Olympics. Not coincidentally, the teams with some of the biggest stars of the Olympics are seeing the biggest gains.

Biggest Movers: The hottest NHL tickets since the Olympics began:

1. Nashville Predators (tickets) are up 10.57%
2. Detroit Red Wings (tickets) are up 10.15%
3. San Jose Sharks (tickets) are up 9.56%
4. Pittsburgh Penguins (tickets) are up 9.14%
5. St Louis Blues (tickets) are up 8.00%

These teams sent a huge number of stars to play for Team Canada and Team USA during the games, including: Shea Weber, Sidney Crosby, Marc-André Fleury, Dan Boyle, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton, Ryan Suter, Brian Rafalski, David Backes, D Erik Johnson, Brooks Orpik, and Joe Pavelski. Seeing those players so successful on the world stage has certainly added to fan interest in their NHL teams.

The NHL Teams with the hottest tickets

1. Montreal Canadiens tickets start at roughly $70 and average $246
2. Pittsburgh Penguins tickets start at roughly $95 and average $228
3. Toronto Maple Leafs tickets start at roughly $55 and average $223
4. Vancouver Canucks tickets start at roughly $65 and average $208
5. Chicago Blackhawks tickets start at roughly $20 and average $208
6. Washington Capitals tickets start at roughly $40 and average $155
7. New York Rangers tickets start at roughly $50 and average $154
8. Calgary Flames tickets start at roughly $33 and average $151
9. Ottawa Senators tickets start at roughly $35 and average $138
10. Buffalo Sabres tickets start at roughly $50 and average $106

Here’s a look at Olympians by NHL team

Olympic Gold Medal hockey tickets are available for the most highly anticipated matchup of the Winter Games, and perhaps in the history of Canadian sports.

Tickets to see Team USA play Team Canada for Olympic Hockey gold are averaging $4,313. That’s more than three times the average price of Stanley Cup Finals tickets and $1,000 more than the average price for Super Bowl tickets.

U.S. and Canadian hockey fans who missed out on an NHL All Star Game this year, are getting something even better as the Sharks’ Joe Thornton, Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, Rangers’ Chris Drury and Sabres’ Ryan Miller and their teammates face off on behalf of their countries.

Average Price of Olympics Ice Hockey Gold Medal Game

Prices for Olympic Gold Medal hockey tickets have mirrored Canadian fans’ excitement for their national team’s prospects throughout the Winter Games. Prices started high and rose to nearly $5000 per ticket following early wins by Team Canada. Average ticket prices then plummeted after the Team USA win over the host team. Prices continued to decline to $3,613 until the inspiring Canadian win over Russia. Gold Medal game ticket prices have rebounded strongly as it became apparent there would be a USA - Canada rematch in the final, and are now $4,313.

Yes, we’re suckers for the big events here at FanSnap. Big events tend to be the matchups with the biggest ticket price and availability fluctuations. There are often tickets priced well below other tickets in the same row and fans find tremendous values, which adds to the fun. It turns out there is no hotter event than Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets.

Average price of an Olympic Ice Hockey ticket to the men's Gold Medal game on Sun, Feb 28 at 12:15PM

Currently, Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets are averaging more than $4,000. To put that into perspective, Super Bowl tickets earlier this month averaged between $2,500 and $3,000. World Series tickets averaged roughly $1,500. That makes Men’s Olympic Gold Medal Hockey tickets the single hottest ticket of the year — based on price.

Looking at the graph, you can see that ticket prices went up with each win by Team USA and Team Canada. What was less clear was which team’s fans were driving prices. After Team USA’s surprise win over Team Canada on February 21, it became clear that Team Canada fans were drive ticket prices.

How do we know? Take a look at the Whistler Mountain-shaped graph. Ticket prices were steadily increasing until the Team Canada loss. Ticket availability on the dozens of sites across the web FanSnap scours was also decreasing. Because Olympic Hockey is double elimination, Team Canada was not knocked out, but it was a lot less clear to Team Canada fans that their team would make it to the Gold Medal game. As a result Team Canada fans with tickets started selling.

Team Canada’s win over Germany slowed the decrease in price of Gold Medal tickets as some Team Canada fans regained hope that their team could in fact be golden. When they beat Russian last night, Team Canada fans again became believers… and started buying Gold Medal game tickets once again.

Canada must beat Slovakia to make it to the Gold Medal game. Team USA must beat Finland.

bracket from NBCOlympics.com

There’s no need to watch for scores tomorrow night to see if Team Canada will play for gold on February 28, just watch the ticket market for prices and availability. If ticket prices are going up and seats are scarce, Canada won.

Christian

It’s finally tournament time! March Madness and the NCAA Tournament are just around the corner. The fun starts with the conference tournaments! We love this time of year! The Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO is the site of the 2010 Big 12 Basketball Tournament.

• Big 12 Tournament (Full Strip - All Sessions) - 1,000+ tickets from $403
• Big 12 Tournament (Session 1) - Wed, Mar 10 at 11:30AM -   900+ tickets from $8
• Big 12 Tournament (Session 2) - Wed, Mar 10 at 6:00PM -     900+ tickets from $13
• Big 12 Tournament (Session 3) - Thu, Mar 11 at 11:30AM -   900+ tickets from $89
• Big 12 Tournament (Session 4) - Thu, Mar 11 at 6:00PM -     900+ tickets from $86
• Big 12 Tournament (Session 5) - Fri, Mar 12 at 6:00PM -       800+ tickets from $168
• Big 12 Tournament Championship Game Sat, Mar 13 at 5:00PM -   700+ tickets from $109

Tickets to the first session of the Big 12 Tournament start at $8  to see if Kansas will roll through the conference tournament like they’ve done all year in conference and out of conference. There are more than 100 tickets currently available to the first day (sessions 1 & 2) of the Big 12 Conference Tournament for $15 or less. With the likelihood of seven Big 12 teams getting bids to the Big Dance — that’s right, seven teams in the NCAA tournament — the Big 12 tournament should be rocking.

Ok State, we believe you’ll get it done.

Big 12                 Conf. Record Overall
1. Kansas                       12-0    26-1
2. Kansas State                9-3   22-4
3. Missouri                      8-4    20-7
4. Texas A&M                  8-4   19-7
5. Texas                          7-5    21-6
6. Baylor                          7-5   20-6
7. Oklahoma State           7-5   19-7
8. Texas Tech                 4-8   16-10
9. Oklahoma                   4-8   13-13
10. Colorado                   3-9   12-14
11. Iowa State                 2-10 13-14
12. Nebraska                  1-11 13-14

As of February 21, 05:26 PM CT from big12sports.com

How do Big 12 Tournament Championship Game tickets stack up against the other high demand championship tickets? SEC tickets are currently priced highest with an average price of $365.

SEC Tournament Championship Game tickets are currently averaging $365
Big East Tournament Championship Game tickets are currently averaging $292
ACC Tournament Championship Game tickets are currently averaging $256
Pac-10 Tournament Championship Game tickets are currently averaging $204
Big 12 Tournament Championship Game tickets are currently averaging $200
Big Ten Tournament Championship Game tickets are currently averaging $126

Christian

The National Championship game is set and it is huge. Alabama and Texas face off in this year’s BCS National Championship game (BCS National Championship Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Texas Longhorns tickets. Tickets for the January 7 game are averaging $1,376. The get-in price (lowest price ticket) is currently $800.

Here’s how the major bowl ticket picture is looking right now. BCS National Championship tickets average =1,376 (get-in = $800)
Orange Bowl tickets average = $233 (get-in = $63)
Fiesta Bowl tickets average =   $285 (get-in = $110)
Rose Bowl tickets average =     $455 (get-in =  $238)
Sugar Bowl tickets average =  $206 (get-in = $107)

For BCS National Championship tickets, Texans are outsearching Alabamans more than 2:1. People from 36 states and five countries have already searched for National Championship tickets.

Here are the states with the most BCS National Championship tickets searches:

Texas
California
Alabama
New York
Florida
Georgia
New Jersey
Tennessee
Connecticut
South Carolina

See also:

• Rose Bowl Tickets: Oregon Ducks vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
• Fiesta Bowl Tickets: Boise State Broncos vs. TCU Horned Frogs
• Orange Bowl Tickets: Georgia Tech vs. Iowa Hawkeyes
• Sugar Bowl Tickets: Florida Gators vs. Cincinnati Bearcats
• Cotton Bowl Tickets: Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Ole Miss Rebels
• Meineke Car Care Bowl Tickets: North Carolina Tarheels vs. Pittsburgh Panthers
• Gator Bowl Tickets: West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Florida State Seminoles
• The Capital One Bowl Tickets Available: Penn State Nittany Lions vs. LSU Tigers
• Alamo Bowl Tickets Available for Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. Michigan State Spartans
• Las Vegas Bowl Tickets now Available for Oregon State Beavers vs. BYU Cougars
• Other Bowl tickets

Christian

Wednesday night I saw the Sharks take the West-leading LA Kings in a shootout.  Tonight they knocked off the league-leading Colorado Avalanche 3-1.  Fun times in the Shark Tank!

Powered by returning iron man goalee Evgeni Nabokov and past league MVP Joe Thornton, and with the addition of Dany Heatly (who has already scored nine goals this year) perhaps this is the year they will break through, after several unsatisfying playoff exits in recent years.  Nothing less than the Stanley Cup will make the team and fans in San Jose happy.

The Sharks have several great home games coming up: