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

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We are pleased to welcome TicketsNow, a leader and pioneer in the industry, to what is rapidly becoming the most extensive accurate view of the available live event tickets on the market. The timing couldn’t be better.  We’re approaching one of the hottest times of the live event calendar, when fans are buying MLB tickets, NBA tickets, NHL tickets, NCAA Tournament tickets, and gearing up for the big concert ticket season.

We look forward to making it fast and easy for fans to see the wide selection of high quality tickets available on TicketsNow.com.

Many, many thanks to the FanSnap and TicketsNow teams that made this possible!

We here at FanSnap pride ourselves on shopping early for the holidays. Even with great planning there are always those last minute stocking stuffers that can be hard to find. Not anymore. We fired up the FanSnap ticket search engine today looking for deals and we found quite a few; so many in fact, that we divided them into categories.

The natural first place to look was the college bowl tickets.

We we’re sure if we’d find any bowls with tickets under $10. Boy were we wrong. Have a look:

• Music City Bowl: Kentucky Wildcats vs. Clemson Tigers at LP Field (Nashville, TN) Dec 27 Tickets
• Texas Bowl: Navy Midshipmen vs. Missouri Tigers at Reliant Stadium (Houston, TX) Dec 31 Tickets
• Chick-fil-A Bowl (Peach Bowl): Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Tennessee Volunteers at the Georgia Dome (Atlanta, GA) Dec 31 Tickets
• Outback Bowl: Northwestern Wildcats vs. Auburn Tigers at Raymond James Stadium (Tampa, FL) Jan 1, 2010 Tickets
• AT&T Cotton Bowl: Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Mississippi Rebels at Cowboys Stadium (Arlington, TX) Jan 2, 2010 Tickets
• FedEx Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. Iowa Hawkeyes at Land Shark Stadium (Miami, FL) Jan 5, 2010 Tickets

Here are NBA tickets under $10 to hundreds of upcoming games. Here are a few examples of great games with great values:

• Cleveland fans can see LeBron James and the Cavs can hold off the Milwaukee Bucks for the top spot in the Central Division at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH) Mar 31, 2010 Tickets
• Carmelo Anthony fans will welcome the opportunity to see Nuggets play host to Dirk and mavs when the  Dallas Mavericks take on the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center in Denver Feb 9, 2010 Tickets
• Fans in the Southeast can get into Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA to see conference foes the Orlando Magic battle the Atlanta Hawks for the top spot on Mar 24, 2010 when Superman, a.k.a Dwight Howard comes to town. Tickets

NFL tickets under $10 include:

• St Louis Rams @ Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, AZ)
  Sun, Dec 27 tickets
• New England Patriots @ Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium (Houston, TX)
  Sun, Jan 3, 2010 tickets
• Jacksonville Jaguars @ Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium (Cleveland, OH)
  Sun, Jan 3, 2010  tickets

There are tons of NHL Tickets under $10

Sure, fans of Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby or those who know about “Broad Street Bullies” and the “Legion of Doom” may have to pay a bit more than $10, but it is possible to see nearly every NHL team for under $10.

• Detroit Red Wings @ New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY)
  Tue, Jan 12, 2010  tickets
• Boston Bruins @ New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center (Newark, NJ)
  Mon, Mar 15, 2010  tickets
• Pittsburgh Penguins @ Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena (Buffalo, NY)
  Tue, Dec 29, 2010  tickets

There are hundreds of NCAA Mens hoops tickets for under $10

Best of luck with that last minute shopping,

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:

It’s less than two weeks before the 2009-2010 NHL season begins.  Who will be raising the Stanley Cup next summer?  I’m not sure; I’ll leave that to the folks in Las Vegas to figure out.  But I do know which teams’ fans are the most optimistic, based on the number searching on FanSnap:

1.  Rangers tickets

2.  Bruins tickets

3.  Red Wings tickets

4.  Blackhawks tickets

5.  Sharks tickets

6.  Kings tickets

7.  Flyers tickets

8.  Capitals tickets

9.  Ducks tickets

10.  Devils tickets

Perhaps the fans of last year’s other playoff teams, the Hurricanes, Penguins, and Canucks, are still on vacation?

Mike

(Updated June 12)

After a seesaw series, the Penguins and Red Wings are even with three wins each. The battle for Lord Stanley’s Cup comes down to tonight. “Stanley Cup Tickets” is by far the hottest search on FanSnap today. There are still tickets available for fans looking for last minute deals

Hockey fans, who will drink from the Cup?  It’s time to find out.  In an epic rematch of last year’s NHL Finals, Detroit defends its crown against Pittsburgh in Mo-Town starting Saturday.  Check out all the great tickets!

5/30 Penguins @ Red Wings tickets
5/31 Penguins @ Red Wings tickets
6/2 Red Wings @ Penguins tickets
6/4 Red Wings @ Penguins tickets
6/6 Penguins @ Red Wings tickets (if necessary)
6/9 Red Wings @ Penguins tickets (if necessary)
6/12 Penguins @ Red Wings tickets (if necessary)

Gentlemen, warm up your octopus!

Mike