Red Wings Senior VP Jimmy Devellano sent a letter to
the team's season-ticket holders, which indicated that
playoff ticket prices would be set "at record levels,"
according to Nicholas Cotsonika of the DETROIT FREE PRESS.
Prices range from $45 to $125 for the early rounds of the
2000 Stanley Cup playoffs and range from $75 to $400 for the
Stanley Cup Finals. Last season's most expensive playoff
ticket cost $250. Devellano, explaining the price hikes to
fans in the letter: "The cost of your tickets has increased;
we know that is not good news. To put together a
competitive team year after year is expensive. ... It is our
desire to keep the team very competitive for our loyal fans
in Hockeytown, so we hope you understand." Cotsonika adds
that there are "only 1,500 seats that could be" $400 -- the
seven rows closest to the ice -- and Devellano said that
those tickets "could have gone for as much as" $1,000. More
Devellano: "Even at those prices, I know there will still be
people who sell them from double and triple" their face
value (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 2/25).
FIELD-ING A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: In Ottawa, Ken Warren
writes that Mrs. Fields Founder Debbi Fields gave a pregame
motivational speech to "a couple of hundred" ticket holders
before the Senators-Lightning game last night. Warren:
"While there's no question about Fields' obvious presence,
her business mind and her marketing genius, it's a sad
message for the NHL that the game can't sell itself." An
announced crowd of 13,343 attended the game, but Warren
writes that "half of those tickets might have been given
away" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 2/25).
