The NHL Wild "reached another milestone" yesterday by
selling its league-mandated minimum of 12,000 season tickets
at 18,600-seat St. Paul Arena, including luxury suites and
club seats, according to Greg Johnson of the ST. PAUL
PIONEER PRESS. The team "easily beat" the April 15 deadline
set by the NHL. The Wild will "continue to accept" $100
non-refundable deposits for season tickets. So far, the
team has received 14,400 deposits, "and those are being
converted into season tickets at a rate of more than" 90%.
Previous expansion teams, such as the Thrashers, Predators,
Mighty Ducks and Sharks, "averaged a conversion rate of"
69%. Wild CEO Jac Sperling said that a cap would eventually
be placed on season tickets to ensure that individual
tickets are available, but that number hasn't been set yet
(ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 3/21). The team sold its suites at
a "breakneck" pace last year, as 64 of its 74 suites offered
on a season-ticket basis sold out in eight weeks. The 2,800
club seats sold out in January (STAR TRIBUNE, 3/21).
