Hurricanes’ Win Sells Tix, But Will It Resonate In South?

Hurricanes Expect To Generate More Than $50M Following Successful Playoff Run

The ’06 Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes have taken deposits from a “large number of new potential season ticket holders,” according to team officials cited in a front-page piece by Andrew Shain of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The team’s attendance this season was up 28%, “but still ranked 21st in average attendance among the NHL’s 30 clubs.” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/20). Meanwhile, RBC Center VP & GM Davin Olsen said that the Hurricanes “expect to generate more than $50[M] in team revenue and set a franchise record for income, surpassing the total of ‘right around $50[M]’” earned after reaching the finals in ’02. SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Don Muret reports the team is creating an all-inclusive club for next season “by consolidating three party suites” in the upper deck. Olsen said the Hurricanes “plan to sell about 300 seats ... as a season ticket, most likely priced at $125 a game.” Centennial Authority, the arena’s owner, is paying for the $1.5M project. The team will keep ticket revenue from the new club and plans to sell a sponsorship for the space (SBJ, 6/19 issue).

GET IN GEAR: The official ’06 Stanley Cup Championship locker room merchandise is currently for sale on NHL.com and in the Hurricanes’ Team Shop. Retail chains in North Carolina carrying the line include JCPenney, Dick’s Sporting Goods, The Sports Authority, Omega Sports, Lids, LB Sports and Sports Fan Attic (NHL)....A number of pucks used during the Stanley Cup Finals are available on NHL.com through auctions that start closing Thursday. Also available are 40 coach-signed line-up cards from each game in the playoffs (EDMONTON SUN, 6/18).

GOIN’ SOUTH? In Raleigh, Ned Barnett writes the Hurricanes’ win is a “stunning and perhaps transforming win for a Southern region where NHL hockey is less than a decade old” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/20). In Toronto, Damien Cox writes having a team based in the southern U.S. win the Stanley Cup for the second-straight time indicates that a “progressive new mood of optimism for the game is spreading on both sides of the border.” The league “made a startling comeback this season to the point where it seemed fresher and more appealing” (TORONTO STAR, 6/20). But Phil Grose of the Univ. of South Carolina Institute of Southern Studies said, “My gut says we’re not ready to adopt them yet as we have with basketball, football, racing. We need to be playing it. It’s not just about championships” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/20).