Winter Classic Ticket Plan For Season-Ticket Holders Unveiled

The NHL and the Blackhawks yesterday afternoon released ticket information to Blackhawks season-ticket holders regarding the January 1 Red Wings-Blackhawks Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, and "there are three price ranges for tickets: $75, $225 and $325," according to Chris Kuc of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. On Monday, the NHL "will announce more information regarding ticket sales to non-season ticket-holders" (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 10/28). In Illinois, Tim Sassone notes the $325 tickets "will be in the upper deck, which the NHL and Hawks have deemed the best seats with the rink set up to extend from short left field to short right field and over the second-base portion of the infield." Meanwhile, $225 seats "will include most of the reserve grandstand at Cubs games and certain field boxes down the left-field and right-field lines," and the $75 seats "will be in the bleachers and the higher rows of field boxes." Rows closest to the field between first and third base "will be limited view tickets," and those tickets "will be offered to youth hockey players and their families for purchase through a random drawing" (Illinois DAILY HERALD, 10/29).

GETTING IN: In Chicago, Len Ziehm notes the Blackhawks' "approximately 14,000 season-ticket holders will get first crack" at the tickets, and Wrigley Field is "expected to accommodate 41,000 fans" for the game (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 10/29). In Michigan, George James Malik reports the Red Wings "asked for 5,000 tickets for their own season-ticket holders, and when you add that into the mix, you've got maybe 1,000 or 2,000 seats that the general public might get their hands on, assuming that the league doesn't sell them to secondary ticket markets like Stubhub, which have agreements with the NHL to give the league a chunk of the inflated sale prices" (MLIVE.com, 10/29).