Following tomorrow night's anticipated sellout for Game
Four of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Capitals will have sold
200,750 tickets to 11 postseason home games, generating an
estimated $15M, according to Bill Brubaker of the WASHINGTON
POST. But "even more impressive" is the fact that the team
has sold more than 36,000 tickets for next season: 2,000 10-
game packages (top price: $600 each), 200 20-game plans (top
price: $1,200 each) and 300 full season tickets (top prices:
$2,460 each). Brubaker writes, "It's doubtful any NHL team
needed a boost more than the Capitals," who sold only 6,668
full season tickets this season, "more than 4,000 fewer than
the NHL club average." Washington Sports & Entertainment
President Susan O'Malley said the team has already begun its
marketing campaign for next season, mailing brochures to
30,000 potential season-ticket customers. Brubaker adds
that ticket brokers were asking $1,200 for $175 seats prior
to Saturday's Game Three at the MCI Center. O'Malley, who
said she anonymously phoned a MD ticket broker to gauge
interest: "[W]hat these prices show is: Yes, we have
arrived." Brubaker writes that the Caps' success "seems to
have made MCI Center a hotter venue." Riggs Bank, which
purchased two "founders suites" for $1M each last year, was
recently offered $2M for one and Caps broadcasters HTS and
WBDC-50 "likely will double" ad rates next season. Last
Tuesday's Stanley Cup Finals opener drew a 13.7 rating on
WTTG-Fox in the Washington market -- the highest rating ever
for a Capitals game (Bill Brubaker, WASHINGTON POST, 6/15).
