Some changes to the MTS Centre's luxury suites "need to be completed for the building to house NHL hockey this fall," according to Geoff Kirbyson of the WINNIPEG FREE PRESS. True North Sports & Entertainment Dir of Corporate Communications & Hockey Operations Scott Brown said that the "best suite in the house, which belonged to MTS, True North's biggest sponsor, had to be converted into a broadcast suite to house centre-ice cameras." Through the renovations, True North "was able to boost the overall number of suites to 55 from 48." When including the two party suites, "which may be sold to companies on the luxury-box waiting list, the suite count is now 57." Brown said that the construction is "taking place at the north end of the rink," and that the John Labatt Lounge "will remain as it is and will not be converted into additional suites." He said that the overall seat count in the luxury boxes has "increased to slightly more than 1,000." Brown added that "all of the arena's suites have already sold out and there's a 'significant' waiting list." Meanwhile, True North is "planning to nearly double the number of camera positions that it had" for AHL Manitoba Moose games to 37, and in that process, "an unspecified number of seats will be eliminated." Brown added that a "press-box upgrade, which started earlier this year, is on schedule to be completed this summer." Kirbyson notes the "bottom line is the building's capacity isn't going to change appreciably" from the current 15,015 (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 6/9).
NO MORE TICKETS TO BE FOUND: In Winnipeg, Kevin Rollason notes "people who were advertising season tickets at exorbitant prices for Winnipeg's new NHL team have vanished" from websites like Kijiji, Craigslist and eBay. Instead, "all you see are ads from people shut out from buying tickets who are still desperate to purchase them." There had been reports that there "could be legal repercussions against scalpers," and Brown said yesterday, "I would suspect that is due to the media coverage. We didn't contact Kijiji or Craigslist or anyone. But we are monitoring the situation and collecting data" (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, 6/9).
