Here's how much Sask. WHL fans are paying for tickets this season

Inflation rates are top of mind for most consumers as the increasing cost of living can be felt at grocery stores, gas stations and in many cases, sports venues.

Some Saskatchewan WHL teams have raised the cost of tickets this season as they face additional expenses, causing some fans to find other sources of entertainment.

David Bernakevitch, who has been a Regina Pats fan since childhood, said he hasn’t been to a game yet this season because of the cost.

“Every time I’ve looked at ticket prices I just can’t justify it,” Bernakevitch said.

According to the Regina Pats website, all single game tickets appear to have gone up by three dollars this year compared to last year.

Regina Pats 2021-22 single game ticket prices (left) compared to 2022-23 ticket prices. (Source: reginapats.com)

The website lists tickets starting at $23 in the restricted viewing sections, up to $33 in the gold sections. However, after going through Ticketmaster with taxes and fees, restricted seats come out to $30 and gold tickets cost $48.

“I personally think it’s a shame,” Bernakevitch said.

“There’s a lot of Pats fans like myself with kids that want to take their kids and want to raise them as Pats fans. Since it’s so expensive we’re not going to be able to do that.”

The Regina Pats declined an interview but in a written statement said “ticket prices have increased a nominal amount year over year” due to increased operating costs created by inflation.

“Our club continues to benchmark our prices against other upper-mid-market teams across the CHL as well as other local entertainment options including other sports teams, movie theatres, concert venues and more,” the team said in a statement.

The Moose Jaw Warriors said a price increase was necessary as the team faces a higher operating cost.

“Things did go up marginally just to kind of balance [inflation rates], but we’ve introduced all kinds of different ticket packages and family packages that include popcorn and pop to make it flexible on families,” Jaret Schneider, the director of business operations for the Warriors, said.

“There definitely have been some challenges. There’s things like travel costs and food costs for players throughout the year.”

Meanwhile in Saskatoon, the Blades have made no changes to ticket prices this season in hopes of retaining a solid fan base.

“This would be our fifth season without any price increases,” Tyler Wawryk, the director of business operations with the Blades, said.

“We knew the PST on tickets was taking effect on Oct. 1 so essentially for consumers at the box office coming in, they are seeing an increase. We made the decision as a team to not increase ticket rates, even though it would probably benefit us because our expenses have gone up and we’re trying to recover from the pandemic and lost revenue during that time. We ultimately wanted to take into consideration what our fans are going through.”

COST COMPARISONS

Among the five Saskatchewan WHL teams, the Regina Pats are the only team that does not offer child pricing for tickets.

Bernakevitch said he wants to take his three-year-old son to a home Pats game this season, but won’t do it if he has to buy an adult ticket for him.

“It’s going to be $90 for me and my son to go. He’s only three. He might only want to watch a period, he might not have fun there or he might want to stay for the whole game,” Bernakevitch said.

“It’s even worth it to drive to Moose Jaw to watch a Pats game.”

The Moose Jaw Warriors charge $6.69 for children, the Saskatoon Blades charge $7.50, the Prince Albert Raiders charge $12 and the Swift Current Broncos charge $12.50, according to each team’s website.

“[Kids] are the ones that crowd around the glass for whatever the three stars are throwing out. They’re the ones that are there for the pucks at warm up. For us, the impact is on the kids. We want kids to want to come to games, but we want parents to be able to afford to be able to bring their kids and enjoy it as a family event,” Schneider with the Warriors said.

All Saskatchewan teams except for the Pats also offer family packages consisting of a combination of two adult tickets and two kids tickets, sometimes with concessions added, for a set cost.

The Saskatoon Blades have seen more fans opting for those flex packages or family offers this season instead of season tickets as people face increased costs of living.

“Everybody is feeling the crunch right now and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight,” Wawryk with the Blades said.

“It’s definitely been a challenge for the consumer, but we try to make it as affordable as possible. We have a $40 family pack which, to my knowledge, is the best deal in the WHL to get four tickets to the game. We’ve seen tremendous uptake in those specifically and some real positive feedback from fans who are appreciative of that option.”

According to team ticket sites, a Friday night adult ticket to a home Saskatoon Blades game right behind the team bench costs $31 with taxes and fees. The same seat for a home Pats game costs $48.

The same seat on a Friday night Moose Jaw Warriors game costs $27.65 for an adult.

The Swift Current Broncos offer adults tickets for a flat rate of $22.20 if purchased in advance, and $25.50 at the gate. For youth – aged 17 and under – advance tickets are $11.10 and gate tickets are $12.75. Children three years and younger get into games for free. A family of four can purchase a single game ticket pack for $52.60.

ATTENDANCE

Although it’s still early in the WHL season, both the Warriors and Blades said attendance is slowly trending up.

“We’ve seen a very small increase from last year through this time, or even from our last year season average, we’re up three percent,” Wawryk said about the Blades’ turn out so far.

“It’s a very small increase but we’re happy to be on the plus side for that average. We’re still not where we were pre pandemic but we understand it’s going to take some time to get back to those numbers, whether or not people have been impacted financially throughout the pandemic or still have some health concerns.”

In Moose Jaw, the Warriors have seen an increase of five per cent compared to last year’s numbers.

“We’re definitely up which is nice to see,” Schneider said.

“There’s been a trend pretty much across the board and for us as well that [from pre pandemic] we’re definitely down in attendance. But from last year things are starting to rise and I think we are slowly starting to see that increase coming out of it. It’ll take a little bit of time and I’m sure as the season goes on we’ll hopefully be able to bounce back to where things were pre pandemic.”

According to the Regina Pats’ website, attendance through their first five home games averaged out to 3,282 – about 700 fewer fans compared to last year’s total season average of 3,958. Compared to the first five games of last season, there are about 500 fewer fans in seats so far this year.

As for prices at the Brandt Centre, Bernakevitch said he hopes to see changes in the future in order to get more fans of all ages back in the seats.

David Bernakevitch said he has been going to Regina Pats games since he was a kid. He decided to give up his season tickets after three seasons to cut down on costs.

“I get the cost of everything is going up but they also have to understand that [hockey] is an entertainment thing and it’s going to be the first thing to comes off of people’s lists when they’re trying to save money,” Bernakevitch said.

“It would be great to have some sort of competitive pricing for kids to be able to enjoy it.”