Ticket Prices in Montreal

[Rebels Ice hockey 0]

A buddy of mine are going to be up in Montreal on monday and we would love to go to the Habs vs Senators game, however the tickets have been long sold out. Do any of you guys have any clue as to how much we would have to spend to get scalped tickets? we dont care about seats, we just wanna see the game

[thejackal 46]

Prolly around twice the cost. I`ll be at the game too, with a group of friends.

[Jason Harris 31]

Actually, usually closer to twenty-five cents on the dollar -- *IF* you know what you're doing -- but I have to head off right now, so that will have to wait..... B)

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

My father talked to a scalper on last saturday against Boston and he told my father it was between 35-40 CDN and 150 CDN.

[pantherfan 0]

What is scalping?

[Eazy_b97 1]

People who sell the tickets on the street for above face value.

[scubafrogman 0]

What is scalping?

To resell at a price higher than the established value.

Legal in some state but illegal in others.

[DarkStar50 679]

In the big cities it is an art form. Beware of the hustle. Check the tickets always and be careful with your money. Always offer a counter price to the scalpers first price. Tell him you only have x $, not the y $, he wants. Make sure you know the section seating arrangements for the arena. Don't pay lower tier price for last row seats!

[chippa13 1844]

Somewhat related: I was in Ft. Lauderdale over the weekend and went to take in a Panthers game. We bought $30 G/A club tickets for $10. Down side was they turned out to be standing room but the plus side was we were right at the end of the club level where they had a huge bar and tables. We just stood during the periods and had a good view then rested between at one of the tables. It turned out to be pretty sweet.

If you want to make out with cheaper tickets and don't mind missing a few minutes of the first period, wait until just after game time, scalpers will take less because some money for the ticket is better than none.

[mack 44]

Definitely go over the tickets with a fine-tooth comb. Not sure what every arena does, but Nashville's been doing a bar-code scan on tickets as long as I can remember and you constantly see people who've bought duped/already used tickets.

[TBLfan 25]

if you wait till game time to buy the tickets you can usually get them for practically nothing... if they still have tickets.

[chippa13 1844]

Definitely go over the tickets with a fine-tooth comb. Not sure what every arena does, but Nashville's been doing a bar-code scan on tickets as long as I can remember and you constantly see people who've bought duped/already used tickets.

I think all arenas have gone to the bar code on tickets these days.

[TBLfan 25]

Definitely go over the tickets with a fine-tooth comb.  Not sure what every arena does, but Nashville's been doing a bar-code scan on tickets as long as I can remember and you constantly see people who've bought duped/already used tickets.

I think all arenas have gone to the bar code on tickets these days.

I haven't been to a sporting event in years that hasn't used barcode... With the exception of USF Icebulls hockey.

[DarkStar50 679]

Since you will be in Montreal, learn to speak French! :lol:

[Hidious 0]

Each and every scalper in Montreal speaks english. Scalping is illegal but it's not something autorities will really punish... It's like playing poker, it's illegal here ;)

[RadioGaGa 162]

Since you will be in Montreal, learn to speak French! :lol:

You can easily get by in Montreal without speaking French. Quebec City (from what I've heard) is a different story.

[Jason Harris 31]

Okay, here's the secret to picking up tickets at cents on the dollar, taught to me by my neighbor, who had his own ticket brokerage for fifteen years, and has been a street hustler for twenty.

First, although you can find tickets available for almost any event, the following factors increase your odds of picking up tickets at better prices: middle of the week game, high season ticket sales, earleir in the season, less desirable opponent, and high corporate presence.

During the past fifteen years, tickets have become quite expensive, especially for premium seats. Consequently, a large portion of those seats are sold to corporations, since they can more easily afford the $15K to $20K for four seats plus possible playoffs. Companies will give them away as perks to employees or clients. Usually the tickets are divvied out in advance, but sometimes schedules change, so the tickets are available for that night's game.

So the boss goes up to Joe around 3:00 and asks him if he'd like tickets for tonight's game against the Islanders. "Oh, man, you bet! My buddies and I love hockey!"

But it turns out that not all of Joe's buddies can change their plans at the last minute. One says yes. One says he has to babysit the kids, so he's wife can have Girls Night Out. One never gets back to him. And one says the Islanders stink, and he'd rather play in his league game.

So Joe meets his one buddy at the sports bar for dinner before the game. He figures they need to leave a bit early to sell the other two tickets, but they get caught up in a game on TV before realizing their game is going to start in twelve minutes. Joe's a bit bummed, since he had hoped to sell the tickets for at least fifty bucks each, but he didn't have to pay for them, so they scurry to the game.

Tha's where you come in. You want to stand about 30-40 feet in front of the main entrance with about 10-15 minutes to go before game time, asking "Anybody have any extra tickets? Any extra tickets?" You're obviously hoping to catch the Joes of the world who had already resigned themselves to eating the ticket -- especially if they never paid for the tickets.

When they ask you if you're looking for a ticket, you tell them yes, but wait about two seconds because, surprisingly, about a fourth of the time they'll just give you the ticket. If not, tell them, "Yeah, it doesn't matter where the seat is -- I'm just looking to get in. I can spend X dollars." Some people will scoff at you because the seat cost way more than X dollars, but you just politely tell them you understand that, but it's all you can afford. Others will try to negotiate for a little more, while some will figure it's X dollars will help with concessions. Remember, they were just about to walk in with unused tickets.

A couple of things to bear in mind.

1) You have to be willing to throw away your embarassment about doing something like this.

2) In some cities, it's illegal to buy and sell tickets on the street.

3) Even in cities where it's legal to buy/sell, you're possibly standing on private property, so the team's security can shoosh you away, so you have to be a little discreet.

4) Some people will tell you there are "guys over there selling tickets." Those are the street hustlers, who you can start to pick out. When they buy tickets, they tell the people, "This game is a bomb. I'll give you five bucks." Two minutes later, they're trying to sell them by saying, "Man, this game's sold out. You won't find any tickets anywhere else." Obviously, you want to avoid the hustlers and stay where you are, so the Joes of the world can see you.

5) If you're polite with the people, they'll sometimes come back two minutes later and ask "How about Y dollars? Would you give me Y?

[Fonya 0]

Since you will be in Montreal, learn to speak French! :lol:

You can easily get by in Montreal without speaking French. Quebec City (from what I've heard) is a different story.

This is very true!

[Kovy_Ribs_Fedo 3]

Yeah, most of the times, they speak better in english than in French.

If you want to see the warm up(I really like to watch the warm-up, almost more than the game), it's another story because you are 1 hour before the game and the scalper all have their tickets or so.