ST. LOUIS — It's time for the St. Louis Blues to hit the ice for another season. Fans are forking over for tickets, paying between $19 and $800 (resale) for upcoming games.
Along with everything, the cost of tickets has risen through the years.
Weekend games, hot opponents and big fanbases draw more spectators and increase ticket prices. You can still score a pair of tickets from Ticketmaster for $19 each for the Thursday, October 19 matchup with the Arizona Coyotes.
Some resale tickets near the ice are going for more than $800.
The Blues franchise was added to the National Hockey League in 1967, going all the way to the Stanley Cup.
A St. Louis Post-Dispatch story showed a season-ticket holder's average cost of $4 per game for the 1967 season.
A decade later, a story from the Post-Dispatch indicated the average ticket was going for $8 in 1978.
In 1990, the Post-Dispatch had the average ticket price at $21 (compared to $32.50 in Los Angeles and $17 in Washington).
The success of the 1990-1991 season and the Brett Hull era saw ticket prices surge. Team Market Report lists the average ticket at $42 for the 1994-1995 season. The Kansas City Star showed the average ticket at $49 in 1996-1997.
The average ticket cost hovered between $42 and $48 from 1997 to the 2004 lockout.
Coming out of the lockout, the average ticket cost was $28 for the 2005-2006 season, according to Statista.
The 2009 playoff run increased prices for fans with the average ticket costing $37 in the 2008-2009 season.
Divisional playoff games bolstered prices again in 2014-2015. Statista had the average ticket cost at $53 for that season.
An analysis from Vivid Seats had the average 2016-2017 St. Louis Blues ticket at $72.
Tickets on the secondary market were going for $119 in the 2018-2019 season, according to TicketIQ via Money Inc. Fans paid out to see the Blues on the way to the Stanley Cup.
The pandemic upended the 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 seasons. The median ticket price for the 2022-2023 season was $83 according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
Enterprise Center has an occupancy of 18,096 for hockey games.