20Jan What percentage of Toronto Maple Leaf seats are corporate seats?
g.maria asked:
Leaf games are always sold out but the arena is usually empty. It’s not because they’re in line at concessions or they’re late to show up, it’s because most of the lower bowl seats are corporate seats and those who own them don’t bother to give them away. I just want to know if anyone knows exactly how many of the arenas seats are corporate seats and where they got this information. Thanks!
Leaf games are always sold out but the arena is usually empty. It’s not because they’re in line at concessions or they’re late to show up, it’s because most of the lower bowl seats are corporate seats and those who own them don’t bother to give them away. I just want to know if anyone knows exactly how many of the arenas seats are corporate seats and where they got this information. Thanks!
Tags: corporate
January 24th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Actually, very few seats at the ACC are Corporate Seats (MLSE lists their corporate sales at less than 8%). The information is filed with the NHL as part of the CBA.
The empty seats are owned by people like Jimmy Devallano of the Red Wings (Leafs season ticket holder since 1957) who give their tickets to family members who don’t show up.
The person that owns my building in Toronto has been a Leafs season ticket holder since 1968, he goes to maybe one game a year - but he never gives his tickets away.
January 25th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Ummm, the arena is empty? Since when? Think you need to adjust the tv or get new glasses. There may be times when seats are empty at the beginning of periods because people are not allowed to return to their seats while the game is in progress. I know I have been caught in that.
But empty arena? Don’t think so.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I’m a STH (I’ve taken over paying from my dad who had them since the 1960’s; his pension doesn’t exactly pay that annual “love note” from MLSE), and near as I can tell, am not a corporation (I pay for my seats out of pocket). My seats are in the reds (not the gold/platniums which you see on television quite frequently), in the outer fringes of the lower bowl.
The guys that sit next to me are older, and have pretty much had them in the family for years. Most of the people that sit next to me have had their seats in the family for decades.
Because I travel for work, I sell 20 games (at face value) to a neighbour who, like me, is a huge fan, plus I will always donate a pair to my nephew’s team for their raffle/auction night. I’ll take my dad to most of the weekend games I attend, or sometimes a coworker (or if I’m lucky, a date). Either way, they’re getting used all 41 home games.
What you’re seeing on television is that, during Intermission, the folks in the gold/platniums repair to the ACC Platnium Lounge. As their sojurn usually runs beyond the intermission, you have the start of the period showing empty seats on tv. By the first or second whistle, most folks are back in their seats (our own version of musical chairs).
LITY indicated the number was 8%; I had heard around 10% so that makes sense. For 19,000 tickets, that’s 17,480 “normal” folks, and only 1500 or so “corporate” seats.
Go into the upper bowl and I assure you that you’re amid people who work for a living (most of whom will have a story similar to mine).