CHICAGO — After Saturday night's win over the Tampa Bay Lightning gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 series lead in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals, fans have a chance Monday night to witness history — a Stanley Cup clincher on home ice.
Chicago hockey fans have been spoiled of late, as the Blackhawks won Lord Stanley's Cup in 2010 and 2013, but what we haven't seen in some time (77 years, to be exact) is a Stanley Cup win at home.
But if you want to get into the United Center Monday night, you better be ready to pay historical prices, too.
"There's really no comparison when you get to a game clincher," said Max Waisvisz, partner at Gold Coast Tickets, a Chicago-based ticket broker.
You'll pay about $1,000 just to get in with standing-room-only tickets, Waisvisz said. Some ticket resale websites have them listed as high as $1,600.
Want to actually sit down during the game? (We know some of you don't plan on it anyway.) Get ready to pony up at least $1,750, Waisvisz said.
Club level seats are around $3,000 and lower levels are going for $4,000 and up, he added.
Front row glass seats cost as much as $15,000, he said. But it's no sweat to the type of people who jet in to the city on a private plane to catch the game, he added.
As of Monday morning, tickets on the glass were listed for $25,000 and $20,999.99 on StubHub.
Hawks ticket frenzy has never been this high, said Waisvisz, who's been in the business 25 years. The only comparable tickets would be the '90s Bulls, when Waisvisz said he sold lower level seats for $2,500 each — to another broker, who then flipped them for $3,500.
The final game of the Jordan era (which was 17 years ago to this day) oddly did not yield high ticket prices at the home stadium of the Utah Jazz. Waisvisz remembers clearly because he was there: "In Utah, Mormons don't go to games on Sunday. So I got in cheap. And at the end of the game, I'm hugging Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson," he said.
"For the fan that wants to be there and experience a historical moment that you never forget, this could be it," he said of Monday's game.
If only people could be this excited for Cubs or Sox tickets, Waisvisz lamented. They're going for about half of face value now.
And, importantly, he notes that fans should be wary of where they buy their tickets. He advises people to stick with sellers who are registered with the National Association of Ticket Brokers, because even if they are fooled, they'll get their money back.
Not so for those teasingly appealing low-priced tickets on Craiglist. You know, the ones that are "only" $800 each.
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