My 28-year-old daughter, Betsy, who lives in Orlando, posted this on her Facebook page early Friday evening:
“So Winnipeggers, tickets to the Jets vs. Lightning game in Tampa start at $4.95. Who’s coming with me, Oct, 29th???!!!”
Actually, since Betsy posted her invitation, cheaper seats have appeared on Stub Hub. As of Saturday morning, there was a pair available to the Jets-Lightning game for $4 each. Another pair for $4.50 each. There was even an instant download for a group of eight for $7 each. In other words, you’d have eight tickets downloaded in your hands for $56. That’s nuts.
Here are some of the ladies who have committed:
Magic fans off to see the Jets.
Just as an aside, I’d go anywhere with them and in this case, I’ve even been given permission.
Betsy and Becky getting ready to watch the Jets -- for, like, free.
Later in the evening, Betsy added this to her post: “I’ll be buying tickets on Sunday. So I’ll buy as many as we need, I’ll probably go a little more expensive and closer to the action….. Might be $9 lol.”
LOL is right. If you bought a scalper’s ticket to the Jets opener in Winnipeg last Sunday, you probably paid considerably more than it would cost to buy a plane ticket to Orlando, spend a few days at Disney World, rent a car, drive the hour to the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, watch the Jets there for $4 and then fly home.
In fact, on Thursday, Oct. 20, the Lightning play the New York Islanders in Tampa. Tickets on Stub Hub start at $3 lol. Think about that. You can watch two of the greatest young players in the game — John Tavares and Steven Stamkos — play against each other for $3. What? Is it 1970?
The NHL can say what it likes about the Sun Belt experiment, but Stub Hub doesn’t lie. People in the southern markets don’t care about hockey and when you can get a regular season ticket on the secondary market for $4.95 (and it doesn’t matter who the opponent is), it’s time to start moving these teams to Halifax, Quebec City, Kitchener, Regina and even the Kootenays. Or hell, even Kansas City where they have a great new rink, or Omaha where they have a solid college team a good junior club.
Betsy and her RCS Jets hoodie.
If you’re in a position to watch a great team like the Tampa Bay Lightning — Stamkos, Vincent Lecavalier, Marty St. Louis, Victor Hedman — for $4.95, then you live in a city that hates hockey, will never like hockey and won’t miss it when it’s gone. Because if you don’t like this Tampa Bay Lightning team right now, you obviously hate the game.
Meanwhile, Betsy will look great at the game in her Winnipeg Jets hoodie, purchased right here in Winnipeg from our friends at River City Sports.