On Stars Seats, Suds, and Such

Just chatted with Stars president Jeff Cogen regarding details of season-ticket renewals that were recently sent out, which included price reductions in the lower bowl and credits for food and beverage purchases. According to the Sports Business Journal, the Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning are the only NHL teams that have committed to lowering at least some ticket prices for 2009-10.

On 1,303 seats downstairs at AAC, the prices will drop. That includes 784 season-ticket seats going from $73 per game to $55 and 519 seats going from $55 to $40. The Stars say there hasn’t been a $40 season-ticket downstairs for a Stars home game since the 1997-98 season.

The $55 price will be available through the renewal deadline of March 18. The $40 seats, Cogen said, will be avalable at that price afterward.

Cogen said he thinks other NHL teams will also lower prices. “I think we’re ahead of the curve,” he said. “You’re going to see teams that didn’t have a hard time selling their seats having to get creative and do some things that we have to do.”

According to ESPN.com, the Stars rank 14th in the league in paid attendnce at 17,683.

As for the food and beverage credit, Cogen said: “We looked at a lot of different things [extras]. Airline tickets. What is the highest perceived demand item? It’s food and beverage at the game. You have four seats; I’m going to give you $1,000 for food and beverage because you’ll spend that.”