Well, today I received my request from the Penguins to renew my season tickets in section 201. And boy is my ass sore! Per seat my tickets are going up from $49.50 to $53.50 each! That is an 8% increase!

Look, I know Mario and his crew live a life of champagne wishes and caviar dreams, but an eight freaking percent increase? Seriously? You know, I got a raise this year. It was 2.1%.

I do not know how much longer the Pens can keep these yearly astronomical and out of line with the rest of the nation price increases up. But at the rate things are going soon my pair of seats are going to be close to $10k.

Looks like as a season ticket holder I will be going to even fewer games next year. Maybe 10 at most. The rest will have to be sold just so I can do that and afford to see some games in the playoffs too.

Hey Mario, just a suggestion. You know, from the little people. Next time before you stick it to the season ticket holders how about a little warning and at least offer up some lube?

Now I know!  The Pittsburgh Penguins today released ticket prices for season ticket holders for the upcoming 2011-12 season.  And once again we are going up, up and away faster than Superman!

My tickets in section 201 behind the cut point where the price jumps even higher for center ice tickets are going to be $4,257.00 for a full season of 41 games plus two preseason games.  Last year was $4,042.00 and the year before that was $3,848.50.

After a 5.03% raise this year we get another 5.32% this year and a per game price of $49.50 per ticket.

Come on Mario!  Can’t you at least buy me dinner first?

Season ticket holders are in a cat bird seat this year with Pens tickets for the inaugural season of the Consol Energy Center in high demand.  Judging by the prices on TicketExchange season ticket holders looking for help paying off their packages are having no problem whatsoever demanding and getting twice face value for their tickets.

A cursory glance of what has sold in sections around me (201) shows that for games even in the middle of the week ticket holders are getting easily $100 a seat if they ask it.  Our seats in 201 are just a hair short of $50 so that is double full season ticket pack prices.  Of course, list price is nearly $65 a seat so for non full season ticket plan holders so it is not as big of a hit for fans trying desperately to get down to the new arena and see a game.

So if you want to go to a game where there are no tickets left and you really want to go you will have to open up your wallet to do so.  I am sure that there will be a lot of complaints from fans over this being the reality of the situation but if you don’t want to pay the secondary market prices then you can always shell out four grand plus for a set of tickets and do so up front.  Then you can hope that someone will want to buy the tickets to all the games you don’t want to or cannot go to.

This season for ticket holders it will be easy.  It is not that easy in most years though.

Yesterday was day one (of two) for season ticket holders to go look at the new Consol Energy Center. We had tickets and went and here are some of the pictures of the building with actual people inside along with some comments. There are a lot of pictures so I will be making multiple postings to get the good ones illustrative of the center up without creating one long, cumbersome post.

The Consol Energy Center

Here is a picture of the exterior of the CEC when you are coming down from the old Mellon Arena lots:

Just inside the Trib Total Media gate you will find the Penguins All Time Team display featuring videos, pictures and all sorts of interactive material on the players selected:

Penguins All Time Team Display at Consol Energy Center

More pics of the All Time Team Display:

All Time Team Display (close-up 1)

Another part of the Penguins All Time Team Display

I like the way this has been done because it appears that it would be easy to update if in another thirty years they decide to revamp who is and is not on the team.  The use of video displays instead of things like statutes makes this display very enduring and ensures that it will stay relevant.

Everything is certainly much more open than at the Igloo.  The old arena while nostalgic was just a dark place.  The Consol Energy Center is open and bright.

The second level Concourse at Consol Energy Center

For now you can see the old Igloo from the new arena until it is torn down.

Viewing the Igloo from Consol Energy Center

One last pic for part one of this topic before I start the second post, here are the Championship and scoring title banners hung from the rafters.

Championship and Other Banners Hung At Consol Energy Center

Part II coming in a few minutes …

Last week, like thousands of other season ticket holders, I got my yearly invoice asking for my deposit on next year’s season tickets. Of course the most annoying thing is that they ask me for my deposit BEFORE they tell me what the price of tickets for my two seats in D-7 will be once the move to the new arena is complete. Still waiting for that info!

Last year for my two tickets I paid a deposit of $769.70. This year the deposit was $840. I am not sure if this is a harbinger of a ticket price increase or not. But the 9.1% increase would be inline, but high, with what we have recently seen. It would also mean that the total cost of my tickets will be over $4,000 this year if true.

Of course with a season ticket waiting list the Penguins certainly probably feel confident that they can raise prices. It is simply supply and demand after all.

What I don’t like is the Penguins asking me for money before telling me what the total bill will be. I think it is sort of underhanded if you really want my opinion.