Stanley Cup Final: Preds outselling Pens, NBA Finals teams with $2,500 tickets

Nashville's Final tickets average more than $2,500, while Pens home games are an average of $1,270

By Cody Benjamin

May 31, 2017 at 2:22 pm ET • 1 min read

The craze at Bridgestone Arena was apparent in the Western Conference finals, when tickets for the Nashville Predators' series opposite the Anaheim Ducks went for more than double the cost of Eastern Conference finals tickets.

And now, according to TickPick, the Preds are dominating Stanley Cup Final prices, selling tickets that cost a per-game average of more than $2,500 and outranking both their opponent, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the two teams squaring off in the NBA Finals.

From TickPick, the online ticket marketplace:

Of the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final, the Predators currently have the hottest ticket of all four competing teams -- the lone team that did not participate in last year's Final -- with an average ticket price of $2,554. The Penguins, on the other hand, have the cheapest average ticket at $1,270, with tonight's Game 2 the least expensive ticket of the Stanley Cup Final, averaging $473.15. The Golden State Warriors have the second hottest ticket at $2,472, followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers at $1,531.

It's not necessarily surprising that "Smashville" is smashing its cross-sport contenders when it comes to ticket profits, if only because the argument can be made that the Stanley Cup Playoffs are a smarter watch than basketball's predictable postseason.

But the Predators' average ticket prices, especially in contrast to tickets for Pens home games, are still pretty hefty.

Here's the main reason why from Jack Slingland, director of client relations at TickPick:

In regards to the Predators prices, another reason they are so inflated is because the resale of Predators tickets is one of the most restricted in the NHL, so inventory is incredibly limited. The teams or artists that end up restricting resale actually end up hurting their fans because it makes the few tickets that do make it to the secondary market unaffordable.