Can You Afford To Go To A Leaf Game?

Mortgaging the house for the second time? Check.

Dipping into the savings in your rainy day fund until it’s empty? Double ‘cheque’.

No, you’re not paying off massive debts. You’re just getting ready to go to the A.C.C. for a Leaf game.

O.K., so we’re exaggerating. But not by that much.

Going to see one of Toronto’s games can be an expensive proposition, even after you actually manage to procure a pair of those ridiculously expensive seats in the nosebleed section.

The Leafs didn’t raise their ticket prices this year and the G.S.T. cut means they’re actually a little bit cheaper than they were before. But everything’s relative and for many G.T.A. residents seeing the Buds play on anything but a TV screen is now a distant and unaffordable quest.

Just ask the Medeiros family. Susana Medeiros’ nine-year-old son Danny bleeds Blue and White and will go out of his way to see them. “He’s nuts about the Leafs. He lives, eats and breathes the Leafs. If the Leafs lose, he literally will cry and he doesn’t cry easily,” she laughs.

But Danny has never actually been to a game in person because his family simply can’t afford it.

When Susana adds up the price of admission, transit, snacks and the odd foam finger, she comes up with a frightening figure for a single game outing.

Do the math and you can see why. Tickets range from $24 to over $300 – if you can find them. The average is about $150, and then you add on a hot dog (the A.C.C.’s cost a whopping $4.75 a piece), a large beer (at $12.75, it’s enough to drive you to drink), parking ($20) and your total comes to $354.80.

And if you take your kids, that total could easily reach more than $600 for a single night.

It’s a sad reality for the Medeiros clan. But Susana recalls it wasn’t like that when she was young.

 “We were also a family of five, and I remember us being able to go, and I remember my parents not having a lot of money, so it couldn’t have been that out of reach,” Susana sighs. “It certainly seems to be now.”

Most families could absorb all those extras. But it’s almost always the ticket prices that seem to be the final expense hurdle.

Here’s what other fans are paying for their price of admission.  (The American teams are in U.S. dollars, while the Canadian teams will take your Canuck bucks.)

Anaheim Mighty Ducks

Best seats: $135

Cheap seats: $15

Seasons tickets: N/A

 

Atlanta Thrashers

Best seats: $250

Cheap seats: $10

Seasons tickets: $440-$10,340

 

Boston Bruins:

Best seats: $176.50

Cheap seats: $10

Seasons tickets: $798-$3,570

 

Buffalo Sabres

Best seats: $150

Cheap seats: $23

Seasons tickets: $630-$2,268

 

Calgary Flames

Best seats: $195

Cheap seats: $20

Seasons tickets: $1,377-$5,477

 

Carolina Hurricanes

Best seats: $150

Cheap seats: $10.29

Seasons tickets: $215-$1,075

 

Chicago Blackhawks

Best seats: $250

Cheap seats: $10

Seasons tickets: $615-$10,250

 

Colorado Avalanche

Best seats: $184

Cheap seats: $21

Seasons tickets: $924-$8,096

 

Columbus Blue Jackets

Best seats: $125

Cheap seats: $14

Seasons tickets: $630-$6,300

 

Dallas Stars

Best seats: $290

Cheap seats: $12

Seasons tickets:   $798-$12,180

 

Detroit Red Wings

Best seats: $85

Cheap seats: $22

Seasons tickets: $1,012-$3,910

 

Edmonton Oilers

Best seats: $175 (Sun.-Thurs.); $201 (Fri.-Sat.)

Cheap seats: $34 (Sun-Thurs.); $39 (Fri.-Sat.)

Seasons tickets: $1,170-$6,255

 

Florida Panthers

Best seats: $92

Cheap seats: $32

Seasons tickets: $731-$3,526

 

L.A. Kings

Best seats: $95

Cheap seats: $12

Seasons tickets: $516-$8,213

 

Minnesota Wild

Best seats: $92

Cheap seats: $16

Seasons tickets: $550-$3,256

 

Montreal Canadiens

Best seats: $192

Cheap seats: $23

Seasons tickets: $853-$6,463.92

 

Nashville Predators

Best seats: $100

Cheap seats: $12

Seasons tickets:$516-$4,300

 

New Jersey Devils

Best seats: $90

Cheap seats: $20

Seasons tickets: $840-$3,780

 

New York Islanders

Best seats: $160

Cheap seats: $25

Seasons tickets: $1,008-$3,402

 

New York Rangers

Best seats: $650

Cheap seats: $26

Seasons tickets: $2,720

 

Ottawa Senators

Best seats: $280

Cheap seats: $22

Seasons tickets: $999-$5,550

 

Philadelphia Flyers

Best seats: $180

Cheap seats: $20

Seasons tickets: $924-$3,872

 

Phoenix Coyotes

Best seats: $300

Cheap seats: $15

Seasons tickets: $387-$10,750  

 

Pittsburgh Penguins

Best seats: $60

Cheap seats: $25

Seasons tickets: $2,460-$3,895

 

San Jose Sharks

Best seats: $125

Cheap seats: $18

Seasons tickets: $704-$5,060

 

St. Louis Blues

Best seats: $120

Cheap seats: $8

Seasons tickets: $352-$5,280

 

Tampa Bay Lightning

Best seats: $59.61

Cheap seats: $4.49

Seasons tickets: $699-$6,500

 

Toronto Maple Leafs

Best seats: $381

Cheap seats: $81

Seasons tickets: Are you kidding? Impossible to get at any price.

 

Vancouver Canucks

Best seats: $93.50

Cheap seats: $32.75

Seasons tickets: $1788.75-$6030

 

Washington Capitals

Best seats: $90

Cheap seats: $10

Seasons tickets: $200-$600

Sources: team websites and team box offices