If you fill half the arena at “full” price, or all of the arena at “half” price, then you would bring in the same amount of money from tickets, but also sell more merchandise, concessions, etc. Empty seats aren’t making anyone money.

When I see the price of tickets actually drop, because of supply and demand or for whatever reason, maybe I will agree with your statement. But they don’t, they just rise over time.

Furthermore, what these numbers represent is not tickets sold at full gate price. They represent tickets issued which includes tickets sold at a discount (season ticket packages, promotional pricing), gate price, and flat out ticket giveaways which come in many different forms (a member of my vast network of spies and informants tell me that the Caps generate many of their sellouts by placing large numbers unsold tickets into the “ticket problem” pile for people whose tickets won’t scan for some reason. This allows the Caps to claim a sellout when actual gate counts are much lower) so we don’t have a true idea of what a ticket is actually worth because of the varying prices paid for it. This is something Brooks mentioned.

While you are correct that a team like the New York Rangers that are already playing to capacity will create a false shortage of tickets, please don’t forget these two basics of the NHL business model. #1, Under the current CBA, player salaries are directly tied to revenue. Player salaries are by far the largest cost for the owners. If revenues dip, player salaries will dip. If revenues rise, player salaries will rise. Brooks, who is a Union Thug Mouthpiece, concedes that revenues are going to drop which in turn will drop player salaries. He is looking for a way to soften that blow to the players. #2. Ticket revenue is the largest source of revenue for the NHL. Only a few NHL teams actually make $$$$$ selling their TV and Radio broadcast rights. The rest have to buy the airtime they use and make that $$$$$ back by selling the advertising themselves which means most NHL teams lose $$$$$ on their TV and Radio broadcasts. The NHL does not have a TV contract in the United States on par with the NFL, MLB, and NBA and therefore cannot count on that revenue stream to bolster its player salaries the way the NFL, MLB, and NBA can.

While you are right that some teams can afford to raise ticket prices, many can’t because they aren’t selling their tickets to begin with and raising the prices will force them into more and more gimmicks to get tickets out the window and fans in the door and further reduce ticket revenue in spite of raising ticket prices. But if the largest cost to the franchise (player salary) is tied in part to the largest revenue stream (ticket sales, which as you already know is independent of ticket prices), the issue of profitability becomes largely moot. Most of the small, non traditional markets were in trouble before the economic collapse to begin with. Something like this will not determine whether or not a franchise stays, goes, or folds.

I still believe that the market should set the prices.