Tips a big hit at the box office

  • Kirby Arnold / Herald Writer
  • Sunday, May 2, 2004 9:00pm
  • Sports

EVERETT – Keith Armstrong didn’t need to see the long lines outside the ticket windows last week to appreciate the hunger for hockey in this town.

A growing pile of Everett Silvertips season ticket orders on his desk already gave him that idea.

“I’ve got a stack of deposits waiting to be entered into my computer, but we just haven’t had any time to do it,” said Armstrong, ticket manager for the Silvertips. “We’ve been busy.”

Armstrong and his staff have worked 16-hour days lately to satisfy the single-game demand for a season that just won’t end.

Besides their 36-game regular-season home schedule, the Silvertips have played eight postseason games at the Everett Events Center with at least two more remaining. The Silvertips host Medicine Hat in the third and fourth games of the Western Hockey League finals Tuesday and Wednesday, and also the sixth game next Sunday if the series goes that long.

The games this week sold out in seven hours Friday, leaving less than 100 standing-room tickets by Saturday afternoon.

“The response we’ve had and the support of the community have been unbelievable,” Armstrong said. “This has gone far beyond my expectations.”

Amid the playoff euphoria, a surge in season ticket requests for 2004-05 makes it clear those packages already are hot tickets.

The Silvertips are accepting deposits on season tickets, and Armstrong said the team is averaging 20 per day.

“We have present season-ticket holders who want to add three or more seats to their accounts and we have businesses coming in saying they want 10 tickets for their employees,” Armstrong said. “It’s been an unbelievable response.”

The Silvertips’ success also has helped create a greater interest in the Everett Events Center suites, several of which have been empty since the building opened in October. Twelve of the 20 suits had full-time occupants in the past year.

“There definitely has been more interest,” said Eric Blankenship, marketing and sales director for the events center. “We kind of gauge interest in how many people are willing to spend premium dollars just to rent it, and we’ve definitely had some new prospects the past couple of months.”

Blankenship said several other popular events – the Globetrotters, Rod Stewart and Champions on Ice – also have stirred more interest in suite purchases.

The cost of a suite ranges from a $600 rental for some individual events to $40,000 for a calendar year. A year-long suite commitment guarantees access to every event at the arena, from the 36 hockey games to concerts and other sports.

The Silvertips had about 2,400 season ticket holders this season and Armstrong said the team is certain to shatter that mark next season.

“It’s hard to gauge right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we doubled that number,” he said.

If the Silvertips pull that off, more than half of their 8,250-seat arena would be occupied by season ticket holders. That would rival the Medicine Hat Tigers, whose 4,004-seat arena is about 95 percent occupied by season-ticket holders, Armstrong said.

“I would love to be in Medicine Hat’s situation someday,” he said.

Silvertips season ticket prices for 2004-05 range – depending on seat location – from $357 to $648 for a full season, $236 to $410 for a 22-game package and $148 to $262 for a 14-game package.

The Silvertips are taking orders for 2004-05 season tickets, with a $75 deposit required for each seat.

Current season-ticket holders will have the first opportunity to renew their seats, add seats or change locations in the arena. New season ticket buyers then will be invited to the arena – in the order in which their deposit was received – to select seats that remain.

Armstrong said the seat-selection process should begin about three weeks after the Silvertips end their season. If they win this playoff series, they will play in the Memorial Cup tournament that runs May 15-23 in Kelowna, B.C.

“Once the playoff run is over with, we’ll probably take a week break just to do some cleanup,” Armstrong said.

Then he’ll brace himself for some more long hours in the ticket office.

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