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Interest in Penguins tickets picking up
Karen Price can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7980.
Although they've been selling tickets for several weeks in anticipation of a settlement to the labor dispute that canceled the 2004-05 season, activity has picked up since Wednesday, according to team spokesman Tom McMillan.
"The phones have been ringing a lot," McMillan said. "The sales people have been busy with actual sales and some inquiries. It's really encouraging because it's just off that announcement. Our sales push won't start until everything becomes official, and we have the schedule. It is virtually word of mouth right now."
The Penguins announced Wednesday that season ticket prices for 2005-06 would be the same as prices announced in March 2004 for the season that never was.
Overall, price cuts range from six percent to 45 percent of prices for the 2003-04 season in general seating. The Penguins also dropped prices for seats behind the protective netting, something that McMillan said was generating a lot of interest among callers.
Similar reductions will be available for partial-game plans.
Those plans and individual ticket prices will be announced after the league releases the season schedule.
The Penguins would not comment on specifics of new plans sold or even how many season ticket holders they lost because of the lockout. But Sawyer said they were "gratified" by the fans during the 301-day lockout.
"There's definitely a very strong core audience here," Sawyer said. "The last three years of play we were rebuilding, so we weren't offering the best product in terms of wins and losses, but you also know that we finished on a very high note at the end of the 2003-04 season. The last quarter we were one of the best teams in the entire league in points earned and that bodes well. I think the fans left with a good feeling at that point."
Notes: Space is still available for Eddie Olczyk's Pittsburgh Penguins Summer Hockey School, which begins Monday at the Ice Castle at Castle Shannon. This is the first of two week-long camps Olczyk will run this summer. The second week is Aug. 15-19 at the RMU/Island Sports Center at Neville Island. Camps run from noon to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call Mark Shuttleworth at 412-642-1329.
