Flyers raise ticket prices

For the Flyers, business imposes reality

The Flyers released a letter to season ticket holders to inform them of a price hike on season tickets of $4 per game. That doesn’t sound significant, but it adds up fast. All in all, it’s a 10% increase on the price of season tickets.

Flyers Ticket Price Increase:

A common talking point is that the Flyers have actually gone six years without raising prices on season ticket holders. When you consider the runaway inflation of recent years, it seems like they’ve been exceedingly generous and that their generosity just finally expired.

That makes for a great press release, but the reality isn’t so noble. I don’t fault them, either. The Flyers are no different from any other business. They do what maximizes growth. In this case, a simple calendar will tell you the truth in a way that the Flyers will not. 

Runaway inflation began hitting in the worst way starting in 2022. Flyers fans will recognize the year 2022 as the beginning of the true collapse of the team.

A season that featured them finishing 4th from the bottom in the NHL standings, followed by a 22-23 season that included very little improvement. The former season even predated John Tortorella, their cash cow for 2 years before Matvei Michkov showed up. 

Business ops wanted desperately to raise prices in 2022 or 2023 to offset inflation. But they knew they couldn’t. They would have sold so few season tickets as to statistically approximate zero if they actually raised the prices during the darkest days of the Flyers. 

Yes, Flyers Fans Are Frustrated…For Good Reason.

They bided their time, waiting for their Russian golden goose to lay its first eggs. When Michkov did convince Medvedev to work with him in buying out the remaining years of his contract, dollar signs appeared in the eyes of the Flyers’ decision makers. 

Michkov is the first rookie in my memory to get to choose his number immediately. His jersey went for sale as soon as he was signed to his ELC. He was featured on every billboard and poster, and he was used as the heart of the Flyers’ promotional material. 

Matvei Michkov became the way to sell season tickets. Last year’s surprise run up the standings wasn’t going to do it. They didn’t win enough to make the pitch about winning, and they weren’t that entertaining, either. 

But Michkov is electric, and they knew it. If they didn’t know it, they sure found out quickly. The Flyers were one of the top dogs in the NHL as it pertains to season ticket sales. 

Now, they see an opportunity to raise prices like they wanted to do years ago. But I don’t think they are doing this blindly, either.

There’s plenty of reason to believe that this season of Michkov’s arrival was more of a sugar rush in business, and less of an indication of sustainable future growth.

It’s anecdotal, but I certainly have plenty of buyer’s remorse vis a vis purchasing season tickets. And when I have to sell off tickets for a game because I have other engagements? It’s a chore, to say the least. And the success rate is not nearly 100%. 

I’m not alone in those struggles. I would think the organization understands this. They can’t put this same product on the ice again, and then raise season ticket prices. That’s insane. It’s dumb and it’s toxic to their business. Befitting this understanding, the pens of the insiders got to work with a shift in the narrative. 

18 months to shift the complexion of the team. I’ll put the relevant quotes here for you: 

“The Flyers are looking to add to their roster, but the piece has to be right and the salary cap is something that needs to be kept in mind. The team is playing well right now, so it may be tempting to make a trigger happy addition, but the vision to make impact additions seems to be in a 18 month window.” – Anthony DiMarco 

“Now, with the team improving and the plan to build a contender in the next 18 months commencing, and with the announcement that a new area is going to be built sometime in the next six years, they could no longer hold out with prices that were last set in 2019.” – Anthony SanFillipo

18 months to close. I mean, I’m the originator of the joke, right? Danny can’t close. He can’t close his freezer and has to throw his meats out every three days. He can’t close his bedroom window and lies awake to get a head cold every winter, because he can’t close his eyes either. 

But this is different. Now, business and financials have knocked on Danny’s (open) door and told him the deadline is coming. This time period was not picked at random. They didn’t just say, “Eh. 18 months sounds right.” 

Do the math. 18 months is June 29th of 2026. That means they’re allotting themselves one season of raised season ticket prices before they want to display a contender to fans. They know that season tickets next year will be a tough sell. They’ll try to use Year 2 of Michkov as a big selling point. 

The truth is he’ll suddenly be played a lot and there will be no shortage of hype around his summer. The Russian golden goose still has some eggs left to lay, but not even Michkov can solo-carry the ledger of a billion dollar organization. Though, he does come closer than many would think. 

They’re giving themselves 1 season to sell season tickets with Michkov. By that next summer, it’ll have to be “Michkov and __” 

Frankly, this is good for the Flyers. Deadlines are important. And propagandists online were taking insane positions like they only need 3 more years of development. 

Patience is all well and good. But reality has come knocking, and Danny will have to close more than his door if he doesn’t want to oversee a collapse of revenue. 

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