As teams have transitioned exclusively to digital ticketing, fans have made a stink over not being able to take home their ticket as a souvenir. But, for the most part, teams have said it's just not what we do anymore.
Chicago Blackhawks president of business operations Jamie Faulkner knew that wasn't going to be acceptable once the team acquired the most anticipated new NHL star in a generation in Connor Bedard. So in the offseason, she started crafting a solution.
"Our fans have embraced digital ticketing, but many voiced a desire to still have the physical ticket to commemorate special moments," Faulkner said.
The Blackhawks told fans that they would print physical tickets, with the fan's accurate section and seat number, for any game they attended for a price of just $10.
"We expect interest to be significantly higher when it's a special game, but we also wanted to make sure fans had an everyday option should they personally want to commemorate the game because they attended their first game or it's their birthday," Faulkner said.
The initial response has been overwhelming.
More than 1,700 fans requested commemorative tickets to Saturday's home opener — Bedard's home debut, in which the phenom scored early on. That number is approaching 10% of the total number of fans who were in the United Center that night.
"I'm not surprised by the response, but it did still exceed our expectations," Faulkner admitted.
Collectors should know that the commemorative tickets can be graded by PSA, though the labels will note that the ticket was "Not Valid For Admission" and will have a COMM in the upper right hand corner to signify that it's commemorative.
Some collectors might prefer for the tickets to be more rare, given that most printed tickets nowadays are only given to the lucky fans who can convince someone at the box office to give them a hard ticket. Often, the team — or the person at the box office — says no.
For instance, the Spurs didn't offer any physical solution to Victor Wembanyama's debut. But two people managed to garner generic box office print outs. Those tickets sold for $1,030 and $990 this morning.
