After three days of an exclusive presale to Manitoba Moose ticket holders and corporate big shots ended Friday, the hockey-mad general public in Winnipeg finally got their crack to buy tickets for the new NHL franchise.
It didn’t last long.
True North kicked off the general public sale at 12 p.m. CST today, and by 12:17 the remaining 5,842 tickets were gone.
Winnipeggers that missed out on tickets can now join a waiting list and get the first crack at playoff tickets with a non-refundable $50 per seat deposit for a maximum of four seats. That’s right, for $200 you get to be on the waiting list.
With a small arena that seats just 15,000 people and a dedicated fan base, it could be a while before many residents even sniff the inside of the MTS Centre. Green Bay, which has about 14 percent of the population of Winnipeg, currently has a waiting list with 86,000 names on it for the NFL’s Packers, an average wait time of 955 years.
The NHL’s Board of Governors will now vote on the relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg on June 21. After selling 13,000 tickets in less than four days, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be turned down.