If you are a sports fan and live in Ontario, or even Canada for that matter, you may be a fan of Toronto teams. Your other close options are Detroit and Buffalo teams, and possibly Cleveland, as a stretch. Each Toronto team seems to be excelling all at once, good news right? Not necessarily. The one big problem now is that tickets are even harder to come by than they were previously. CBC reported on Wednesday, that only 96 tickets were available to the public, for the Toronto Maple Leafs first home game of the playoffs. This means if you are not a season ticket holder or involved in a big corporation, you probably have a very slim chance to see your team at home. Toronto Raptor ticket prices have also soared. Eight years ago, you could purchase upper bowl tickets in the front row for only $15. One can assume that inflation can play a factor, but when you consider that the average ticket price for a Toronto Raptors regular season ticket for 2016-2017 was averaging at $60 per ticket, that is a 71 % increase from the previous season. The numbers are now about the same price for just upper bowl seating, an indication that the average has risen. In Detroit, you could pay similar prices to sit in lower bowl sections, as appose to paying the same price in Toronto for upper bowl seats. When asking Detroit Pistons from Windsor if they would consider going to Toronto, the answer was only if they could get a good deal. For these fans, it doesn’t make sense to travel 4 hours to pay more for a ticket, when Detroit is just a short drive over.
Overall, it’s great to have support outside of Toronto. Detroit games in every sport, are now slowly becoming Toronto home games, away from home. However, it’s really discouraging for the everyday fan to have to travel south of the border, especially if they don’t have their passport. Nevertheless, if cheaper is what you seek, travelling south of the border for your Toronto teams is your best option