NHL in Helsinki: Blackhawks at Panthers
For the first time in ten days, I was attending two games in as many days in the same city.
Pre Game Dining
Since there was nowhere to eat around the arena before the game Friday night, I chose to eat at Zetor before getting on the train to Hartwall Areena. Zetor is just a couple of blocks from the Helsinki train station. The restaurant was recommended by Let’s Go as a good Finnish restaurant. I was disappointed with the “Finnish” meal I ordered at Zetor but overall the restaurant was good.
Selling Tickets
For the second night in a row I needed to sell the other three tickets I sold on Friday night. However, tonight proved to be more difficult as there was a group of kids undercutting the market. They had 139 euro tickets and were willing to part with them for as low as 25 euros which makes it difficult to sell tickets that are 120 euros face value. I ended up selling all 3 seats for 100 euros.
I actually learned quite a bit trying to sell these tickets in a cutthroat environment.
1) As soon as I arrived outside the box office a couple arrived and paid 150 euros for two tickets from the group of kids. I did not undercut the kids because the night before everyone was civilized and let you negotiate with the buyers you talked to first. What I did not realize was that these kids would steal my buyers from me later. At a point I had all three tickets sold for 150 euros but the kids shouted out a lower price which I did not want to sell at the time – 40 euros per ticket. I realized that I should have undercut the kids when the first couple arrived. I thought about it but backed off.
2) Remember to not hold your price too high for too long. As already stated, I could have sold my tickets for 40 euros each, but ended up only receiving approximately 33 euros each. Although you never know who is showing up next to buy tickets, if there are a lot of tickets being sold you will need to take any reasonable offer that comes your way. I use this approach when buying tickets all the time so I should have transferred my knowledge to selling tickets better than I did.
3) While trying to sell the tickets, a guy from Finland (who was also trying to sell tickets) and I started talking. We talked to each other about what tickets were selling for and what we were willing to accept. However, we never discussed being a team to sell our tickets. Just before I sold the tickets for 100 euros, a group of three guys came up to me and wanted to pay 50 euros each. But, one member of the group was talking to my “friend” as well. My friend offered him better seats for a lower price. If we were willing to split the profits we would have made more money.
Hartwall Areena
Last night I decided to check out the Silver Star Café during the first intermission. There were a group of Chicago fans sitting in the area where you could watch the game and order drinks at the same time. The best location is by the couches on the right side of the bar facing the ice.
During the first intermission, I met two guys from Finland and we ended up watching the remainder of the game from the café as we talked with the guys who had vacationed from Chicago to watch the games. The craziest part of the night was when one of the Finnish guys “supposedly” lost his wallet. At first I thought this was a scam to get me to buys some drinks but he ended up finding his wallet and bought a few rounds since he was so relieved.
The Game
While Friday night’s game went to shootout, tonight’s game was just the opposite as the Blackhawks shutout the Panthers 4-0 to split the two-game series in Helsinki. Once again, a Finnish player was the star of the game. This time it was Antti Niemi – the Blackhawks goaltender who blocked all 23 shots the Panthers attempted.
Post Game
After the game I took the train back to the city center with my new Finnish friends. They wanted to go to a club but since my flight was departing Helsinki at 8:00 am to get back to London I only wanted to go out shortly before heading back to the hotel.
As we got off the train, we walked by Sport Pub Chelsea. Sport Pub Chelsea is attached to the train station and turned out to be the “official” Blackhawks’ hang out. We watched the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues game from Stockholm, Sweden.
While we were watching the game we talked to three fans from Chicago who attended the game on Friday night, but did not attend the game Saturday night. The reason they did not attend Saturday night – tickets were supposedly too expensive (which they were if you only considered face value). I told them I had sold my three tickets for 100 euros total and they nearly fell out of their seats. They flew all the way from Chicago and only attended one game. Not because they wanted to attend one but only because of cost. If the tickets were cheaper they would have chosen to attend both games. This is why people should understand the secondary ticket market better than they do.
At 11:30 pm I headed back to my hotel as I needed to wake up at 5 am to get to my 8 am flight.
Pre Game Dining
Since there was nowhere to eat around the arena before the game Friday night, I chose to eat at Zetor before getting on the train to Hartwall Areena. Zetor is just a couple of blocks from the Helsinki train station. The restaurant was recommended by Let’s Go as a good Finnish restaurant. I was disappointed with the “Finnish” meal I ordered at Zetor but overall the restaurant was good.
Selling Tickets
For the second night in a row I needed to sell the other three tickets I sold on Friday night. However, tonight proved to be more difficult as there was a group of kids undercutting the market. They had 139 euro tickets and were willing to part with them for as low as 25 euros which makes it difficult to sell tickets that are 120 euros face value. I ended up selling all 3 seats for 100 euros.
I actually learned quite a bit trying to sell these tickets in a cutthroat environment.
1) As soon as I arrived outside the box office a couple arrived and paid 150 euros for two tickets from the group of kids. I did not undercut the kids because the night before everyone was civilized and let you negotiate with the buyers you talked to first. What I did not realize was that these kids would steal my buyers from me later. At a point I had all three tickets sold for 150 euros but the kids shouted out a lower price which I did not want to sell at the time – 40 euros per ticket. I realized that I should have undercut the kids when the first couple arrived. I thought about it but backed off.
2) Remember to not hold your price too high for too long. As already stated, I could have sold my tickets for 40 euros each, but ended up only receiving approximately 33 euros each. Although you never know who is showing up next to buy tickets, if there are a lot of tickets being sold you will need to take any reasonable offer that comes your way. I use this approach when buying tickets all the time so I should have transferred my knowledge to selling tickets better than I did.
3) While trying to sell the tickets, a guy from Finland (who was also trying to sell tickets) and I started talking. We talked to each other about what tickets were selling for and what we were willing to accept. However, we never discussed being a team to sell our tickets. Just before I sold the tickets for 100 euros, a group of three guys came up to me and wanted to pay 50 euros each. But, one member of the group was talking to my “friend” as well. My friend offered him better seats for a lower price. If we were willing to split the profits we would have made more money.
Hartwall Areena
Last night I decided to check out the Silver Star Café during the first intermission. There were a group of Chicago fans sitting in the area where you could watch the game and order drinks at the same time. The best location is by the couches on the right side of the bar facing the ice.
During the first intermission, I met two guys from Finland and we ended up watching the remainder of the game from the café as we talked with the guys who had vacationed from Chicago to watch the games. The craziest part of the night was when one of the Finnish guys “supposedly” lost his wallet. At first I thought this was a scam to get me to buys some drinks but he ended up finding his wallet and bought a few rounds since he was so relieved.
The Game
While Friday night’s game went to shootout, tonight’s game was just the opposite as the Blackhawks shutout the Panthers 4-0 to split the two-game series in Helsinki. Once again, a Finnish player was the star of the game. This time it was Antti Niemi – the Blackhawks goaltender who blocked all 23 shots the Panthers attempted.
Post Game
After the game I took the train back to the city center with my new Finnish friends. They wanted to go to a club but since my flight was departing Helsinki at 8:00 am to get back to London I only wanted to go out shortly before heading back to the hotel.
As we got off the train, we walked by Sport Pub Chelsea. Sport Pub Chelsea is attached to the train station and turned out to be the “official” Blackhawks’ hang out. We watched the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues game from Stockholm, Sweden.
While we were watching the game we talked to three fans from Chicago who attended the game on Friday night, but did not attend the game Saturday night. The reason they did not attend Saturday night – tickets were supposedly too expensive (which they were if you only considered face value). I told them I had sold my three tickets for 100 euros total and they nearly fell out of their seats. They flew all the way from Chicago and only attended one game. Not because they wanted to attend one but only because of cost. If the tickets were cheaper they would have chosen to attend both games. This is why people should understand the secondary ticket market better than they do.
At 11:30 pm I headed back to my hotel as I needed to wake up at 5 am to get to my 8 am flight.
Labels: Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Helsinki
posted by Ultimate Sports Fan, Andrew @ 4:38 PM
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