My husband and I both received MGM Resort emails late last night. The subject line was: Come see your Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Vegas Golden Knights! and the headline was Hard-hitting, Vegas-style VIP Treatment, just for hockey fans. Apparently this is a package deal that includes tickets, hotel room and food/beverage during the game. Where my frustration comes in trying to get information and/or booking the promo. Since we are already booked at the Bellagio on a comp during the time of the game we are interested in the game. However we are still not 100% sure we are going since finding a direct flight home has been difficult. Southwest has been sold out for more than a month. We have not purchased hockey tickets yet since I am waiting for a flight to open up. When I received the email (10:00pm EST) I told my husband to immediately call. He was on hold for 15 minutes when I decided to try and call Bellagio VIP and just get my current reservation changed instead of holding. Well after trying to explain the package, I was told to call the concierge to get tickets. I knew that didn't sound right so I called back the MGM number on the email. After half an hour I tried the VIP line again and talked to someone else. They knew what I was talking about but said it was a "hotel" program and they couldn't book it or give me more information. She tried to transfer me but she couldn't get through either and suggested they were really slammed with the offer. So after 52 minutes on hold I finally got through. I found the packages are more than I want to pay for a non refundable package ($1000 per night for Bellagio - $750 for Excaliber). I am pissed cause it would have been easy for them to either put a package range on the email or have been more prepared for a lot of calls. It is ridiculous that it took more over an hour to get any information about the package. Okay. Bad Marketing at MLife Vent over.
Fellow Pens fan here who is also going to Vegas for the game. The hockey packages I've seen so far are ridiculously expensive. I'm not sure what's up, but my guess is they are overestimating what the market for VGK tickets is going to be. I'm just booking my comp rooms(at El Cortez --- I'm clearly a much lower roller) and hoping to get a last minute ticket on StubHub at a reasonable price.
Can you estimate this far out how the packages will be presented for raiders fans? These prices seem ridiculous. But I don't have a vested interest in hockey so I may not be aware what is value. I would think they would provide "sell-out" prices to get the ball rolling but I guess that wouldn't be smart.
So if I understand this correctly, you can either stay at Bellagio for free, or you can pay $1000 a night to stay at Bellagio and get hockey tickets and food. I understand they are still figuring things out, but this seems a touch ambitious. I'll be in Vegas shortly and they have a pre-season game while I'm there. I emailed a host about tickets, and she said they had no idea how they are going to handle tickets, and to email back in two weeks. I emailed back after two weeks and haven't heard back for over a week. It's no big deal, and there is zero chance I pay anything for tickets, but they seem to be completely clueless how to handle this.
They haven't figured out how they are handling tickets? Pre-season starts this weekend. That's especially frustrating because the market for pre-season games is super-weak (although higher in Vegas than in more established hockey towns). 400 level tickets are on ticketmaster for $25-$30 for the pre-season games I've been looking at. (Compared to $10-15 for the pre-season game in DC I was just looking at). The regular season tickets are still looking pricey on the resale market, but I'm guessing that's just because we are so far out and no one has really figured out the market for them yet.
Add in the part where it took being on hold for over an hour to even get pricing and you basically called it. We are going to just stick with the existing reservation and watch for deals on Stubhub closer to December or cancel the trip and go for New Years (which I already have booked just in case). I don't need glass seats or any special treatment at that cost -- too much of a dip into gambling funds.
I got the same answer from my host - they haven't figured out the comp criteria for hockey tickets yet. He also told me there is a ridiculously low number of comp hockey tickets across all MLife properties.
This will work itself out by the end of the first season. Stay free and buy the tix on the secondary market if you want to go. I'm not surprised they are trying to crush the hockey fans with prices at the new venue.its new so they are gonna test the market. No different than charging crazy high prices for every fight,concert,or special event. The hockey tix will be different in Las Vegas than most NHL cities. They expect to sell and Comp more tix to visitors fans than locals. You would not find than in Boston,NY,Toronto,etc.
As a Vegas resisdent, I can tell you that tickets are going to be pricey all season long. The market is hungry for this team and you will seldom find a cheap seat no matter who they are playing. I'm a Blackhawks fan and roadtripping to Phoenix on Oct 21 instead of buying a ticket to the game at T Mobile on Oct 24. I can pay for rental car, hotel (comp at Harrahs), and tickets for less than the cost of a game here. I think a lot of people underestimated the reception this team would get from locals in Vegas and it's going to be a great atmosphere at every game!
I hope you are right --- because it would mean good things for the NHL and hockey in America, but I'm skeptical. In October that might be true since the team will be all shiny and new. But, it's a LONG season - I'm not convinced that level of local support will carry through for 40-odd home games. Especially if the team has a rough season (as many expansion teams do in their first few years).
thanks for the legwork on this I got the email as well for my teams Ducks and Kings. I was curious what it might run and that range is ridiculous.
I got the offer for the Blackhawks game on Oct 24, but I won't pursue the offer. I really don't like "package" deals for any event, I think ala carte provides for better pricing and flexibility. My trip will be last minute so I definitely need flexibility. I did a quick check on the secondary market for the Hawks game - tickets are around $150 for upper level seats. Probably will go for more closer to the event as Hawk fans love to travel. I also noticed prices for smaller non traditional hockey markets such as Carolina & Dallas are much lower.
That's kind of crazy. Regular season is only like a week away. I'd probably just DIY it in the resale market. Home opener tickets start at $111 on StubHub and that's the most expensive game through the end of November. Sabres tickets later in the month start at $35 and Stars tickets in Nov start at $20. I bought great, relatively cheap, preseason game tickets this week. Prices dropped until about six hours before puck drop and then held pretty steady.