Oilers to offer $80 concourse pass for playoffs

According to Oilers Tweeter Ryan Batty, the Edmonton Oilers are offering fans an alternate way to attend the team’s playoff games at Rogers Place. Unfortunately, your $80 ticket (!!!) won’t get you a seat. Or a view of the game, for that matter. All this pass does is give you access to the arena’s concourse during the game, so you can watch on TV and enjoy concessions at arena prices.

I mean, sure, you can’t blame the Oilers for doing everything they can to make money. That’s the nature of the game, obviously. But man, this is a bad look. The Leafs (and Raptors, who are owned by the same organization) do viewing parties outside the Air Canada Centre during playoff games for free, and the Oilers haven’t made an effort to do anything of the sort this year. So why not host an event like this in Churchill Square? Or outside the arena somewhere? Make it a cool thing for people in the city to enjoy and really generate some hype downtown, rather than looking to make a quick buck?

This is also going to result in major clogging within the facility during the games. It’ll mean a longer line to get in, a longer grind to get out, and even more hassle to work your way through either a bathroom or concession line during an intermission. It seems lame to ask people to spend a good chunk of cash for this mediocre experience, and it’s really brutal to do so knowing that it’ll worsen the experience of the fans who just dropped hundreds of dollars to come in and cheer for the team after a decade of waiting.

I don’t know. I’m sure as hell not going to spend $80 to stand there and watch a game on TV when I can spend that same amount and have a good time at a bar. What do you think, Nation? Screw it, the Oilers are in the playoffs! Making is the most money possible their right and this is just good business? Or is this more tone-deaf nonsense that make the Oilers a frustrating organization? Would there have been a better way to do this?