It is being called precedent setting. True North Sports and Entertainment sold 13,000 season's tickets for the upcoming NHL season in Manitoba.
"Long-term commitments to revenue creates sustainability and the issue has always been in any markets sustainability of professional sports franchises," said Jim Ludlow, president and CEO of True North.
Tickets went on sale on Wednesday to Manitoba Moose seasons ticket holders. Over 7,000 seats were sold within that presale. The remaining 6,000 tickets went on sale to the general public on Saturday at noon.
Ludlow said those tickets sold out in 17 minutes.
Groups of people gathered before noon strategizing and trying to secure the highly sought after tickets. Glen Harder got together with six others and had six computers going hoping that would increase their odds. However, they were shut out.
"I'm very disappointed," said Harder. "I didn't think it would sell out that quick. We didn't even have an opportunity to actually buy tickets it kept saying try again."
Tyler Teather shared that disappointment because he too didn't secure season's tickets.
"I thought for sure we'd get tickets. I didn't think it was going to sell out that fast, but there are a lot of crazy hockey fans in Winnipeg," said Teather.
True North officials said it is guaranteed every single seat in the MTS Centre will be sold out 41 nights a year for the next three to five years.
"We're so lucky," said Nick Willsie, who got his hands on a pair of tickets.
Willsie and five friends went in on the tickets. Three of them were trying to make purchase and only one of them got through.
"We started yelling and screaming when we got through," said Nick Versteeg who is one of the six friends sharing the tickets. "We quickly went through the whole thing all nervous, we were shaking."
If you did not manage to get a ticket you are out of luck. Jim Ludlow said the waitlist on www.driveto13.com has been capped at 8,000 names.
