It’s been a known fact for decades that home games for the Toronto Maple Leafs are often a prohibitively unaffordable experience and recent data confirms this notion. Action Network compiled data from the 2023-24 NHL Fan Cost Index and found that the Maple Leafs are the least affordable experience for families, in large part due to the exorbitant ticket prices.
It costs $703.88 to take a family of four to a Maple Leafs home game at Scotiabank Arena — and not to be glib, but given the current economic climate, that may seem like a conservative estimate. Maple Leafs tickets are the most expensive in the NHL and can often only be found on secondary markets. Toronto ranked ahead of Vegas, the New York Rangers, Nashville and Boston among others on the list. It’s one thing to pay top dollar to attend a game at the historically venerated Madison Square Garden, it’s quite another to do so at Scotiabank Arena.
Affordability, as a concept, is something that all NHL teams should be keenly aware of and attempt to consider, even if this sentence gets laughed out of any boardroom meetings. And to some extent, affordability doesn’t connote desirability. Mullett Arena ranked as the most affordable experience in the NHL but no one came to see the Arizona Coyotes play in a college-sized arena and they’ve since relocated to become the Utah Hockey Club for the 2024-25 season.
And yet, affordability isn’t always tied to quality. The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers ranked as the second-least expensive stadium experience in the NHL, playing out of the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, with a total cost of just under $300 for a family of four. It could all be so simple.
The entire study is worth checking out here, presented by Action Network.
