It was to be expected that prices would go up *some* for the Arizona Coyotes when they moved to a facility that has a severely reduced capacity, but the numbers that have been presented so far, well… outrageous is one word for them.

First off, ASU’s arena will reportedly have a capacity of 5,000. This is 27% of Gila River Arena’s (previous home) capacity. This also makes the venue the smallest in the NHL, at one-third the size of the previous smallest venue of the Winnipeg Jets’ Canada Life Centre that seats 15,294.

The Coyotes front row-glass seat was $290 and the cheapest seat was $18 at Gila River. (Note: These appear to be single-game prices, which are typically higher than season ticket prices when you do the math for cost per game.)

The newly advertised prices at ASU that were in an article on TicketNews.com appeared to be a breakdown for season tickets. The highest price is $350 ($14,350 for season) for a front row-glass. The lowest price is $89 ($3,649).

While $350 doesn’t sound that much higher than the previous $290, $89 is nearly FIVE times as much as the $18 cheap seats. And while those prices might sound reasonable for a contending team, the Coyotes are far from a contender.

The Coyotes finished the season 25-50-7. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to believe next season will be better. Their highest goal scorer is Clayton Keller, with the only other well-known players being Phil Kessel and Shayne Gostisbehere. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun, a 2016 first-round pick, was rumored to be up for trade all last season until he suffered an injury, and many think he might be traded during the draft. The Coyotes goaltending has been lackluster too, with Karel Vejmelka’s .898 and Harri Sateri’s .866 save percentages. (Those were the two goalies they chose to finish with, the others with better stats were traded, given away, or sent to the minors.) This just doesn’t sound like a team worthy of the new ticket prices, no matter how “intimate” the setting is.

It will be interesting to see if the Coyotes make any moves in the off-season to encourage fans to pony up the dough, or if they fall flat in any attempts to improve their team. It will also be interesting to see if they can fill the 5,000 seat ASU arena given those prices and the fact that they averaged 11,601 in *announced* attendance this past season at Gila River.

I think the Coyotes are going to have to do something better for the fans as this arena scenario will be in place at least through the 2024-2025 season. That’s at least three seasons, possibly four seasons of playing in an “intimate” venue and possibly losing more money. (Not even mentioning the money they are looking into investing in a long-term new facility.) Let’s remember, this is a team that was having trouble paying players’ salaries at the end of the 2020-2021 season and problems paying debts to Gila River Arena until they threatened to lock them out, so if they don’t stop the bleeding soon how long are they going to be able to stay afloat in the desert?