The Most Affordable NHL Arenas in 2024

As the weather cools down and pucks begin to drop, it’s time to start looking for some indoor activities to keep us busy through the winter months. One popular option is bringing your favorite people along to watch the local NHL team hit the ice. With the season underway, we wanted to find out which teams make seeing them live affordable, and which might require a stop at the bank to take out a loan. 

To help make it easy, we broke down the cost of attending an NHL game at all 32 arenas, budgeting for four non-premium tickets, four hot dogs, two beers, two sodas, two team hats, and parking.

Key Takeaways

• Canadian Tire Centre, home of the Ottawa Senators, provides the most bang for your buck, charging $348.34 ($479.40 CAD) for a group of four to take in a game and get the full experience.
• A similar outing at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto will run a foursome $748.30 USD ($1,029.44 CAD), the most among NHL arenas
• The reigning Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers offer the most economical ticket prices at $48.64 per seat.
• Canada Life Centre and the Winnipeg Jets provide the most economical soft drink and beer prices at just $2.96 ($4 CAD) and $5.93 ($8 CAD), respectively.

As the country that invented ice hockey, it’s fitting that the Canadian capital, Ottawa, is home to the most affordable NHL Arena in Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators offer the cheapest outing among all 32 teams, totaling just $348.34 ($479.40 CAD) for a group of four.

Although they don’t offer the cheapest single item in any of the six categories, they rank towards the top of the list, giving the Senators the lowest total cost of attendance.

Coming in at $59.38 ($81.72), Ottawa is home to one of just three arenas, along with Florida and Buffalo, where you can get in the door for under $60. The refreshments are quite affordable, too. A hot dog will run you just $4.81, while a soda costs just $4.44. Only the Delta Center, home of the newly minuted Utah Hockey Club, offers a cheaper hot dog at $3, and the Canada Life Center in Winnipeg is the only arena to offer a more economical soft drink at a thrifty $2.96 ($4.07 CAD).

The Florida Panthers offer the second-most affordable group outing in the NHL. Guess you can’t win ‘em all, eh? Tickets come in at a prudent $48.64, a mere bargain to see the likes of Matthew Tkachuk and Sergei Bobrovsky. However, beers are a bit lofty at $13 a piece, and a soft drink sits at $7 — both among the most expensive in the league.

You may also need to save up to bring home a bit of that Panthers’ merch. A team hat is $29.99, tied for the most expensive in the league.

When you put it all together, $358.89 for a group of four to see the Stanley Cup champions in person could be considered a bargain by today’s standards. 

Trouble in Toronto

Maybe it’s due to the second-highest payroll in the league or the sheer popularity of hockey in Toronto, but the Maple Leafs and Scotiabank Arena demand the highest price for a group outing, coming in at a whopping $748.30.

A single ticket to watch the team that has yet to hoist the Stanley Cup since 1967, before man landed on the moon, will cost you $159.33 ($219.28 CAD).

While the get in price feels higher than the CN Tower, Scotiabank Arena treats you well once inside. You can pick up a soda and hot dog for a little under $15 CAD. 

Even if you can’t glide around the ice like Auston Matthews or Mitch Marner, you can do your best look like them in your officially licensed Maple Leafs gear. A Toronto hat is the fourth-cheapest in the NHL at just $22.21 ($30 CAD).

For a team that’s been to two Stanley Cups since its inception in 2017, including a win in 2023, the Vegas Golden Knights and their home T-Mobile Arena apparently know they’re offering a superior product. The franchise charges the second-highest total for a group outing at $728.54.

From $144.89 for a ticket to a $15 beer, game nights aren’t cheap, but you’re much more likely to see a win on the ice than you are at the tables. 

The newly-minted Utah Hockey Club, who call the Delta Center home, are the only other franchise to demand more than $700 for a group outing, demanding $724.52. In recent weeks, the team announced fan-first concession prices, charging $3 or less for a bottle of water, a hot dog, nachos, and ice cream. Notably, beer and soft drinks are absent from this list of bargains.

But with the buzz of a new team comes higher ticket prices. And higher beer prices. At $146.38, the average non-premium ticket price is the second-highest in the NHL. And the Delta Center’s $15 beers are tied with Madison Square Garden for the league’s most expensive.

Power Play Advantage

Much like a power play opportunity gives hockey teams a leg up on the ice, some arenas across the league give your wallet an advantage by offering cheap concessions. 

What savings the Utah Hockey Club provides with tickets, they offer with reduced-cost concessions, but, they aren’t the only ones. 

Winnipeg offers the cheapest soft drink in the NHL at $2.96 ($4 CAD), 2.7-times cheaper than Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, which charges $8.00 for a soda. The Jets, who call Canada Life Centre home, also provide the most economical beer option at $5.93($8 CAD) a pop.

Unlike beer and hot dogs, there’s one expense which feels as if it brings us no joy: parking. At nearly $40 in some cities, this is one cost that makes going to games as a group much more appealing. But there are some locations where parking is downright cheap.

In Calgary, you can park your car or snow machine for just $5.26 ($7.24) on average, the lowest in the NHL. In Dallas, at the American Airlines Center, Stars’ fans fork over just $8.84, joining the Flames as the only place where a crisp $10 bill will cover your parking.

Methodology

To learn which NHL arenas are most affordable for groups, we added up the cost of four non-premium tickets, four hot dogs, two small beers, two small soft drinks, two team hats, and parking. Data was collected from venue websites, team websites, social media, and Team Marketing Report’s Fan Cost Index.

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