A dreadful season, and in the midst of a rebuild, Canucks to cost more

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Patrick Johnston: How can you raise ticket prices 10 per cent when the Canucks are rebuilding and they’ve won as few home games as they have this season?

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Published Mar 24, 2026 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 3 minute read

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Vancouver Canucks fans react to a rare home win over the Florida Panthers at Rogers Arena on March 17, 2026. Photo by Verity Griffin /Getty ImagesArticle content

Ben Ludwig is very much the kind of fan the Vancouver Canucks should be looking to cultivate.

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Born and raised in Vancouver, a successful small businessman — in sporting goods, to boot — a dad, an energetic sports fan.

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He’s had season tickets to his favourite hockey team since before COVID-19 began. His seats this year are in a fabulous spot: lower bowl, eight rows up, in the corner to the left of the goal that the Canucks attack twice a game.

And he’s set to give those fantastic seats up.

Like every other season ticket-holder, he got a letter Monday reminding him that his renewal deadline was coming up. A letter that has fallen flat with many, making claims that what was available to season ticket-holders this past season had “levelled-up” and that more off-ice options were available to them than ever before.

Even if that’s true, certainly that’s not how many of those fans feel: The general mood among fans I speak to is they’ve simply been asked to pay more and more, while getting less and less.

If that’s somehow not the case, the team has a lot of work to do to change perceptions.

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In Ludwig’s case, here’s the simple truth for him: To renew his seats, he would have to pay 10 per cent more next year. (Others have posted about increases in other parts of the arena of as much as 5 per cent.)

And he just doesn’t see the value anymore.

“I can’t believe these guys … ,” he told me once he had done the calculation on his price increase. “So expensive. The vibe isn’t great. Zero value. Eight home wins? I could be wrong but it’s not worth it anymore.”

That’s probably the most stunning thing in this week’s announcement of ticket-price increases. It’s one thing to surge prices after a strong playoff run. You can perhaps understand an increase tied to inflation. But the nameless letter, the facelessness of the operation, it’s a terrible look.

And to do this off the back of what may very well be the worst home season in team history? Read the room. Heck, the Seattle Kraken have cut ticket prices for the second year in a row and they may yet make the playoffs!

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The Canucks are in a rebuild, the hockey operations bosses have been clear on this. Fans, they’ve acknowledged, should be prepared for losses but should also be looking for the players to show heart and hustle.

There was no sign of this in Monday’s letter.

“A young core ready to break through,” the letter claims of the roster. “The next era of Canucks hockey is here.”

That’s hopeful, almost certainly beyond what’s realistic. Even beyond what team president Jim Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin are saying. Sure, they would love to be back in the playoffs next year. but to truly build a contender this team needs a couple years of elite drafting to just set the table. A proper return to contender status is at least a couple, more likely three or four, years away.

Other organizations have spoken plainly and honestly to the people paying the bills, rather than spitting out a series of cliches. They’ve had owners and senior executives put their names on letters, vowing to bring a glorious new future. In January, for example, New York Rangers GM Chris Drury explained to the team’s fans in a signed letter that they were going to be trading some veteran faces that fans had come to love.

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Again Canucks hockey ops has been reasonably open and honest about this, but the business side doesn’t seem to have received that message.

“I’ve been a Canucks fan all my life, going to games as a kid at the Pacific Coliseum were some of my favourite memories,” Ludwig, who owns Big League Sports Excellence on Burrard Street in Kitsilano, said. “I wanted to be able to pick the games to attend and this was the best way. Now we only go to see other players from different teams. Two beers is $30. Taking my kids isn’t enjoyable.

“Figure it out, have a $5 beer somewhere in the stadium, have a kids meal. Make Canucks hockey great again.”

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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