How much does it cost to be a hockey fan?
It’s complicated.
Of course, you can be a fan on a budget. You can eat and drink at home while watching just the games aired on broadcast TV or while listening to the radio. You can score a secondhand jersey. It’s still free to spew hot takes about which manager should be fired, which player is bound for the Hall of Fame and whether this year will finally be your year.
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But what does it cost to be a casual NHL fan — the type who goes to one game per year and watches most of a team’s games via a streaming service?
The price varies widely across cities. To find out, we took into account average ticket price, the cost of a streaming package for the season, the approximate cost of parking and the cheapest beer and hot dog we could find at each respective arena.
According to our math, that answer is somewhere between $123 and $460.42 in the United States and $257.30 and $443.57 in Canada.
Not all teams are created equal. As of April 2, StubHub data says the average ticket sold this season to a New York Rangers game cost $210 USD, while the average ticket to an Anaheim Ducks game cost $73. In Canada, the average ticket sold to a Toronto Maple Leafs game cost $260.39 CAD, while the average ticket sold to an Ottawa Senators game cost $75.83.
Some fans, such as in-market supporters of the Ducks or Dallas Stars, can snag a free streaming subscription through Victory+. Others, such as Buffalo Sabres fans, are out $29.99 USD per month to stream, or $209.93 for all seven months of the NHL regular season. Food ranges as well; a beer and hot dog at a Washington Capitals game will put you out $30.47 USD, while the same at a Detroit Red Wings game will cost $12.48.
In a historic year in which all four U.S. Original Six teams — the Boston Bruins, Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Red Wings — missed the playoffs for the first time since the mid-1920s, to see each of them among the priciest teams for their hurting fans has to sting extra this season.
While Detroit fans can at least appreciate some of the lowest beer prices in the league, they paid around $100 for tickets, per StubHub, to see their team miss the playoffs for the ninth straight season. But at least they’re not Rangers fans, who paid the priciest tickets with some of the most expensive beers just to watch the team go 18-19-3 at Madison Square Garden, the worst home record in the Eastern Conference.
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Canada’s two Original Six teams — the Montreal Canadians and the Maple Leafs — are also hitting their fans’ wallets painfully as the two most expensive in Canada, though at least Toronto fans have one of the top clubs in the East to support and the Canadiens are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
In Ontario, not only did the Senators finally make the postseason after an eight-year drought, they fared well in fan affordability this season thanks to the league’s least expensive average ticket (after conversion to USD) and some of the most affordable hot dogs, parking spots and streaming options.
Of course, adapt these prices as you wish; maybe you swap out parking for public transit or are more of a soft pretzel person than a hot dog person. Jerseys are sold at a flat rate — $175 USD or $250 CAD — so add that on top for any fans in the market for authentic merch.
Some notes on our methodology: Food and drink prices come from a mix of teams, venues and our reporters on the ground, and may not necessarily reflect the absolute cheapest price on a given day. Parking costs come from arena parking when available; where no venue parking exists, the lowest suggested nearby rate on a game day is used and could fluctuate based on the day.
When it comes to streaming, the sports world in 2025 is a fragmented, complicated mess. To watch every one of your team’s games, you likely need multiple streaming services. For simplicity’s sake, we chose the one streaming service that lets you watch a majority of your team’s games. For the Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks, we’re citing prices to watch their games through Peacock, even though the service launched only a month ago and wasn’t available when the NHL season began.
And, of course, the American dollar is worth more than the Canadian dollar, which results in some Canadian markets coming in at a lower cost than American markets when we convert the currency. Because of this, we’ve split our data into two charts below: one in USD for the American teams, the other in CAD for the Canadian teams.
As the NHL playoffs are set to begin, here’s how the 32 different markets measured up in terms of price during the regular season. As for the emotional cost? Fans will have to calculate that themselves.
(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic. Photos: Ultramarinphoto/ iStock, Simonkr/ iStock, Svariophoto / iStock)
This news was originally published on this post .
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