You, in your enthusiastic blue and orange outfit, wouldn't be blamed for considering it.
Florida. Beach life. Velvety ocean breezes, warmth and fresh orange juice.
Have you seen the resale prices for Rogers Place tickets?
[pause for deep breaths, relaxation techniques, blood-pressure medication]
The bad news is that when travel costs are taken into account, watching a Stanley Cup Final playoff game in paradise 4,120 kilometres away is less expensive than watching it in Edmonton.
Good news, but it's close.
If Oilers fans in Edmonton have the time and are willing to wait until Sunday and fly to the Sunshine State for Game 2 the following night, they'll not only get to witness their hockey heroes win and get one step closer to claiming glory with the puck, but they'll also get to brag about having traveled the longest distance between two markets in the National Hockey League to do so.
How much is an extra $500?
For an extra $100, you can not only watch the game but also spend the afternoon on the beach.
The cheapest resale ticket on Ticketmaster (as of 1:45 p.m. Wednesday) to see the Oilers host the Florida Panthers at home in Rogers on June 13 was $1,321.60.
The minimum price to see the Panthers play Game 1 or Game 2 at Amerant Bank Arena was about $616.
Additional expenses include airfare, meals and transportation to Broward County, where the Fort Lauderdale airport and Sunrise arena are located.
As of early this afternoon, a flight to Florida on Thursday or Friday for Game 1 on Saturday was nearly twice as expensive as traveling on Sunday for Game 2 on Monday, about $1,500 versus $819.
Fans arrive at FLA Live Arena (to be renamed Amerant Bank Arena in 2023-24) to watch Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights on June 8, 2023 in Sunrise, Fla. (Rebecca Blackwell/The Associated Press)
Just the Oilers please
Fans who are just interested in watching the Oilers and don't mind getting sand between their toes can stay at the affordable La Quinta Inn & Suites Sunrise, close to the arena, with the added benefit of cheap meals at the adjacent IKEA store.
Sunrise option price breakdown:
$819 – Flights $616 – Tickets $214 – Hotel $90 – Uber $80 – Food Total: $1,819
Reasons to choose this option:
Cheap eats: The IKEA in Sunrise recently started serving breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns for $3.49. Lunch and dinner are similarly good value. Our food budget allows us to dine like kings and queens of Sweden and have money left over for a few drinks and to eat during the game. The nearby gas station at least sells coffee and chocolate muffins. Proximity: About $60 of our Uber cost was transportation between the airport in Fort Lauderdale and the hotel. If we wanted to save about $30 on a round trip Uber from the hotel to the arena, we could walk an hour each way to the arena. Sorry public transportation lovers, but the Saturday bus schedule in this part of Greater Miami means we'd be walking 30 minutes each way anyway.
People enjoy the warm weather and sand on a beach in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., March 17, 2011. (Associated Press)
But I like the beach
In an informal survey, 56 percent of Oilers fans said they would rather travel thousands of miles to see the game than experience one of Florida's top attractions: its many beaches.
I did the math and found that staying at a hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale to watch Monday's game would cost me less than $100 more.
Fort Lauderdale option price breakdown:
$819 – Flights $616 – Tickets $218 – Hotel $90 – Uber $5 – Bus to the game $150 – Food Total: $1,898
(Note: It cost the same to take an Uber from the airport to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale as it did from the airport to our accommodation in Sunrise. Are prices skyrocketing? Is it traffic? There's only one way to find out.)
Reasons to choose this option:
Cheap Accommodations: The Snooze Hotel offers dorm-style accommodations, but they're only $2 more a night than the Sunrise hotel and are right on the beach. Las Olas Beach: Just outside the hotel, this seaside paradise is where water-loving, sun-soaked Oilers fans spend their Monday afternoons before catching the bus to the game. Transportation: Yes, the bus. To save money, you'll pay $5 for a Broward County Transit 1.5-hour, two-transfer ride to the Panthers rink, but it's essentially door-to-door. Bonus: The bus service ends before the game ends, so you'll need to take an Uber to get back to the hotel. Other Dining Options: The Casablanca Cafe next to the Snooze Hotel serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner at reasonable prices. There's a Starbucks nearby, as well as a few other options. There are far more options within walking distance of the Sunrise accommodations.
(Note: you could certainly rent a car, but we were trying to keep this trip cheap, and while parking is pretty reasonable compared to other places, the beachfront hotels charge extra, which adds up!)
Do not travel if:
I don't want to make a long trip. There are no direct flights from Edmonton to Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. The shortest trip is 14 hours and 7 minutes home with one stop (Denver). To get there, I'll take a midnight flight from Edmonton to Toronto at 12:04, then fly to Atlanta, and finally arrive in Ft. Lauderdale 15 hours and 33 minutes later. I want to save money. That'll still cost me $500. I can put that towards the cost of attending Game 6 at Rogers Place (or groceries). As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, resale tickets via Ticketmaster were going for $2,474.46. The resale price for a single ticket for Game 7 in Florida is $1,165. Hmm…
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