New Jersey Devils 2015-16 Ticket Price Comparison with 2014-15

Last week, I wrote about the six tiers of ticket prices for the 2015-16 season for the New Jersey Devils. Of all things associated with the New Jersey Devils these days, the prices piqued my interest after attending several home games where the team just didn't come close to selling out.  They got one before that post, last Friday against Chicago, and their most recent home game against Pittsburgh was their second.  Two weekend games, two popular opponents (plenty of Pens and Hawks fans visited the Rock).  That's progress. The recent run of results by the Devils helps, but my feeling is that the team's pricing is a reason why attendance remains an issue.

In response to last week's post, read, user, and fellow season ticket holder (more accurately, a "highly disgruntled STH due to the rising cost of tickets and slashing of the benefits") JetsDevils78 sent me a copy of the team's ticket price chart that the user got from their ticket representative. One of my main beefs in that post is that for some reason, the Devils don't post their ticket prices on their website.  In retrospect, I wish I actually acted like a journalist and not a blogger and just asked for a chart.  As a ticket-buyer, I don't think I should have to ask for prices anymore than anyone who would go to a supermarket and ask for prices.  Fortunately, JetsDevils78 got that - and more.  Just yesterday, the user sent on a copy of the Devils' ticket prices for the 2014-15 season. Something else that was not posted on the team's website when last season was happening.

Either way, thanks to JetsDevils78, I can compare prices between the two seasons.  Both charts have gate (single game) prices and season ticket holder prices for each section.  Both charts reveal there were seven - not six - tiers of pricing.  I did not know that there was a seventh tier because their cheapest tier in both seasons was for two preseason home games.  I am not that sorry for missing on preseason tiers in last week's post. The Devils should be for having two out of three preseason home games tiered lower than the third.  Seriously, tiered pricing for preseason games. That said, the tiers are similar in terms of how many games are in each one. Anyway, both seasons have seating maps that are similar to each other.  Though, there have been some drastic changes.  Here's a few that I noticed:

• In 2014-15, there was a section for glass-side seating.  In 2015-16, there's now three.  Glass B & C is similarly priced to the club black sections.
• In 2014-15, and past seasons, most of those six sections in the middle were club black.  In this season, only the middle sections (8, 19) is a solid black with grey filling most of the others (7, 9,18, 20).  I am assuming this grey is similar to the club grey of the past for this comparison.
• Goal Bar had two sections of pricing in 2014-15. Now, there's none for 2015-16. So that's removed.
• Devils Red in Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 21, 22 are priced differently from Devils Red in Sections 10 through 17. The former is for the attacking end, which is priced higher than the defensive end.  That's also new for this season.  I've marked them as Devils Red A and Devils Red D, respectively.
• There's a new section called Light Red for the back parts of Sections 11, 12, 15, and 16 instead of making them all Maroon like last season.
• Dark Grey last season is now Light Grey; it appears the affected seats remain the same, though.
• The upper bowl has sections adjusted with several 200 sections going from Brown to Light Green, the 100s on the attacking side just being Light Green and Marroon, and the 100s on the defending side having a mix of Retro Green, Brown, and Dark Green.

I'm sure there's a few more changes I haven't picked up on, but keep all of those points in mind as you look at these comparison charts.  Just because you're in a Brown or an Orange section now doesn't necessarily mean you were in those sections last season.  Caveat emptor.

In terms of general conclusions, it appears to me that the Devils definitely raised prices for their premier seating areas. If you like sitting the Restaurant, than you may already know those prices shot straight up.  If you like sitting along the glass or in the club sections, then you may already know those prices also soared.  If you're watching at home and wondering why so many of those sweet black seats aren't all that filled, then these prices will show you why.  For the higher tiers, ticket prices did go down a bit for the upper and lower bowls. However, they did raise those prices at the lower tiers.  You'll notice that plenty of those green percentage differences become fewer and fewer as I go from the A tier (home games against Our Hated Rivals) to the F tier (lowest, 13 games), replaced by red ones.  Red ones mean that the prices rose. That's not good.  And remember, this is only a comparison to 2014-15.  There is a direct positive: the Devils Red sections in the defending ends are much lower than Devils Red sections in the past.  One would think that wanting to see Cory Schneider - one of, if not the, team's best player - in that end twice would be a draw.  We'll see if the Devils' sales staff are proven right.  Feel free to identify any other conclusions from these price comparisons in the comments.

OK, a few more words about the charts.  I broke up the charts by tier first.  A is the highest (, F is the lowest. I used sections to compare across both seasons. I took out the Goal Bar and left "N/A" for anything that is new as that can't be compared. My biggest assumption is that the club grey of 2015-16 is comparable to the club grey of 2014-15, so you may want to take those listings with a grain of salt.  Lastly, the percentage difference will be red if it's an increase, and green if it's a decrease.  Green is good, red is bad.

By next week, I plan on trying to define what rows and seats are in each section. That's really the missing piece for any consumer, be it a prospective season ticket holder or someone who just wants to go one game, to know what they're getting into when it comes to buying a Devils ticket.  I'll leave you with the charts and to discuss them - good, bad, mistakes, non-mistakes, whatever - in the comments.  Thanks again to JetsDevils78 for the information.  Thank you for reading. I hope this helps you, my fellow Devils fan.