Slovak Fans
photo: Andrej Galica
Interest in tickets for the 2019 Ice Hockey Championship has been huge. More than 11,000 packages and daily passes for the upcoming ice hockey World Championship in Bratislava and Košice (May 10 - 26, 2019) were sold on the first day alone! However, tournament organizers say that more tickets for Slovakia’s and Czech Republic’s games will soon be available.
All tickets that went on sale were sold out within a matter of hours. „Fans‘ interest was not a surprise, but the intensity was astonishing. There were some technical problems at out partner’s side at the beginning of the sale, and we are very sorry for that. However, we are happy that the tickets realeased for sale – 30% of the overall capacity -- found their way to the fans,“ said the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation president, Martin Kohút.
Additionally, another 10,000 event passes, packages and daily passes are booked, but packages and daily passes for some days are still available. „We are delighted by the huge interest in tickets for the Championship, but we want to reassure fans that more tickets for Slovakia’s games will be available via official sale channels again. We definitely do not recommend that fans buy the tickets from re-sellers or unofficial websites,“ Kohút added.
In all, there are more than 430,000 tickets for sale for the World Championship. In the first phase of sales, only 30% of that total were made available. Remaining tickets will be released gradually, including more tickets for Slovak and Czech games.
„We are talking with our partner, Ticketportal, about adjusting the system of sales in order to prevent re-sellers and internet bots from purchasing tickets in bulk and preventing real fans from buying tickets. There is a chance that the tickets for Slovak and Czech games will be sold in other ways, but I do not want to promise anything just yet,“ Kohút said.
„We recommend fans check our websites regularly for the tickets at 2019.iihfworlds.com,” said the Director of Media and Communication, Michaela Grendelová.
Sales phases and capacity releasing
Tickets for the Championship are being released in three phases – in September, December, and February. There are various types of tickets released in each phase. Event passes, packages for the preliminary round and play offs, „Follow Your Team“ tickets, and day tickets for the preliminary round went on sale last week.
In second phase day tickets for play off games (including the quarter-finals, semi-finals, bronze-medal game, and gold-medal game) will be released. In the last phase, in February 2019, it will be tickets for particular games that will become available.
„Each phase will offer different categories of tickets. After the initial block of 30% of tickets, the remianing will go on sale at different times,“ added Grendelová.
It is important that fans buy tickets only from authorized retailers and on the official Championship websites because these tickets have safety features to prevent counterfeiting. Tickets are limited to four per person, and the online booking time is 48 hours.
Price categories
Tickets are sold in two price categories. In the first phase it is possible to buy preliminary -round ticket packages (28 matches – 1,295€ or 985€) and play off packages (6 games in Bratislava – 1,015€ or 815€), daily packages for preliminary-round games, limited tickets in the „Follow Your Team“ category (7 matches – from 310€ to 475€/1st category, and from 230€ to 380€/2nd category), and full passes for all WM games in Bratislava (34 games – 2,050€ or 1,590€) and in Košice (30 games – 1,355€ or ,1015€).
All tickets that went on sale were sold out within a matter of hours. „Fans‘ interest was not a surprise, but the intensity was astonishing. There were some technical problems at out partner’s side at the beginning of the sale, and we are very sorry for that. However, we are happy that the tickets realeased for sale – 30% of the overall capacity -- found their way to the fans,“ said the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation president, Martin Kohút.
Additionally, another 10,000 event passes, packages and daily passes are booked, but packages and daily passes for some days are still available. „We are delighted by the huge interest in tickets for the Championship, but we want to reassure fans that more tickets for Slovakia’s games will be available via official sale channels again. We definitely do not recommend that fans buy the tickets from re-sellers or unofficial websites,“ Kohút added.
In all, there are more than 430,000 tickets for sale for the World Championship. In the first phase of sales, only 30% of that total were made available. Remaining tickets will be released gradually, including more tickets for Slovak and Czech games.
„We are talking with our partner, Ticketportal, about adjusting the system of sales in order to prevent re-sellers and internet bots from purchasing tickets in bulk and preventing real fans from buying tickets. There is a chance that the tickets for Slovak and Czech games will be sold in other ways, but I do not want to promise anything just yet,“ Kohút said.
„We recommend fans check our websites regularly for the tickets at 2019.iihfworlds.com,” said the Director of Media and Communication, Michaela Grendelová.
Sales phases and capacity releasing
Tickets for the Championship are being released in three phases – in September, December, and February. There are various types of tickets released in each phase. Event passes, packages for the preliminary round and play offs, „Follow Your Team“ tickets, and day tickets for the preliminary round went on sale last week.
In second phase day tickets for play off games (including the quarter-finals, semi-finals, bronze-medal game, and gold-medal game) will be released. In the last phase, in February 2019, it will be tickets for particular games that will become available.
„Each phase will offer different categories of tickets. After the initial block of 30% of tickets, the remianing will go on sale at different times,“ added Grendelová.
It is important that fans buy tickets only from authorized retailers and on the official Championship websites because these tickets have safety features to prevent counterfeiting. Tickets are limited to four per person, and the online booking time is 48 hours.
Price categories
Tickets are sold in two price categories. In the first phase it is possible to buy preliminary -round ticket packages (28 matches – 1,295€ or 985€) and play off packages (6 games in Bratislava – 1,015€ or 815€), daily packages for preliminary-round games, limited tickets in the „Follow Your Team“ category (7 matches – from 310€ to 475€/1st category, and from 230€ to 380€/2nd category), and full passes for all WM games in Bratislava (34 games – 2,050€ or 1,590€) and in Košice (30 games – 1,355€ or ,1015€).