With some tickets still available for the four playoff games taking place at the Pepsi Center this weekend, venue representatives warned fans Wednesday to be wary of tickets sold on the street or over the Internet.
Their concerns: Fans paying too much or buying fake tickets.
Michael Fox of Broomfield walked up to the Pepsi Center box office late Wednesday afternoon and bought two same-day tickets for the Colorado Avalanche’s first home playoff game of the season. He paid $117 apiece.
“I checked with the scalpers, and they were charging a lot more than face value,” he said. “I’m going to go where I can get the best price.”
Another home Avalanche game, two Denver Nuggets games and one Colorado Mammoth lacrosse game are scheduled tonight through this weekend. That means more than 80,000 fans are likely to pass through the Pepsi Center by Saturday, said Brian Kitts, spokesman for Kroenke Sports Enterprises, which owns the three teams and the Pepsi Center.
Every ticket has an electronic bar code that can identify whether it has been reported lost, stolen or previously scanned. At each home game, at least two or three groups are caught trying to enter using invalid tickets, said Kitts.
“The old adage ‘Let the buyer beware’ is really applicable here,” he said. “Make sure you know who you’re buying from and that it’s a valid ticket.”
Available tickets range in price from $6 for an upper-tier seat at Saturday’s Mammoth game to $220 for a spot in the arena’s lowest ring for either the Nuggets or the Avalanche.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
