Reporter Calling Out MLSE Head Keith Pelley for Maple Leafs' Deplorable Price Gouging

One of the major talking points during the post-season this year was stadium atmosphere and home ice advantage. From the crowd noise to the fans in the stands, the Toronto Maple Leafs received poor reviews.

Plenty of people felt that the Scotiabank Arena lacked playoff atmosphere and a lot of that had to do with the business clientele, who many felt lacked the necessary energy for a playoff contest in a hot market like Toronto.

Some even went so far as saying there was barely any noise coming from those in attendance because the actual Leafs fans were completely priced out and had to stay at home, go to different scenes like bars and restaurants, or were attending the festivities outside the arena.

With all that in their back pocket, the new guard at MLSE had a chance to ingratiate themselves with the fanbase but completely fell flat in the process. Not that anyone was expecting an astronomical drop in prices, but it sounds like everything CEO Keith Pelley said during his press conferences this summer fell short of the mark.

He wanted the average fan to be able to attend games and be apart of solution to bringing back a live atmosphere to the Scotiabank Arena. However, as Scott Wheeler, and assuredly everyone else tuned into Toronto sports have noticed, none of that will be on display this year with how expensive the tickets are.

The cheapest available tickets for the home opener against Montreal on the 8th of October start at $214.95 per ticket, which would have you standing in the 300 sections. For some of the better seats in the house, you'd have to spend well over $1000, on top of additional charges like parking, transportation, and concessions, leaving most fans uninterested or unable to attend.

Pelley pledged that he'd look for ways to get back into the good books of his fanbase and how he wanted to reconnect with them after some of the displays they witnessed during the playoffs. Unfortunately, this is not the way to start, and the common fan is going to continue to suffer.