Some Canes fans pay $60 to park. How much was it during 2006 Stanley Cup run?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Canes tickets and concessions in 2006 were cheaper than comparable playoff prices today.
- At a recent playoff game, fans paid $45 or more to park at the Lenovo Center.
- As the team advances to the Eastern Conference final, parking prices may also increase.
In 2006, Carolina Hurricanes fans paid an amount for parking at a home game that today could buy a froufrou coffee drink.
That $7 was not for a parking pass at a regular season event, either. It was for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, when the Canes faced off against the Edmonton Oilers at what was then the RBC Center.
A few fans who attended that spring 2006 game told The News & Observer at the time that their biggest expense for the night was tickets. Andrew Harris and Stephanie Meyer of Winterville, for example, paid $375 for two seats in section 304, purchased on eBay.
They also spent $68 on two beers, two T-shirts and three pennants.
Even with the $450 price tag and “overexcited,” vocal spectators sitting behind them, “I’d say it was still worth it to go to a Stanley Cup game,” Meyer told The N&O.
.JPG "RAL_CANESFLYERS-SP-050226-RTW_24 (1).JPG")
Canes fans are just as dedicated now — as the team enters the Eastern Conference final, one step closer to bringing home the Stanley Cup — as they were two decades ago.
What has changed is how much a night at the Lenovo Center costs. (Spoiler: It’s more.)
Canes parking prices keep going up
Let’s start with parking. Last Monday, fans attending Game 2 against the Philadelphia Flyers paid $45 before tax for a space in general parking if they bought a pass online in advance. If they waited and purchased parking on-site, they would have paid $15 more. Yes, $60.
The Lenovo Center warns fans about the higher fees, which vary for events, and encourages them to prepay because it expedites traffic flow, said Crystal Pace, vice president of arena programming and marketing for the Lenovo Center.
Gale Force Sports & Entertainment, the Hurricanes’ operating division, manages the Lenovo Center, including arena operations, booking and, yes, parking.
Game parking in the regular season is cheaper than in the playoffs. Now, with the Canes preparing to take on the winner of the Buffalo Sabres-Montreal Canadiens series, parking prices may increase again.
Some Canes fans who watched the team defeat the Flyers in overtime at Cary’s Carolina Ale House Saturday night were shocked by parking fees this post-season.
Stevie Hunt said her family attended a few regular season games at the Lenovo Center, paying $32-$40 for parking, depending on whether they prepaid. She thought $40 was a lot.
A $45 or $60 charge for parking? “I think it’s outrageous,” Hunt said.
But if she needed to pay that much to see a playoff game, she’d likely do it, she said.
Is seeing the Canes worth the expense?
Tickets for Canes games have gotten more expensive, too.
In 2006, Chris Butler and Becky Johnson paid Ticketmaster $400 for four tickets in section 316. Fans would have paid Ticketmaster $566 before taxes and fees for four seats in that section to watch the Canes play the Flyers in Game 5, had the Canes lost Saturday.
In addition to the $400 for seats, Butler and Johnson spent $50 on sodas, nachos, popcorn and beer that night at the RBC Center. Today they’d pay $30 for one draft beer and an order of popcorn at the Lenovo Center.
.JPG "RAL_CANESFLYERS-SP-050226-RTW_18 (1).JPG")
The Canes are expected to have several days off before their first Eastern Conference final matchup; as of Sunday morning, Buffalo and Montreal had each won one game.
Fans will have to dig a little deeper if they want to be there. Tickets went on sale Tuesday at a starting price of $250. “Verified resale tickets” for the “best seats” listed Tuesday — Row A in section 117 — were a shade over $3,600. Each.
The opportunity to see the Canes continue their history-making run in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs at the Lenovo Center may come at a high price. But it’s a price fans will pay.
Austin Phillips, who attended Game 5 in the Eastern Conference final against the Florida Panthers last year, acknowledged that “business is business,” and that the costs of tickets, parking and refreshments do add up.
“It’s definitely expensive, but it’s so worth it,” Phillips said. “Oh, it’s so worth it.”
