After a West Coast road trip and a win against the Florida Panthers that has made Leafs Nation start to believe again, Maple Leafs season ticket holders' excitement would only be dampened after receiving their yearly season ticket renewal email.
Over the years, Leafs ticket holders have become acclimated to the idea of rising prices. In 2025-26, however, ticket prices will rise, some upwards of 20 per cent from the year before.
Current season ticket holder, 48-year-old Jason Pontoni, said ticket prices for fans have become unreasonably high.
“I've been a season ticket holder for a while now, and the more they raise the price, the more I want to get rid of them. It's not worth the money,” Pontoni said. “I know we're a bigger market, but you see these other teams selling tickets for at least reasonable prices, the price for us is crazy.”
The area with one of the largest increases is in the upper bowl, in the purple section, where two season tickets will go to more than $10,000 for the upcoming season from $8,522 this season.
Pontoni, whose tickets are in the purple section of the arena, said he is reaping the consequences of paying the biggest increase for next season.
“My seats have one of the biggest increases, and I'm not even in the lower bowl,” he said. “Obviously, I want to keep my season tickets because I know how long I would have to wait to get them back if I didn't renew, but at the same time, the price will only keep going up each year.”
In addition to the frustration shared by upper bowl ticket holders, Lower bowl tickets are also seeing a huge increase.
In the gold sections of Scotiabank Arena, some seats are being raised to $28,240 for a pair of season tickets, a $2,000 increase from the current year.
Compared to the other team in Ontario, according to NHL.com, the Ottawa Senators have their best 100-level season tickets priced at just under $11,000 for the upcoming year, which is less than half of what fans would pay for a similar seat in Toronto.
Raymond De Guzman, a 52-year-old Ottawa Senators season ticket holder, said the prices are high but not close to Toronto.
"Our tickets aren't cheap either, but compared to Toronto, it's crazy how much you have to pay for tickets there," De Guzman said. "I guess now that the Sens are playing important hockey and are hopefully gonna be a playoff team from now on, the tickets are more worth it for Ottawa games, but I mean, I understand that it's Toronto, but how do they expect fans to go to games with those prices?"
De Guzman said this could be another reason why Blue-and-White fans always fill up the Canadian Tire Centre when the Leafs are in town.
"That's why you see so many Leafs fans when they play us in Ottawa, they take advantage of our tickets because they're not as expensive, and it's only around a four-hour drive," De Guzman said.
According to Bardown.com, the Senators' ticket prices happen to be near the bottom of the NHL, averaging just more than $60 a ticket, while the Leafs find themselves at the top of the league with an average of $125 a ticket.
Nicholas Burgess, whose family has seats in the lower bowl at Scotiabank Arena, said the atmosphere alone is not worth the price of admission.
“I love going to games, but the more and more the tickets go up (in price), the more the real fans won't be able to go,” Burgess said. “Compared to other arenas, Toronto doesn't have the best atmosphere, and I think the prices have a part in why.”
Maple Leafs tickets usually find themselves increasing by around nine per cent each year, making it more difficult for many to afford.
Burgess said that because of the overwhelming price, he sees fewer and fewer true fans being able to support the team live.
“Every game I go to, I see so many people dressed in suits instead of jerseys. I would rather have people cheer on the team than them stay seated when we score a goal, like they don't know what's going on,” Burgess said.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment did not respond to multiple requests for a comment.
Lou Lafrado, the publisher of ProHockeyNews.com, said that, along with the price of tickets, there are other reasons fans are limited to attending games.
“The issue is that so few real fans are at games anymore anyway,” Lafrado said. “Between corporate seating, personal seat licensing and cost for upper deck seating have all contributed to a rarefied population in the arena.”
In an article written by Simon Houpt for The Globe and Mail, Leafs season tickets have been hard to obtain for many years now, as a large quantity is held by corporations, which have the option to write them off as business expenses, which makes it less sensitive to price hikes than it would be to the regular fan.
"What seems to be out of touch is the economic future for the everyday fan in the midst of trade wars, Tariffs, and uncertainties,” Lafrado said. “Then add in that the NHL is looking at a salary increase, and you may have fans scratching their heads as to why they are the ones putting up the rent money for players.”
