On Monday, officials released tickets to the open house at Rogers Place in early September – and thousands were reserved within fifteen minutes.
According to City of Edmonton officials, about 10,000 tickets were spoken for 13 minutes after they were made available online at 2 p.m.
By 4 p.m., that number had more than doubled to nearly 23,000 – and a total of 50,000 tickets were available.
“We’re happy we’re at the finish line and we’re just waiting to step over it,” Rick Daviss, Executive Director of the Downtown Arena Project said.
Daviss said at some point this week, contractor PCL will turn the arena over to the City of Edmonton, ahead of the open house, which is scheduled for September 10.
“They’ve seen what it’s like on the outside, I’m expecting a lot of people will want to come out and have a look,” Daviss said.
“You’ll be able to walk all the concourses and experience everything that Rogers place has to offer from a fan perspective,” Susan Darrington, VP and GM of Rogers Place said.
However, some parts of the new arena will be off-limits. Those attending the open house won’t be allowed to sit in one of the seats, or go down to the bottom of the bowl.
“You’ll see the ice from the concourses, that’s one of the things I think will be great for the fans to see is how open the building is,” Darrington said.
The tours are self-guided, and Darrington said she expects it to take about an hour, to an hour and a half, to view the venue.
“I think it’ll be a good experience to come in and see the building for themselves,” Darrington said.
Anyone who gets tickets for the event will be able to access the arena through a passage off of 103 Avenue, and inside, they’ll have to go through security, before getting into the arena.
With files from Susan Amerongen
