Taking one in the five hole

So I can't help but feel like I'm being screwed by the New York Rangers' owner, James Dolan (tough visual for a Friday afternoon, I know). For some background, a few of the geniuses from this site starting buying Rangers season tickets the year after the lockout. At the time, everyone had the Rangers picked to finish dead last and our tickets were at a very reasonable rate of $36. The Rangers were obviously a big surprise that year and did well. Attendance numbers were also stronger than expected. They then raised our ticket prices up to $40 the next year. Last year, they went up to $46. This year, they went to $52. Though tough to swallow (44% increase over 4 years), we were expecting an increase in that range. I then took a look at the schedule that came out and noticed that it is quite lopsided. Take a look at the breakdown of home and away games by day:

Home Schedule:
8 Mondays
7 Tuesdays
6 Wednesdays
4 Thursdays
2 Fridays
6 Saturdays
8 Sundays

Away Schedule:
4 Mondays
3 Tuesdays
6 Wednesdays
5 Thursdays
7 Fridays
14 Saturdays
2 Sundays

Who wants to go to games on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays? I enjoy the social aspect of going to games. That means being able to head out to the game and have a few (dozen) beers without having to worry about work the next day, which is a lot easier to do on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Even for the common (non-alcoholic) fans, I would think that being able to get to the games earlier in the week would also be more difficult because of people's work schedules and real-life commitments.

The Rangers home schedule provides only 4 Thursday games, 2 Friday games and 6 Saturday games and a lot of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday games. 29% of Rangers home games are on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays and 71% occur from Sunday-Wednesday. That seems to me to be extremely lopsided. I would think that is the most lopsided of all NHL teams (someone else look it up...my brain hurts). Now the question is: How much influence do the Rangers have on the schedule? It is clearly beneficial for MSG to schedule Ranger games on the less desirable nights. They sell out every game regardless of what day of the week it is. That saves their more desirable nights (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) for other events, which leads to more revenue. It would also make sense for the league and other teams to want it this way. It lets other teams have more games on the more desirable nights and therefore increases their team revenues. It’s a win-win for the league and MSG.

Despite paying some of the highest prices for tickets in the NHL, the Ranger season ticket holders seem to be the ones who get screwed. Poke me in my five hole.