My original plan for today was to fly to Pittsburgh in the morning, attend the Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers game and fly back to Chicago after the game. That plan was changed when the game, originally scheduled for 1:00 pm ET, was changed to a 4:15 pm ET kick off – meaning I could no longer make my 6:50 pm ET flight back to Chicago.

With my trip to Pittsburgh cancelled, I took in the best event in Chicago today – the Detroit Red Wings were visiting the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time since the Red Wings defeated the Blackhawks 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.

Obtaining Tickets
Since I had not planned to attend the Blackhawks game, I had to research ticket prices on Sunday afternoon. The cheapest price on StubHub was $65 for a single and craigslist.org had a $40 Standing Room Only (SRO). Prices were much more expensive than I thought, but I should have expected that. However, high ticket prices did not discourage me from driving to the United Center without a ticket.

I parked for free on the corner of N. Hoyne Ave. and W. Warren Blvd. That location determined my “scalping tickets walk”. I walked to the corner of W. Madison St. and S. Damen Ave. before heading towards the United Center. Even though I had not visited the ticket office yet, I used $25 (face value for SRO) as my price point.

One scalper offered me a ticket for $80 (face value $75 if bought on the day of the game). Even though I now knew prices were close to face value, I went to the box office to see if SRO was available. SRO was available to I bought one – rather than try to match $25 on the secondary market (cheapest seat in the arena for the game was $40 face value).

Standing Room Only at United Center
As usual I was able to find a seat in the upper deck (face value of my seat was $60 on the day of the game) so I paid less for the SRO ticket and sat in a good seat.

It is difficult to watch the game from SRO if you arrive late. If you actually want to watch the game from SRO you need to either:

1) Arrive early and get a good spot in the SRO section above the third level.
2) Arrive late and find an empty seat in the upper deck (lower level if you are lucky).
3) Arrive late and enjoy the new SRO concession stand above the third level and watch the game on the flat screen televisions. This area is basically a bar (consider your ticket a $25 cover charge) within the United Center.

I am always able to accomplish #2, which is why I will continue to buy SRO tickets for sold out Blackhawks games.

The Game
The Blackhawks shut out the Red Wings 3-0. The convincing defeat may be a changing of the guard in the Central Division – the Red Wings have won eight straight division titles.