Toronto Maple Leafs All-Star Game Won’t Benefit Local Fans

Although it’s cool that the Toronto Maple Leafs will host the 2024 NHL All-Star Game, your average fan won’t be able to attend.

It’s about time that the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the NHL All-Star Game, as it’ll be 24 years since the last one when the event takes place in February, 2024.

As a Toronto resident, it’s always cool when a big event comes to town because there’s a chance you may see a celebrity, attend the event or maybe sneak into an after-party. However, unless you’re gifted tickets, very wealthy, or terrible with money, you won’t be able to attend any of the festivities.

This may be the first NHL All-Star Game since 2000, but it’s not the first professional sports All-Star event since then. In 2016, Toronto hosted the NBA All-Star Game on one of the coldest weekends of the year. It was hilarious how cold it was for those media members and players from the south and the same thing is probably going to happen when the NHL superstars arrive in the city.

The event was incredible and it provided us one of the greatest slam-dunk contests in NBA history, but it was an insane amount of money to get into the building. You were looking at a minimum of $1,000 per ticket for nosebleeds to attend the dunk-contest and then even more to attend the All-Star game.

All-Star Game Will Be Cool, But Good Luck Getting Tickets

As per usual, season ticket members are given the first opportunity to purchase tickets to events like this and the same thing will happen when the All-Star Game comes to Toronto.

With 95 percent (or more) of the building made up of season ticket members, a large percentage of members will purchase tickets for both events, leaving only a handful of tickets left for the general public.

As for those few tickets that will be available to the general public, expect them to be a crazy amount of money, as the team will look to gauge their fans and tourists who were hoping to check out the event.

Fortunately for myself, I think the NHL All-Star Game festivities are the worst in professional sports, even worse than the Pro-Bowl, which seems crazy to write.

The NHL’s 3-on-3 tournament and stupid skills competition have made that weekend unwatchable and it’s embarrassing. I know this weekend is dedicated to the younger fans and growing viewership but I really don’t know what kid is watching those festivities and falling in-love with the sport.

Nothing will top the slam-dunk contest for professional sport All-Star competitions, but the NHL needs to figure out a way to get their own version of a “slam-dunk” contest.

Until that happens, I won’t be watching, but if you were looking to check out the game next year, good luck, because it’s going to cost a fortune to get into the building.