Kings Seek Fans’ Help, Raise Prices

As if their lackluster play on the ice wasn’t enough to discourage fan interest, the Kings also will make it more expensive to attend their games next season, owner Bruce McNall said Thursday.

According to figures released by the Kings, the average price of a ticket will be increased to about $16.25, which is about $1.50 more than it was this season, when the Kings allowed more goals than any other team in the National Hockey League and ranked 18th in the NHL overall standings.

The price of the largest chunk of tickets in the loge sections will be raised from $18.50 to $19.50, while the price of 646 loge seats will increase from $23 to $25. The 87 seats that rim the ice will continue to be sold for $40.

In the colonnade, tickets will go for $14 and $9.50, an increase of $1.50 per ticket. In addition, 582 tickets that sold last season for the lower price will be sold next season for the higher price.

“If we’re going to have a winning team,” McNall said, “it’s going to take money. I think the fans would rather pay a few extra bucks to see a winner than to pay less and come out to see us lose night after night.”

Sellouts next season could yield as much as $30,000 more than they did last season to the financially troubled franchise. According to McNall, the Kings lost about $2 million this season and annually lose as much as $3 million.

McNall--who bought the Kings from Jerry Buss, owner of the Forum and the Lakers--said that, because of the team’s financial woes, Buss was reluctant to pour money into the franchise.

“What happened in the past, understandably, is that Jerry said, ‘How can I justify spending more money for this and that when we’re dying, when we’re losing a fortune?’ ” McNall said. “We’re going to try to fill more seats by producing a winner.”

The Kings, whose average attendance increased by 1,023 this season to 11,667, have long maintained that their ticket prices are among the lowest in the NHL.

But according to an NHL spokesman, quoting figures from Amusement Business magazine, only seven teams, all of them past winners of the Stanley Cup, charged more for their highest-priced tickets last season than the $23 charged for mid-level loge seats by the Kings, who have finished at or above .500 only three times in their last 11 seasons.

The Calgary Flames, who finished first in the NHL overall standings and eliminated the Kings from the playoffs, charged only about $17 (in U.S. currency) for their highest-priced tickets.

The Kings have made a fuss about changing the color of their uniforms next season to escape the long shadow of the Lakers, and at a press conference Thursday at the Forum, they were expected to unveil their new black, white and silver togs.

But after using the occasion to introduce Roy Mlakar as the team’s new executive vice president of operations, the Kings declared the press conference over.

Where were the uniforms?

Photographers had been dispatched to get pictures of them.

“They’re not ready,” said David Courtney, the Kings’ director of public relations. “We aren’t going to display them until they’re ready to our satisfaction.”

King Notes

The Kings, who dipped into the minor leagues for a head coach and almost a dozen players last season, also promoted Roy Mlakar from their American Hockey League affiliate at New Haven, Conn. Owner Bruce McNall said that Mlakar, who was general manager of the Nighthawks, will be in charge of the financial arm of the franchise. General Manager Rogie Vachon will continue to oversee the on-ice operation. . . . The Nighthawks last season doubled their season-ticket sales to 1,767 and generated about $200,000 more in ticket revenue than they had during the 1986-87 season, Mlakar said. . . . The Kings sold only about 2,000 season tickets last season, not including an additional 2,631 that were sold through the Forum’s Senate seat program, which requires buyers to purchase tickets for all events at the Forum. . . . Vachon was among 13 players nominated for selection to the Hockey Hall of Fame. To be elected, the former goaltender must be voted in by three-fourths majority of a 12-man selection committee. A maximum of three players will be inducted this year. Vachon, who played seven of his 16 NHL seasons with the Kings, ranks fifth on the all-time NHL list with 355 victories and had a career goals-against average of 2.99, including 51 shutouts. He was the Hockey News player of the year in 1975, when he was 27-14-13 with a 2.44 goals-against average for the Kings.