The Charlotte Checkers open at home on Friday, Oct. 16 against the Hartford Wolf Pack, puck drop at 7 p.m. in Bojangles Coliseum. Individual tickets are on sale now, and the club has put out a 36-date home schedule with a promotion hung on nearly every one of them.
What a night costs
Most nights carry a ticket-and-merchandise package, and those prices are all posted. They run from $40 for Star Wars Night on Dec. 5, which comes with a light sword, to $60 for Military Appreciation Night on Nov. 6 and its long-sleeve shirt. In between: $45 for a puck on NASCAR Night, $50 for an ornament at Winter Wonderland, $55 on Opening Night and several others, $59 for a beanie at Pink In The Rink and a hat on BBQ Night.
The discounts are posted too. College Nights put $19.50 Gold and Attack Zone seats in front of anyone with a valid college email, and there are five of them across the season. Family Games take $10 off each ticket when you buy at least four. Teachers and school employees get a discount with a school email. Kids get in for $5 at My First Checkers Game on Oct. 17, and Book Club Night the same evening sells a ticket with a $25 add-on for a mug and a pre-game drink. Winning Wednesdays, presented by Michelob Ultra, are $2 draught beer, and if the Checkers win, everyone in the building leaves with a ticket to the next one.
Single-game prices are not listed beside the schedule. They vary by seat and by date and come up when you choose your seats. For a quick answer before that, the box office is (704) 342-4423.
The dollar game
The cheapest number the club has named all season is $1, and it belongs to Tuesday, Nov. 10, against the Providence Bruins.
It is Throwback Ticket Night, presented by Charlotte Eye Ear Nose and Throat Associates. Prices start at $1, and the club says tickets go on sale at a later date, so it is the one night on the calendar you cannot book yet. Worth a note in the calendar.
What is on the calendar
Thirty-six home dates, and the club has found something to do with most of them.
The straightforward ones: Military Appreciation on Nov. 6, Hockey Fights Cancer on Nov. 7, the Teddy Bear Toss on Nov. 28, Pink In The Rink on Jan. 16, All Abilities Night on Feb. 20, First Responders Night on March 27. A toy drive on Dec. 5 benefiting Hemby Children's Hospital hands you a free ticket voucher if you donate.
The stranger ones, and there are more than you would guess. Oktoberfest on Oct. 23, with brewery tastings outside the Coliseum. 90's Night the following evening. Boat Night on Jan. 9. Chubby's Birthday on Feb. 21, when mascots from around the state turn up for the polar bear, followed by a Kid's Takeover of the in-game content. Aviation Night on Jan. 17. K-Pop Night on Jan. 31. A Pooch Party on March 7 that sells its own dog tickets. And on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 10:30 in the morning, the first School Day Game in the team's history, pitched to schools as a field trip that teaches math and geography through hockey.
The team wears specialty jerseys, auctioned off during the game, on six of those nights: What If? Night on Nov. 27, when they wear Charlotte Chess sweaters; NASCAR Night on Dec. 19, presented by the Kevin Harvick Foundation and called Racing Night in the club's August announcement; Pink In The Rink; Affiliate Weekend on Feb. 5 and 6, in jerseys inspired by the Florida Panthers, their NHL affiliate; Bojangles Night on March 6; and BBQ Night on April 3. Fan Appreciation Day closes the season on April 4 with a bobblehead of goaltender Cooper Black.
The team the tickets are for
The Checkers won 44 games last season, finishing 44-23-5-0 for 93 points and third in the Atlantic Division, and reached the postseason for the eighth consecutive year. The AHL opens its playoffs with a best-of-three, and Charlotte hosted all of it. They beat the Springfield Thunderbirds 8-1 in the first game and led the series, then lost the next two, the last in overtime. The season ended at home in three games.
This paper has argued that Charlotte does not turn out for a team that keeps qualifying for the playoffs.
The building
Bojangles Coliseum opened in 1955, seats about 9,288 for hockey, and sits roughly two miles east of uptown on Independence Boulevard, sharing a campus with Ovens Auditorium that the city calls the BoPlex.
It is publicly owned. In March the Charlotte City Council approved $25 million of work on it: $23 million to replace the HVAC system and $2 million to study the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, paid out of city hospitality taxes, which are restricted to tourism uses. The campus needed it. Ovens' chiller dates to the 1990s and its boilers to the 1950s and 1970s, and in February a roof leak forced several events to reschedule, including the USA Curling national championships. The HVAC installation was scheduled to finish in July.
New to the Checkers? Our guide to the franchise covers the club, the league and the building.
Season tickets, mini plans and group outings are on sale alongside individual tickets, at (704) 342-4423 or tickets@charlottecheckers.com. Our Checkers page follows the season from here.
The road trip starts Oct. 3. The building opens Oct. 16.