WASHINGTON — It only took a few minutes, but tickets for the watch party for Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final at Capital One Arena are sold out.
Tickets for the Thursday event were available beginning at 1 p.m. Wednesday. At 1:20 p.m., the Caps tweeted that all of the tickets were sold out. More than 70,000 people logged in at 1 p.m. when tickets became available, Monumental Sports & Entertainment said.
The tickets were free to the public, but there were fewer to pull from after Monumental announced Tuesday that tickets to the Thursday afternoon Mystics game would be free and that attendees could stick around to watch the viewing party after the WNBA game.
Tickets to the Mystics game are sold out as well.
The growing crowds for the Game 1 and Game 2 watch parties led to the need to issue tickets for the Game 5 event “in order to ensure that we could keep everyone safe and that people could enter and exit the Arena in an orderly way,” Monumental said in a statement.
Many fans who didn’t land tickets to the watch party voiced their complaints on social media.
Not a very nice way to treat you STH or true fans. So many better ways to have done this. You made a lot of people angry and created a black market.
— ALLCAPS LISA (@LisaAllcaps) June 6, 2018
This was a very frustrating experience. You need to do better.
— Lauren (@LWengrovitz) June 6, 2018
And why don’t STHs get first shot at tickets? We actually supported the team before the caps got to round 3 game 7…
— CapsCarny (@CarnyCaps) June 6, 2018
Some people who did manage to get watch party tickets are already trying to sell them online. One person on eBay is trying to sell two tickets for $300.
Didn’t get a ticket to the viewing party inside Capital One Arena? Fans can still watch the game outside the arena on large screens located at G and 8th streets Northwest beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are not required for the outdoor viewing party.
Metro has announced that it will be staying open late for viewers.
The Caps head into Game 5 one win away from taking home the Stanley Cup. The Caps defeated the Golden Knights 6-2 on Monday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
