Sales of figure skating tickets may break record

Spokane is closing in on the record for ticket sales for the State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships, organizers said Tuesday.

Toby Steward said the eight-day competition has sold more than 118,000 tickets to the various events, up about 18,000 in the last week and a half. Most individual events could still have seats available on the day they occur.

Steward, of Star USA, the Spokane company producing the event, hopes ticket sales will surpass 125,345. That’s the record set when the championships were held in Los Angeles in 2002.

“They’re going at a good clip,” Steward said.

Spokane set another record for ticket sales in 2002 with Skate America, a previous skating event hosted in the city and produced by Star USA. But attendance for next week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championship is on track to be more than four times that of Skate America.

As of Tuesday, the four events in Spokane’s new Convention Center and the Jan. 28 Exhibition of Champions at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena were sold out.

No individual tickets remain for the Championship Ladies Finals on Jan. 27, Steward said, but about 200 were available as part of a $298 four-event package of tickets to championship finals for Jan. 26 and 27. The other three championship finals on those days – pairs, dance and men – had between 400 and 800 individual tickets as of noon Tuesday.

Skating starts Sunday with novice programs in the Convention Center, which is sold out, and the Junior Ladies Short Program in the Arena, which has lots of tickets available at $20 each.