It was a stunning discovery.

Partway through the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, I persuaded my wife to leave our seats in the upper level of the Spokane Arena and slip into some empty seats downstairs, nearer the ice. When skating paused, we chatted with two ladies next to us.

These seats were much better than ours, which I had bought more than a year earlier as part of the all-event ticket package, so I asked the ladies when they had bought theirs to get such good seats. “We bought them just before we came in – at the ticket window outside,” one said.

My jaw dropped. How could this be? When tickets went on sale in March 2004, subscribers to the all-event ticket package were told they would get the best seats available, based on the date and time of purchase. Was it possible that the ticket window now had seats that were closer to the ice than advance buyers had gotten?

After the event, I went to the window and asked what the best available seats were for the next event, the Opening Ceremony. Lower level tickets were available in an end section and a corner, the agent said.

How about for the next day’s first event, Junior Pairs Finals? Tickets were available in several lower level sections, including some roughly across from the judges. Some seats were only halfway up in the stands.

I was astonished.

I had heard of dissatisfaction over seats assigned to buyers of the all-event package, which cost $495 per seat.

When an organizer of the championships appeared on a Spokane radio show, a woman called in who was unhappy with her seats. The organizer brushed her off, saying since Spokane’s arena is smaller than many skating venues, it has no bad seats. When the caller tried to explain, the announcer cut her off.

I asked the ticket agent how the arena could be selling seats now that were better than ticket-package buyers got. I was told unofficially that the event’s promoters had held tickets that they later released. Those weren’t available when tickets were assigned.

I wondered how widespread this practice was. Over the next few days, I found information was hard to get.

I spoke with Toby Steward of Star USA, who helped bring the championships to Spokane. All-event buyers should be very happy, he said, because they originally were promised tickets to only 13 events, and ultimately received tickets to 21 events for the same $495 price.

Yes, but what about seats being sold later that were better than the seats they got, I asked. He said he didn’t know anything about that. When I tried to ask something else, he hung up on me.

Benjamin Stuckart, regional manager for TicketsWest, gave me a Q&A sheet for answering ticket buyers’ questions, but said he wasn’t authorized to say anything more.

The first question on the sheet was “Why are my tickets so bad?” The sheet explained how seats were assigned, but didn’t address the issue of better seats being sold to walk-up buyers. For more information, Stuckart directed me to arena General Manager Kevin Twohig.

Twohig said he didn’t know if better seats were sold during the events. But that wouldn’t be unusual, he said. Typically, when an event is scheduled, the act or attraction, such as a popular band, has the right to a certain number of seats, and it may release them for sale.

For example, if U.S. Figure Skating had tickets it decided not to use, it could have released them, he said.

“A lot of the time, those tickets are much better than those who bought tickets could get. The act or attraction has access to the best tickets in the house,” Twohig said.

As arranged for the championships, the arena had about 9,730 seats, and about 4,200 all-event packages were sold, he said.

Ironically, the ticket-buyers who were pushed back or upstairs to poorer seating were some of the biggest supporters of the Spokane championships. By subscribing for all-event tickets far in advance, they helped create momentum for the event and dramatically ballooned audience numbers, helping achieve record attendance.

The championships were marvelous. They brought much enjoyment to people from here and elsewhere, and gave Spokane national visibility.

It’s unfortunate, however, that early supporters who bought the expensive all-event ticket packages had to sit behind people who bought their tickets at the arena ticket window just before events.