Flyers ticket package includes cost of Winter Classic, but not tickets

WHEN THE FLYERS sent out their season ticket books to fans last week, many were puzzled to flip to the Game 17 home game and see a placeholder listed for the Winter Classic - rather than tickets to the game.

The placeholder, provided for all season ticket accounts, read: "2012 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic tickets are not part of your season ticket package and are printed separately."

That's not a departure from the norm, as the NHL - not the Flyers - controls the ticketing for the Winter Classic. The problem is that the game, scheduled for Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park against the Rangers, has not yet been formally announced by the NHL.

Fans who paid for full season tickets were billed for 44 games: all 41 regular-season home games and three preseason games. That left some fans miffed that no credit was announced.

"If one party can unilaterally eliminate specific games, then I would like to drop the preseason games from my package," one fan wrote to the Daily News.

The Flyers said yesterday that fans will have to purchase Winter Classic tickets separately, using the same precedent set by the Penguins when they hosted last year's Winter Classic at Heinz Field.

"All full season ticket holders will have the ability to purchase up to the same number of Winter Classic packages as 2011-12 full season seats they own," said Shawn Tilger, the Flyers' senior vice president of business operations.

Once the league announces the Winter Classic, the Flyers said they will inform fans on how they will be credited for the game.

New York's Newsday reported last week that the game officially would be announced on Sept. 26 at Citizens Bank Park, the same day the Flyers host the Rangers in a preseason game at the Wells Fargo Center. The Phillies are in Atlanta that day to begin the final series of their regular season, leaving the ballpark vacant for an on-field press conference.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren was released from Cooper Medical Center yesterday, the team announced. Holmgren, 55, was involved in a bicycle accident on Monday in Avalon, N.J., that left him with broken ribs, a broken shoulder and numerous abrasions on his legs, arms and head that required stitches.