Photo by Tommy Boyd

The Nashville Predators plan to work with Metro Government agencies to make sure anyone who wants to watch Stanley Cup final games outside of Bridgestone Arena will be able to do so.

Getting into the arena, however, will be much more difficult.

Nashville Predators CEO Sean Henry addressed issues related to ticketing at a news conference Wednesday, two days after the team won the Western Conference final. The Predators will open play in the championship series Monday against an opponent that is still to be determined.

Games in Nashville will be June 3, June 5 and, if necessary, June 11.

“A long time ago we said our season-ticket holders are the most important thing for us – period,” Henry said. “We’ve never made an exception or an apology for that. We’ve always said they’re going to have the first opportunity to buy, to add, the greatest savings and the greatest benefits.

“… That makes us really excited about what we’re doing for our season-ticket holders.”

The team scheduled a special Stanley Cup pre-sale for 10 a.m. Wednesday through noon Thursday, which allowed those fans to purchase additional seats beyond their regular ones. In less than two hours, all available tickets were sold. At most, therefore, only several hundred seats will be available to the general public for the three games in Nashville.

Here’s what to know in terms of how to potentially purchase what will be available:

• Somewhere between 150 and 200 tickets for each game were held back and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday to the general public. “Those tickets, I assume, will be sold out in about two minutes,” Henry said.

• The team will continue its promotion in which 100 tickets are made available the day of each game for $15. However, after 75,000 logged on to try and purchase those seats Monday, franchise officials are developing a different way to sell them for the Stanley Cup contests. Details will be released closer to the first home game. “The chances won’t change much,” Henry said. “What we’ll try to do is make it a little more fun, a little more engaging for the fans to try to get those last-minute dream tickets.”

• Also on the day of each game, 60 standing room only seats will be sold at $200 apiece. Plus, 150 concourse passes will be sold at $150 apiece to those who wish to be inside and watch the game on televisions away from the seating area.

• It is possible that additional seats (an estimated 50-200) will become available on game days if broadcast partners, the visiting team and league officials don’t use their full allotment. “Those are no guarantee but people should keep checking Ticketmaster.com on those,” Henry said.

An estimated 7,000-8,000 watched Monday’s 6-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on the plaza outside of Bridgestone Arena or in adjacent Hall of Fame Park. The fact that tickets for the Stanley Cup final games will be so difficult to get and that the team has a chance to win this city’s first professional sports championship makes it likely those numbers will increase.

Henry said the team will add video boards (three were employed last game) and will increase the boundaries of outside viewing area as need be with each subsequent game.

“One great thing about live sporting events is the group dynamic of hugging that stranger, celebrating with somebody or commiserating with them,” Henry said. “With all the excitement we have going on, our viewing center is no longer just our building. We’re on the plaza. We’re on the street. We’re in our parks.

“It’s going to be really fun to take some of those aerial pictures that we see and we’re amazed at and instead of just seeing it right around our building, seeing it go down to the river, perhaps.”