ST. LOUIS (KMOX)-It’s going to cost you more to go to a Blues game next season. The team today is announcing what CEO Mike McCarthy is calling a 9.8-percent “blended increase” that will raise the average ticket price from $40 to $44.

McCarthy tells KMOX the price hikes are ‘reasonable’, “Some are right at that average of ten-percent or slightly under, some are a little above, like 12-percent There aren’t any really stark increases that anybody would be concerned about and on almost 3,000 seats the tickets aren’t moving at all.”

The highest increase will be in the mezzanine end level, which will go from $16 to $19.

McCarthy says in two of the past three seasons the team allowed season ticket holders to lock in the previous season’s ticket prices, that will not be offered this year, “Two of the last three years we didn’t have any increases at all, and froze ticket prices for our fans, and they’ve been able to enjoy that which we were pleased to have done. Now, we have to address our economics with some aggression, a little bit anyway.”

This year, the Blues’ average ticket price ranks 25th in the 30 team NHL.

McCarthy says the ticket price increase has nothing to do with the pending sale of the team to a group led by local businessman Tom Stillman.