NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — There’s nothing like the rush of watching a hockey game in person, but that comes at a price.

News 2’s Mark Kelly found out our hometown team is one of the most expensive in the league.

“If you think about American life, that’s a big part of it. Life is not just food, shelter and clothing; It’s also recreation,” said Steve Reed, economist.

Economist Steve Reed tracks the cost of entertainment for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. His team finds out how much money Americans are spending on sporting events.

Baseball may be America’s favorite past time, but in Nashville, hockey gets just as much love.

“They can be minor league hockey games, sort of any sporting event that you can think of has a chance of being selected for our sample. So, we wind up with a sample of several hundred specific tickets across the country,” said Reed.

In the past 20 years, those ticket prices have mostly gone in one direction – up.

“Admissions to sporting event prices are certainly up. They’re up over the past year, they’re up over the past 10 years, they’re up over the past 20 years,” said Reed. “So, they are more expensive than they used to be, in the same way that almost everything is more expensive than it used to be.”

Betway Insider gathered data for all the NHL teams. Turns out the Predators have had the biggest cost jump out of all 32 teams.

In 2019, a family of four could see a Preds game and buy some food and drinks for $360.10. In 2022, that jumped to $454.56 – a 23% hike.

Reed said for many venues concessions and merchandise prices are really driving the increases.

“That’s another thing to keep in mind when you think about how much it costs to go to a game. Well, it costs one thing for just the ticket, but it costs a different thing if you are going to eat and buy a jersey,” said Reed.

Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst with Bankrate.com, said there’s a pattern emerging in his data. Americans are spending big on entertainment they could not get during the pandemic.

“Any sort of services spending, entertainment spending – those are really hot areas right now, much more so than physical goods. A lot of sellers of physical goods are kinda struggling right now. But I feel like bars and restaurants are packed, concerts, sporting events, travel. This whole out of home entertainment trend is a big one,” said Rossman.

And, yes, the Preds might have had the biggest cost increase, according to Betway, but they are not the most expensive. That title goes to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where a family of four will shell out $632.68 to watch a hockey game.

The Florida Panthers are the cheapest, where a family of four will pay $222.04.