Tickets Bring People Together

Buffy's Speech at Mt. Union College Sport Sales Workshop

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Don't you say, "Let's go to the movies, I'll buy the tickets."

"I need to buy a ticket to Dallas to see my sister-in-law."

"Let's go to the play; I've got tickets."

We come together around tickets.

In fact, my husband and I got together over tickets. We both were 29 years old and single, I was working for IMG and he was working for a consulting firm. We were both flying to San Francisco and while talking on the plane, I thought he might be a neat guy to get to know. I was flying out to San Francisco to "dump tickets" for a Carte Blanche tennis tournament that didn't have enough tickets sold. He fit the profile so I asked whether he could come - and bring someone! Well, when he checked into the event and found the seats priced at $40 each, he thought I really must like him. Wow! High priced tickets, this girl must like me, he told me later.

But tickets not marketed properly can also be meaningless.

While working for IMG in my 20s, I was responsible for moving a lot of tennis exhibition tickets. We had a tour of celebrities starring Charlton Heston and sometimes Rob Reiner or Wayne Rogers from the Original Mash movie, and we just couldn't sell those tickets. We had an event in Houston at Rice University. I had about 600 tickets unsold. I pulled out a pack of 100 tickets including stubs to a cocktail reception and threw them rubberbanded and all out my rental car window right into the parking lot of Rice's football stadium. Someone would surely pick them up. 24 hours later, I got a phone call from the head of security for Rice saying that some kind citizen found the tickets and returned them all in tact. I mumbled, "Darn!" Of course, I gave that head of security four tickets just for his honesty.

I was up in Syracuse, New York running this same Charlton Heston Pro Celebrity tennis event and found that after a lot of advertising, no one wanted the tickets. I took them to a local grocery store and handed the baggers two tickets each and told the baggers to put 2 tickets in every grocery bag they bagged. And to make sure the arena looked good, since I couldn't drape the upper levels, I erected an 11 foot high curtain around the court. You couldn't see the matches unless you were on level two, way away from the action, but the players on court peered over the 11' curtain and saw people crowded high in the stands. I'm sure you couldn't tell from your seat who was playing tennis! That was probably a good thing!

I had so many empty seats for another tennis event in Napa Valley that I gave over 200 to the local firemen. You can imagine how worried I was that night they showed praying that there wouldn't be a fire and they all would have to evacuate the stands together! Would people catch on?

My mother remembers me draping coats over bleachers at other events I promoted making it look like people were there when we couldn't sell enough tickets.

So, you are thinking about ticket sales. Everyone in a sports organization should kiss the ticket sales representatives. Ticket sales represents about 2/3rd or more of the teams' revenue. In other words, the money generated from the ticket sales staffs pays for the player salaries and almost everyone else in the front office. Add a couple of corporate sponsorship sales people, and that cadre is responsible for everything - players, coaches, front office, rent, everything. Sometimes it is the 40 people in tickets who are the engine to keep the doors open for over 200 staff people. Ticket sales. This is the best place to get to manage people. Salaries? We start you low, but instantly, you can make a lot. Why I know of people less than 30 years old making over $150,000 from ticket sales. You can get a fancy title fast. You get to be a director at a minor league team in less than 3 years. And I've always got jobs open for good ticket sales people. Then if you move into suite sales, you get even more!

Tickets create memories. When the Cleveland Indians played in the World Series in the late 90s there were interviews in the paper about average citizens spending their entire monthly paychecks on tickets, food, beverage, parking and souvenirs. Why? They said they had to bring their kids. It would be a time they would never forget.

My mother has never forgotten that her brother got the ticket to see Bob Feller pitch an important Cleveland Indian game instead of her. To this day she still bemoans the fact that she was the real fan, not her brother - and she's 78!

And my memories of tickets, well, I took my son to that same World Series game. Perhaps he was too young. By the 3rd inning, he was more interested in discussing his birthday party at Chucky Cheese than he was the stats of the game.

I also remember our first rock concert. I had been feeding him endless music from the Phil Collins Live tape cassette and told him that we could see him in person. I bought a $65 ticket, 6th row seat at Gund Arena. He was excited. Well, he was instantly disappointed when Phil didn't follow the same songs in the taped version as he did in person. Phil started with all his slow songs. One after another after another. Well, by the time the concert was in full bloom with all the fast songs, my son's head was on my shoulder and he was fast asleep.

I was cleaning up his room this past week and underneath his blotter was a ticket to the Regional NCAA Championship event held at Cleveland State a few years ago. That's when Chris Paul's team lost and I looked at Chris sulk and at that instant I declared that Chris Paul was too short and whiny for the NBA. Well, I think I should stick to the business side as he was Rookie of the Year.

Tomorrow marks the 2nd event under my son's high school Sports Marketing Internship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The CAVS tickets and sponsorship staff helped them create a calling sheet and sales packages to sell tickets and sponsorships to 2 designated basketball events. The girls' event was last week and we sold over 230 tickets to a girls basketball game. The boys' game versus rival University School sold out before Christmas - 600 tickets! The gym will be so packed that we are close to capacity for a fire-hazard.

So, as you consider a career in ticket sales, as you sit with these leaders in ticket sales, ponder for the moment what it means. Ticket sales, marketed properly, bring people together. Lots of us. And ticket sales create memories. Don't you have a memento of your favorite event under your blotter?