Yesterday I sat down with Justin Cener, Founder of Crowd Seats, to discuss how sports organizations can use group-buying deal sites as part of their sales efforts and what’s unique about the Crowd Seats product compared to other options.

Justin, give us a brief overview of Crowd Seats?

Crowd Seats is the first and only daily deals site for sports tickets. We offer amazing sports ticket deals for 50-90% off face value with no added ticket fees. Consumers love us because we offer great tickets for great games at unbelievable prices. Teams and events love working with us because we’ve created a medium to generate revenue on distressed and last-minute ticket inventories. We focus on one niche – sports, and our business is built to meet the needs of sports teams.

In general, how do you see discount and group-buying sites adding value to sports organizations? What trends have you seen in this area?

Sports tickets are the ideal match for the daily deals model. Sports ticket inventory is perishable – if you don’t sell it, you lose it. Teams have an incentive to offer discounts in order to salvage this perishable inventory.

Further, the nature of attending a sporting event solves the issue of overage spending. Deal sites have had to battle a lack of overage spending as customers would buy a deal and not spend a dime extra. For each ticket sold, teams can count on additional per-cap revenues in the forms of parking, concessions, and souvenirs. $20 parking, $8 beers, and $6 hot dogs add up quick and represent a significant revenue stream for teams.

How should teams best manage the risks associated with discounting tickets? Are there any best practices you recommend?

Teams know they need to discount to salvage distressed/last-minute inventory, but they hate offering discounts to their full-price-paying customers. Teams can alleviate this risk by utilizing services like deal sites to promote the offer to their own user bases. We do recommend that the team provides as big of a discount as possible without going too far past their season ticket price.

How important is the group/social component of these sites in driving sales?

Going to a sports game is a social event, a group event. Further, getting a great deal is a social event as well so the two mesh nicely together. In order for these deals to be really successful, there needs to be a social element to it. That means social media needs to play a huge role in both increasing deal exposure and driving sales from social proof. There is no better advertisement than one that comes from a customer that is sharing his/her purchase. As an example, with Crowd Seats, over 1/3 of our sales come directly from Facebook or Twitter.

What is different about Crowd Seats compared to other non-sports-specific sites like Groupon and LivingSocial?

As a niche daily deal site focusing on sports tickets. we’re able to build our business to meet the needs of sports teams. We’ve spoken to over 50 teams and events nationwide and listened to what they were and were not happy with when working with deal sites. Armed with this data, we built Crowd Seats to give teams another avenue to move inventory on their terms.

Most importantly, we differentiate ourselves from Groupon, Living Social, etc in two major ways. First, we offer the most aggressive revenue split in the industry – by far. Our revenue split gives the team a much larger share, leaving them with far more revenue per ticket than they would receive with other sites. Second, we provide full customer contact information to our partner teams so they can build their customer base. So, we’re not only generating revenue, we’re driving highly targeted leads to teams. This has been extremely well received by teams and has been a driving force behind a lot of our relationships. As a niche site, users who sign up show a pre-determined interest in our partner’s products and we consider them to be highly targeted leads for teams.

What’s next for Crowd Seats?

Currently, we’re live in two markets, New York and Los Angeles. We’ve sold over 250 tickets to date and we’re aggressively targeting new markets to enter. In total, we see 16 potential markets nationwide and we’ve already begun to build relationships with many teams in those regions.

You can connect with Justin Cener on LinkedIn or on Twitter at @CrowdSeats.

My friends over at Qcue,who specialize in dynamic ticket pricing in professional sports, sent me over some interesting information on what they were able to do with their Major League Baseball clients in 2011. I think this is valuable to share, particularly for any organizations that are thinking about the pros and cons of implementing a dynamic pricing strategy.

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Qcue today announced the 2011 Major League Baseball (MLB) season was the most active season to date for dynamic pricing, resulting in significant gains for all clients, including increases in total revenues, full-price ticket sales and revenue per seat (excluding season tickets, which do not use dynamic pricing).

With the regular season now complete, Qcue conducted in depth analysis across clients, concluding that the frequency of price changes has a direct impact on incremental revenue. In fact, they estimate that a team can generate an additional $900,000 in incremental revenue over the course of a season by making one additional change to each of its section prices.

Results like this show why dynamic pricing is quickly becoming an industry standard with more than one-third of MLB teams, as well as teams across other leagues, implementing the practice. Qcue’s roster continues to grow, with the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners set to implement dynamic pricing for the 2012 season. Qcue clients now represent 95% of all dynamically priced baseball tickets.

On average, teams approached 2011 with conservative on-sale prices, often lower than previous years, providing substantial values for many fans.

Additional findings include:

• Average price change per seat: $1.55 increase
• Average percentage change per seat: 3% increase
• Average price decrease: -$13.63
• Average price increase: $3.27

“The market has definitely hit a tipping point, where teams are no longer wondering ‘if’ they should embrace dynamic pricing, but rather ‘how often’ to leverage the intelligence and flexibility a solution like ours can provide to drive incremental revenue,” said Barry Kahn, CEO of Qcue. “Our analysis demonstrates the relationship between the frequency of price changes and incremental revenue and the value of understanding real-time market dynamics in setting more accurate prices. Teams that adjust prices more frequently make more money that can be invested back into the club.”

In addition to regular season pricing, teams are finding ways to extend dynamic pricing to new scenarios such as spring training, which the San Francisco Giants successfully did this year in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Qcue’s turnkey software solution helps teams analyze sales data and other external pricing variables, providing sales and revenue projections, strong reporting capabilities, as well as market-based price recommendations. Additionally, integration capabilities remove the management burden teams often face by directly communicating price changes to the teams’ ticketing system and website.

Thanks to Cybele and Barry from Qcue for sending this over!

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Brian Connolly.

Unsold premium seating inventory is a rising problem in the sports industry. It is becoming more and more common to turn on the television for a game, only to see dark suites and swaths of empty club seats in the background. Most teams have approached this issue as a sales problem… making more sales calls, offering more creative discounts, etc. In my opinion however, this is not a sales problem, this is a structural problem.

During the sports facility building boom that lasted from the early 1990’s to the mid 2000’s, most professional sports teams drastically ramped up their inventories of luxury suites and club seats. Prior to the building boom, the vast majority of seating revenues for sports teams were generated from general admission tickets, but now seating products focused on corporations and high-income individuals can account for as much as 25% of a franchise’s locally-generated income.

As the U.S. economy sank into a recession in 2007-2008, many teams were optimistic that the effects of the economic downturn would only be temporary. However as our nation’s economic outlook continues to stagnate, there are several financial and cultural factors that could continue to depress long-term demand for suite and club seat sales:

• A prevailing culture of austerity – With the U.S. unemployment rate exceeding 9 percent, many companies don’t want to associate their brands with premium seating that could potentially be viewed by the general public as “exclusive” or “excessive”.
• The rising non-ticket costs of attending a game – As corporate entertainment budgets have been slashed, the additional cost of stocking a suite with food and beverages or paying for the gourmet food and beverage options that are available in the club lounge, has become prohibitive for many firms.
• Advanced technology has made it more appealing to stay home – With the growth of satellite TV, streaming on-line video, interactive iPad apps, HD and 3D televisions, DVRs, and other such technologies… more sporting events are available at home in a wider variety of entertaining formats. The increased quality of affordable entertainment at home can make it very difficult for price-conscious buyers to commit to large, long-term contracts.
• A surplus of single-event inventory cannibalizes long-term demand – If a team responds to unsold inventory by heavily marketing it on an individual-game basis, they not only incent potential customers to avoid making a long-term commitment, but they also encourage current suite holders not to renew. If you know that discounted club seats are on sale for just about any game you want, why would you commit to buying an expensive club seat license or full-season ticket package? Or if you see another company occasionally renting the suite next door to yours on a per-game basis, why would you renew your long-term suite lease?

As all of these factors continue to depress the demand for traditional premium seating products, the 1990’s mentality of maximizing revenue by building as many large luxury suites as possible on your suite-level is no longer relevant. The days of generating premium prices from non-premium locations by turning them into club seat sections are over. So now, many of those large luxury suites and many of those mezzanine-level club seats are sitting empty. This is a structural problem… a fixed inventory that cannot easily be adjusted to meet changes in demand.

I have been engaged by several professional and collegiate sports teams in recent years to analyze premium seating demand, and there are several demand trends that have consistently appeared:

• As overall demand has decreased for large suites that can be difficult for all but the largest companies to fill, new demand has developed for a wider variety of suite sizes, configurations and locations. Examples include smaller suites with seating capacities for 8 to 12 people, super suites with memberships sold in 2-seat increments, large party suites that cater to high-capacity corporate functions, and bunker/event-level suites that offer both a lounge area with behind-the-scenes views of the players and front row seats in the lower bowl.
• There is significant untapped demand for loge boxes (open-air, “theater-style” boxes with seating for four to six people). Loge boxes are extremely popular with small to mid-sized businesses that can’t afford suites but would like a comfortable, private space for entertaining clients.
• Demand for club seats that are located on a mezzanine level is rapidly decreasing. Attaching premium amenities to a non-premium seating location has lost its appeal for many fans. The demand for club seats can be greatly enhanced by relocating them in the center of the lower bowl.

In order to maximize their premium seating revenues in the new economy, many teams/buildings will need to invest in facility renovations to meet the current levels of consumer demand. Until teams provide a wider variety of seating options and price points, they will continue to carry large amounts of unsold inventory and cannibalize their long-term sales efforts with single-game rentals.

Brian Connolly is a sports and entertainment venue consultant with CSL International (www.cslintl.com). He specializes in market demand analysis and financial advisory for professional sports franchises, collegiate teams, arenas, stadiums, ballparks, performing arts centers and amphitheaters. You can follow him on Twitter @BrianHConnolly or e-mail him at bconnolly@cslintl.com.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Dr. Kirk Wakefield and was originally published in Volume 7, Issue 4 of the Migala Report. The Migala Report was launched in October 2003 to create an educational and idea-sharing resource for sports executives pursuing revenue-generating concepts. To subscribe, please visit www.MigalaReport.com.

Do great players make a coach great? Or do great coaches make players great?  Either way, all else equal, anyone of us involved in recruiting would rather start with the best personnel we can find for our rosters. Since mistakes in recruiting can cost a coach his or her job. We want to know what traits, skills, and experience are necessary to perform at the highest levels, so we know what to look for and how to effectively coach top performers.

What makes a successful salesperson? To find out, we examined the characteristics of ticket and sponsorship salespeople across eight professional sports teams on the advisory board of the Migala Report, who also serve as advisors to Baylor University’s Sports Sponsorship & Sales program. The results, which did not differ whether ticket or sponsorship salespeople, confirms and extends what we know about the characteristics of successful salespeople.

Five characteristics differentiate strong from weak performers in selling for sports organizations. Each is a significant predictor of sales generated for the organization, but of varying importance. In terms of the influence on actual annual sales revenue, the top five characteristics, in order:

1. Adaptive selling skills
2. Sales training
3. Goal clarity
4. Dominant behavioral style
5. Experience

We begin with number five and work our way to the most important characteristic leading to success in selling in this industry, adaptive selling.

Experience:  Since success in selling is based upon commissions and bonuses, individuals who sustain longer careers have clearly produced sales in the past—or else they wouldn’t have a job. So, experience as measured by years in the position (within the team or within the industry) will always offer a clue as to future success. Yet, it’s important to note it is the least important of the five characteristics. While experience definitely helps in this industry, some organizations may weigh this factor more heavily if they have less ability to discern the next four more important elements of successful salespeople.

Dominant behavioral style:  The DISC behavioral style assessment tool is growing among sports and non-sports organizations alike to evaluate sales candidates and is also used as a sales management tool. The DISC Behavioral Style Assessment requires individuals to complete a psychological battery of items describing the way one interacts with others in work settings. The emphasis is on behavior, not temperament or personality. The chart below offers a brief summary of the four behavioral styles, based on work conducted by TTI Performance Systems, who assisted us in our studies.

Our results in studying sports salespeople, as well as real estate salespeople, reveal that individuals who are “High D’s” are more successful than low D’s. Furthermore, higher levels of the other DISC traits are not associated with successful salespeople. In fact, individuals with high “S” scores may do very well in customer service positions, but fare poorly in sales positions due to inability to close.

Goal clarity:  To be successful, salespeople must know what is expected of them. Compared to poor performers, successful salespeople:

1. Know exactly what output is expected.
2. Have clear and unambiguous performance targets.
3. Have a clear, planned set of goals to achieve the objectives.

Goal clarity is a function of sales management effectiveness and the individual salesperson. Driven salespeople are goal-directed, so even when management is vague, the individual will still establish goals. Of course, the problem is these goals may not be consistent with management’s goals. Consequently, the best scenario is when the sales manager works with salespeople to establish agreed upon goals for the position.

Sales training:  The level of sales training provided varies considerably across professional and collegiate sports. Compared to Corporate America, sports franchises could stand to improve sales training. In complex buying contexts involving large dollar expenditures, corporations may invest anywhere from six weeks to two years in training salespeople. One of the reasons sports franchises may not see the value of such sponsorship sales training is a lack of understanding or appreciation for the complexities with which major corporations evaluate and manage brands.

In a general sense, effective training can be measured by understanding the extent to which the sales staff clearly understands:[1]

1. How to interact with customers.
2. How much service to provide customers.
3. How to behave with customers while on the job.
4. How to handle customer objections.
5. How to handle unusual problems and situations.
6. How to deal with customers’ criticisms.
7. Which specific strengths to present to customers.
8. Which specific benefits to highlight for customers.

Organizations that highly value training ultimately invest in their own bottom lines, as the level of training was the second strongest influence on salespeople’s earnings in our study.

Adaptive selling:  The strongest influence on performance is adaptive selling, defined as “the altering of sales behaviors during a customer interaction or across customer interactions based on perceived information about the nature of the selling situation.”[2] The top performers in selling sports, or just about anything else, will:

1. Use a unique approach for each customer.
2. Easily change to another approach if the current sales approach is not working.
3. Experiment with different sales approaches.
4. Be flexible in selling approaches, not stuck on a set approach.
5. Find it easy to change presentation style to fit the buyer.

A key component in adaptive selling is confidence in one’s selling abilities, or the personal belief in being capable of organizing, executing, and evaluating the right course of action in the sales context. Not so much confidence or self-esteem in a general sense, but confidence in one’s sales skills. We all know people with plenty of confidence, but that doesn’t mean they have good adaptive selling skills.

Adaptive selling skills fit hand-in-glove with a partnership approach to selling. Adaptive selling, also referred to as consultative selling, focuses on offering a unique selling proposition attuned to the buyer’s needs. Our research also indicates adaptive sales skills are highly correlated with sales training, High D behavioral styles, and experience. Hence, the best salespeople are both born and bred—pointing to the importance of both recruiting and coaching.

Dr. Kirk Wakefield is the Executive Director at Baylor University’s Center for Sports Sponsorship & Sales, and serves as editor of The Migala Report published by the Center.

[1] Singh, Jagdip and Gary K. Rhoads (1991), “Boundary role ambiguity in marketing-oriented positions: a multidimensional, multifaceted operationalization,” Journal of Marketing Research, 28 (August), 328-38.

[2] Spiro, Rosann L. and Barton A. Weitz (1990), “Adaptive selling: conceptualization, measurement, and nomological validity,” Journal of Marketing Research, 27 (February), 61-79.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Dr. Kirk Wakefield and was originally published in Volume 7, Issue 1 of the Migala Report. The Migala Report was launched in October 2003 to create an educational and idea-sharing resource for sports executives pursuing revenue-generating concepts. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.MigalaReport.com.

Is winning everything? When it comes to fan attendance and setting ticket prices, how much does winning matter? There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence and exceptions people like to throw out to prove the point one way or the other.  That’s what you do when you don’t really know. At least that’s what I do. But, since this is a research column, we thought we’d look at some data. And, who has more data than they know what to do with? Major League Baseball.

The real question isn’t really just about winning. We cannot look at winning and losing in isolation, because context matters.  What about the economy? What if the team has a new stadium? What if the team has a star player approaching a career milestone? What if there are other franchises in the same area?

Within the context of the factors listed below, which do you think has had the most influence on a team’s attendance for the past decade (2000-2009) in Major League Baseball?  Even though they  mirror the previous decade, the results might surprise you.

When we include all of these factors together to predict annual attendance in MLB, we find that the stadium has the strongest effect, followed by star players, and then the winning percentage in the current season. Last season’s performance also has an influence on this year’s attendance. Statistical analysis shows that the order of the size of the effect on predicting attendance is as follows:

1. Stadium quality
2. Star players
3. Current season’s winning percentage
4. Last season’s winning percentage
5. Population-related factors (SMA population, number of MLB and other professional franchises)
6. Ticket and concession prices
7. The economy (per capita income)

The surprise may be that winning has less influence on attendance than the stadium and players, but also interesting is the fact that population-related factors and ticket/concession prices are positively related to attendance.  Other economic studies have previously suggested that larger populations with more pro franchises hurt, not help, attendance in MLB. Further, because professional sports are more of a prestige good, higher ticket prices are associated with higher attendance. Also interesting is the fact that as much as we hear people blaming the economy, reduced earnings of consumers across MLB cities has a very minor effect. We’ll discuss each of these shortly, but let’s start with the strongest influence on attendance.

The Stadium. When analyzing the effect of the stadium, it’s important to account for the fact that vintage stadiums such as Fenway Park and Wrigley Field attract just as well as new stadiums.  One of the reasons that the stadium is so important to baseball is the length of the season.  With 81 home games, the potential amount of time spent at the game for season ticket holders is far greater than for basketball or hockey (41 home games), soccer, and, certainly, for football.  Other research shows that the facility is still important for those sports, but not as much as for baseball.

The advantage of investing in the sportscape is that it has a known, certain effect on attendance for at least ten years. Investing in players and managers, while obviously important, produce less certain outcomes. Investing in individual star players, however, may be worth it.

Star players. The reason that star players have such a strong effect on attendance is because fans identify with individual players on the team as much as with the team.  Fans build psychological bonds with star players that positively reinforce their own self images.  From management’s perspective, this suggests that signing key players with attractive leadership qualities is a critical part of building attendance.

Winning. For those that thought that winning now is everything, apparently it comes in third. The results show that winning during the current season should attendance. However, winning is unlikely to have a lasting effect without a good stadium and star players. The Florida Marlins proved this twice following World Series wins in 1997 and 2003. Fellow Floridians in Tampa Bay have witnessed similar problems.

The results from the MLB data show that last season’s performance has almost as much influence on attendance as the current year’s performance. Season tickets are sold primarily on the basis of the hope offered by last year’s performance on the field. So, teams that win from year to year are likely to sustain or maintain attendance.

Taken together, putting together a string of winning seasons should increase attendance. The problem is that compared to investing in the stadium and star players, winning is uncontrollable.  Of course, signing star players may help winning, but that’s also hard to predict.  From a marketer’s perspective, you are better off promoting what you can control and deliver—and winning is not one of them. If you’d like to read about some classic collapses by teams that thought they’d be big winners, see David Schoenfield’s article on ESPN.com.

Population and competition. Economists have studied these same factors in multiple studies dating prior to this past decade and have always shown that larger populations in cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and the Bay area with multiple teams have negative effects on attendance. Theoretically, teams located in these cities face more indirect and direct competition that might lure fan spending from MLB attendance. I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but almost all of the teams in those cities (Yankees/Mets, Dodgers/ Angels, Cubs/White Sox, and Giants) have strong attendance.  The only exception is Oakland. The stadium and lack of star players and winning explain why.

The reason these previous studies showed different results are likely due to two reasons. First, the introduction of AT&T Park in San Francisco and the repeated renovations to improve Cellular Field in Chicago have boosted attendance. It didn’t hurt that the White Sox won the World Series in 2005. Further, the new Citi Field will continue to help attendance for the Mets. Second, prior economic studies did not account for the fact that population size is correlated with having competing franchises in the same city and having multiple pro franchises across all sports. Statistically speaking, this causes errors in estimating attendance models that can produce misleading results.

In the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder have benefited from being the only game in town. But, these results from MLB indicate that having the in-town rivalries between the Cubs & White Sox, Yankees & Mets, Angels & Dodgers help attendance. Fans in these cities must intentionally choose allegiance to one of the teams, which should increase identification and passion for each team.

Ticket and concession prices. The results show that teams with higher attendance have higher ticket and concession prices. We also conducted additional analysis that shows that you can closely predict next year’s prices with this year’s attendance in MLB.  Increased demand for tickets of teams with good stadiums, star players, and winning teams in strong markets means higher prices. Put differently, teams with poor stadiums, no-name players, and losing teams are the ones that are forced to cut ticket prices.

The economy. For all the hand-wringing about the effects of the economy, we find that lower per capita income levels across MLB cities affect attendance, but much less so than the other factors we’ve discussed. In the end, the fan’s objection is not so much to price, but to the value offered by the team in terms of the stadium experience, the players on the team, and the performance on the field.

Dr. Kirk Wakefield is the Executive Director at Baylor University’s Center for Sports Sponsorship & Sales, and serves as editor of The Migala Report published by the Center.

- Click here for David Shoenfield’s ESPN article on “Baseball’s all-time train-wreck seasons.”
- Click here to go Dr. Wakefield’s TeamSportsMarketing.com website to read more research and sports marketing tips.

Major League Soccer’s National Sales Center (MLSNSC), which I wrote about almost eight months ago, recently sent their fifth set of graduates into the difficult environment of selling soccer tickets in a down economy. To refresh your memory, the MLSNSC is (and I quote from their official website) “a highly selective 45 day sales training program, this experience provides a one-of-kind learning environment and exposure to the fundamentals of MLS ticket selling. Trainees will have the opportunity to apply what they are learning to actual selling of season, group and mini plan ticket inventory for different MLS clubs during the program. At the conclusion of the session, those trainees earning specific benchmarks throughout the program will have the opportunity to interview for sales positions at MLS clubs.”

Bryant Pfeiffer, Vice President of Club Services for MLS, commented on the changes that were made over the course of the first five sessions. “Initially we were thinking we would try to facilitate close to 6-7 sessions in 2011,” commented Pfeiffer. “After getting a better handle on both recruiting and placement flow in 2010 we felt it worked better to run four total sessions in 2011 that were more spaced out in between them.”

In terms of placement for the first four sessions, 40 candidates went through the program with 39 of those securing employment with an MLS club. Many of those graduates continue to keep tabs on each other. Jacob Hanselman, a graduate of Session IV, was hired by the Chicago Fire in March 2011. “Since we have been out at teams we keep an email chain that we are able to share stories with the entire group about different situations that have occurred or tips on questions some people have,” said Hansleman. “We grew to be very close and there hasn’t been a week were you won’t get a phone call from someone in the session or talk on Facebook comparing numbers and how everyone has been successful. I wouldn’t have been able to have the success that I have had thus far without any of the other 10 people that were in session IV not having a profound impact on me.”

One of the most valuable tools in the program is the instant feedback each candidate gets regarding their techniques. The feedback is not based solely on whether a sale was made or not. Pfeiffer mentioned, “We have added much more emphasis on video and audio recording of sales calls as an instant feedback tool. Trainees have consistently highly rated the impact this technology has on their development.” For Hanselman, the feedback was invaluable. “The most challenging part of the session for me was the refining of the sales process,” commented Hanselman. “Every one of our calls at the MLSNSC was taped, so even when you did make what you thought was a good call, we could go back and analyze and break it down; much like watching game tape. After each one you would see that we still had a lot of room for improvement.”

It’s easy to see after the first five sessions that the MLSNSC is going strong. “Fourteen MLS clubs have either hired or interviewed National Sales Center graduates,” said Pfeiffer. “Dallas and Houston have both hired six graduates so far.” With the blessing of the MLS head office, and strong recommendations from it’s previous graduates, MLSNSC will begin it’s sixth session on July 25th.

A successful candidate will “show a strong to desire to keep improving themselves, a strong competitive spirit, and refuse to be outworked wherever they are.” If that describes you, you can apply by visiting the MLSNSC website, scrolling to the bottom and clicking ‘Apply now.’

Earlier this week, I had the chance to interview Barry Kahn, CEO of the dynamic ticket pricing company Qcue. Barry was recently named to Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2011. We discussed what exactly dynamic pricing is and some of the impact it can have on the sports industry.

First off, thanks for taking the time to discuss dynamic pricing with my readers. For those that might not be familiar with the topic, can you give us a quick synopsis of what dynamic pricing means?

Barry Kahn: Dynamic pricing is all about finding the right value for a ticket and recognizing that the value often changes between the time it goes on sale until it is purchased. Prior to dynamic pricing, teams would set prices months before the season and then were forced to stick with them. With dynamic pricing, teams now have flexibility to adjust prices throughout the season. We apply advanced analysis to adjust prices based on sales and other measures of shifting demand. The result is better scaling throughout the house and better variable pricing.

While the idea of maximizing the value of premium games seems great, I think some companies are afraid that dynamic pricing could undervalue other games. How is this handled within the structure of dynamic pricing?

BK: Most teams face an internal debate – price for a sell out or price to maximize sales? I like to view dynamic pricing as giving a team the flexibility to balance these priorities. They can price to fill the venue while retaining the opportunity to take advantage of a high demand situation. While this may mean some lower prices for low demand games, dynamic pricing isn’t about dropping prices to sell at any cost. It’s about setting prices more accurately to sell at the right cost. That typically means maintaining price integrity. You have to take into account all games – all sections – season ticket holders, group sales, promotions, etc. Our software does this. In addition to real time data covering all of these categories, we also pull in historical data to provide a complete picture. We look closely at every section in the stadium and all upcoming games to ensure that price changes in one section or for one game, do not negatively impact a different section or game. We have seen clients increase revenue in both high and low demand situations.

How does dynamic pricing in the primary market (purchasing directly from teams) impact sales in the secondary market?

BK: There will always be a secondary market, we aren’t changing that. What we are doing is helping the teams compete with the secondary market by providing them with the flexibility to change prices as the market dictates. People that scoop up tickets only to resell them at a high markup may be impacted, however in the case of season ticket holders, all teams that we work with have taken great care to protect this group and ensure they get the lowest prices available. Dynamic pricing will actually help this group price their tickets more accurately for resale.

What types of insights can teams gather from dynamic pricing?

BK: With dynamic pricing, teams gain a better understanding of what drives sales using variables such as real-time sales, day of the week, opponents, etc. to set more accurate prices from the onset and maximize demand across the house. We compare dozens of price factors throughout a season, across venues and between ticket sections and provide teams with flexible business views of past price performance, current sales activity and future sales projections. But the real power of dynamic pricing is its ability to take all of this data and provide specific price recommendations that can be made in real-time, across all points of sale.

If a team wanted to go down this road, what is the best way for them to proceed?

BK: Call us! In all seriousness, dynamic pricing is a sophisticated process. Some teams may try a do-it-yourself approach, but there is tremendous value in using a proven software solution. For example, in the case of Major League Baseball, you are looking at 81 games and 20+ sections. Analyzing the data and changing prices could be someone’s full time job, whereas by using an existing dynamic pricing solution, teams can change thousands of prices in minutes.

Barry Kahn is CEO and founder of Qcue, the most widely deployed dynamic pricing solution on the market. He works closely with professional sports organizations across MLB, MLS, NBA, NHL and NASCAR to optimize revenue while providing the best value to fans. He holds a Ph.D. and an M.S. in economics from The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.S. in applied engineering physics from Cornell University.

This is a big time of year for the NBA when it comes to season ticket sales. Most teams are finishing up their current season ticket holder renewals and ramping up for new business. Last week, I wrote a bit about a unique positioning the Golden State Warriors were using to help sell and renew season tickets, but every team has their own approach to season ticket sales. So here are a few more fun examples from other NBA teams:

Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets – Pay the Pick Pricing Plans:

Detroit Pistons – Renewal Website, featuring benefits based on tenure and payment date, including:

• Free Parking and Piston jersey (potentially with autograph)
• $50 to $150 in Palace Gift Cards
• Complimentary club passes and a suite for a game
• Referral rewards equal to 3% of the new season ticket holder’s purchase

Charlotte Bobcats – Buy 2 Get 2 Free

Memphis Grizzlies – Playoff Access for This Season

• While playoff access is always a benefit for season ticket holders, the Grizzlies are capitalizing on this year’s surprise run by limiting access to this year’s playoff tickets to current or future season ticket holders (30% deposit required).
• This type of offer was used by the New Orleans Hornets (and most likely other playoff teams as well).

Toronto Raptors – Raptors Plus You

• The Raptors build an interactive microsite tied to their “Raptors + You” marketing campaign, complete with video highlights, letter from the GM, benefits, payment plans, and information on new dynamic pricing for next season.
• In addition, they are guaranteeing their ticket prices for the 2012-13 season as well.

Early Bird Programs – Many teams’ early-bird programs have probably ended by now, but a few teams still have them going, including:

• New Jersey Nets (features additional 10% savings for early renewal and matrix of additional benefits)
• Sacramento Kings (features the chance to get free parking, team store vouchers and extra free tickets)
• Washington Wizards (features a 3 year price freeze, replica jersey and 12-month payment plan)

Last week, my good friend Isaac sent me a very interesting season ticket sales promotion that the Golden State Warriors are offering. They are calling it the “first official contract between a professional sports team and its fans.” While that may or may not be true, the “contract” itself is quite interesting. Take a look at the image below from their website (or click to visit the site).

The first thing you notice are their four main promises: reaching the playoffs, having an all-star on the team, winning 25+ games at home and a risk-free renewal with 5% interest (this relates to the risk of games being cancelled because of labor issues). Of course, there’s fine print on this agreement, but in this case, the team wants their fans to read the fine print, which reviews a series of incentives that all season ticket holders would receive if the team fails to meet any of their promises. These incentives would be in addition to the other incentives that they are offering regardless of team performance.

If you break this down, it is a pretty standard set of benefits to offer your season ticket holders (a potential price freeze, drawing for a free trip and private autograph session). However, combining these potential benefits with a “guarantee” of team performance is an interesting way to position it. They can simultaneously sell on-court success and unique season ticket holder experiences in one platform.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Jared Frank, Editor of SEAT Magazine, Association of Luxury Suite Directors.

The ALSD dubbed 2010 the year of “The Transformation.” We were in the wake of a period in which suites became prisons for some corporations, and premium amenities were considered contraband. We were beginning to see the industry approaching the intersection of sports and entertainment as we observed some major changes. Specific to premium seating, these changes included shorter leases, shared leases, lower occupancy rates, no show issues and a waning fan experience. And well, the environment is not drastically different one year later. We are still jousting between old methods and new in some circumstances.

With these things in mind, this year’s theme is “The Solutions.” 2011 will teach us the magic bullets to achieve meaningful progress in our altered environment as well as instill the conditioning needed for new ideas to anchor. If I am calling a spade a spade, we did not fare as well as we would have liked in 2010, but we fared onward. And in 2011, we will fare upwards.

Narrowing down my specific observations of the industry into something manageable was difficult. I shaved my list by differentiating the deep-rooted ideas that call for endurance contra to the fleeting incremental changes that simply satisfy society’s instant gratification, microwave mentality and impatient approach. I ultimately settled on the following three major points. But I realize the list is more sundry rather than all and sundry.

We are working in the paradigm of mixed inventory

The traditional 16-person suite still has a place, but as part of a wider variety of product offerings. We highlight the Oklahoma City Arena in the current issue of SEAT Magazine (page 24), which is a perfect illustration of the changing forces of real estate. Its 2010 renovation eliminated 20 suites and repurposed the space with 48 four- or six-seat terrace boxes. The building’s new ratio of 36 traditional suites to 48 terrace boxes is upside down compared to other arenas. But I expect this to be a trend that grows and favors other similar sized markets.

Further evidence of the decreasing number of suites and the rise in popularity of mid-level inventory is found at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, which opened in August 2010. When I spoke with Mike Guiffre, Director of Premium Seating for the Pittsburgh Penguins, last summer, he stated, “We have two areas of loge boxes that we couldn’t build enough of.”

Another trend of the future is thinking about creating greater demand and intimacy in venues through smaller capacities for the repeated event, while including flexibility to expand for the big event. Speaking of the big event…

We are working in the paradigm of the big event

In broad terms, the amount of revenue that can be generated from a facility coupled with as little financial risk as possible is still one of the most important issues for the industry to consider. To maximize cost-effectiveness, the arena business has been competitive for some time now in trying to book as many events as possible outside of the anchor NHL or NBA tenant. Now, MLB and NFL stadiums are joining the mix.

With public financing significantly less available and in some cases non-existent, the solution to emerge over the last decade and proliferate considerably in 2010-2011 is to build a facility as multi-purposeful as possible in order to make the venue profitable for private financiers.

The obvious example of this is Cowboys Stadium. Cowboys Stadium has attracted a mishmash of big events, including this year’s Super Bowl, last year’s NBA All-Star Game, NCAA men’s basketball games, numerous NCAA football games (regular season and bowl games), boxing matches et al.

A sample of other non-traditional big events in unique facilities in 2010 includes:

• Illinois vs. Northwestern NCAA Football, played at Wrigley Field
• Notre Dame vs. Army NCAA Football; Pinstripe Bowl, played at Yankee Stadium
• Penn State vs. Indiana NCAA Football, played at FedEx Field
• The NHL Winter Classic, played at Heinz Field
• Dallas Mavericks vs. Phoenix Suns AutoTrader.com Open, played at Indian Wells Tennis Garden

I expect teams traveling to unique facilities to continue to become more and more common as we continue to push for big experiences that cannot be found in front of a television or computer. Speaking of big experiences…

We are working in the paradigm of the big experience

How to create a unique and compelling enough experience to compete with the living room is the greatest challenge the sports industry faces at present. The industry is starting to look at the fan experience from square one by looking beyond its borders for best practices and fresh perspectives outside stadiums and arenas. Our industry is finally starting to realize that we might not have all the answers. I have heard of noteworthy presentations from everyone from Frito Lay’s to the seemingly omnipresent Disney Institute.

My belief is a disciplined adherence to the seemingly insignificant details is what will ultimately separate the in-person experience and drive revenue. If I learned anything from Disney Institute’s presentation at last year’s ALSD Conference, it is that taking care of the minutiae of our customers’ experiences is what separates the venue from the living room. It is the little moments of joy that people remember.

May all of us have many little moments of joy in 2011.

Jared Frank is the editor of SEAT Magazine, published quarterly by the Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) and provided complimentary to all members of the ALSD. For more information on the 2011 ALSD Conference and Tradeshow, visit www.ALSD.com, or find the group on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can follow Jared on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn and reach him via email at jared@alsd.com.

Earlier today, I learned about two interesting single game ticket offers that provide value to the customers while capturing incremental sales for the teams. These ideas can be applied in some form to almost any organization.

New Jersey Devils:  LivingSocial Discount Offer

LivingSocial.com is a website that offers a new region-specific discount offer every day based on a number of people taking advantage of the offer. Today’s deal for North Jersey (my neck of the woods) is for a ticket to an upcoming Devils game ($69 value) plus $10 towards concessions for $34. This represents a $45 savings for anyone that takes advantage of this offer. Boston College Men’s Basketball recently had a similar offer on Groupon.com (thanks @CutlerDave) and several other teams have run offers on one of the two sites (if not, both).

These regional daily deal websites can be a great outlet for teams to help sell game that they might be having trouble with to a local, price-conscious audience. While some of these buyers might have been local fans that would normally pay for a higher price ticket, I feel that the discount offer helps the team connect with more casual fans that might not otherwise decide to buy any tickets, many of whom might not be in the team’s current consumer database. Hopefully, the team can either gain access to the buyer information or connect with this audience at the game to help drive future sales (at regular price, of course).

Minnesota Timberwolves:  WolvesTix Dynamic Pricing

The Timberwolves have launched an initiative called “WolvesTix” that uses dynamic pricing to adjust their individual game ticket prices based on public demand. If you visit the site right now, you can see that a ticket in the same upper level end section costs as little as $4 for a Wednesday night game vs. the Houston Rockets and as much as $35 for a Friday night game vs. the Miami Heat (with several price points in between).

Some organizations are resistant to dynamic pricing because it can demonstrate the wide range of prices that fans are willing to pay based on opponent, day of week and even recent team performance. They might love that it can generate a premium above typical face value for select games, but fear that other games will drop too low and devalue the tickets. Their concern is justified, but most teams are competing every night with the secondary market. If they don’t make an attempt to adjust their prices based on market demand, consumers will purchase tickets elsewhere. In the long run, it’s better for the teams to try and capture this revenue themselves and turn these low-price single game buyers into repeat buyers and down the road, into mini-plans and more.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and just like any other holiday, this special occasion can be used as part of a marketing campaign to sell tickets and merchandise. Here are a few examples of Valentine’s Day themed promotions taking place this year that I was able to find. You can see that the offers each have their own unique details, including items like jewelry, dinners, flowers, merchandise and personal delivery.

Phoenix Coyotes (Thanks to the Phoenix Business Journal blog for writing about this one)

Milwaukee Bucks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Philadelphia Flyers

Houston Astros

Texas Rangers

St. Louis Cardinals

Houston Rockets (Branded as an “UnValentine’s Special” – also running a Valentine’s Day Clutch Gram promotion)

Cleveland Indians

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Emily Huddell from Turnkey Sports and Entertainment.

In November 2010, Turnkey invited representatives from all 138 teams in MLB, MLS, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL to participate in an email-based survey regarding database management in the sports industry.  CRM, ticketing systems, and list purchasing were the study’s primary topics; however, additional aspects of database management and segmented marketing were also addressed.

Respondent Profile:

• 55 individuals completed the entire survey; an additional 15 finished some of the questions but did not proceed through the entire questionnaire.
• All of the “Big 5” leagues were well-represented in the study results. MLB teams led the pack, accounting for 29% of all respondents, while the NFL (26%) and NHL (21%) followed close behind.  The remainder of respondents hailed from the NBA (16%) and MLS (10%).
• 84% of respondents identified themselves as being involved with CRM at their respective organizations, and 80% reported involvement in ticketing.
• Most respondents’ jobs were classified within their organization’s Marketing, Ticketing, or Database Management divisions, though several respondents reported to other departments (IT, Corporate Sales, etc.).

Key Findings from the Study:

- 82% of respondents reported that CRM/database management is perceived as “extremely” or “very” valuable within their respective organizations.

• NFL respondents were more than twice as likely as respondents from MLB to identify CRM/database management as “extremely valuable”: 67% did, vs. just 28% of MLB respondents.

- CRM initiatives support literally every area of business at some teams; however, they’re utilized most frequently by the Ticket Sales, Premium Sales & Service, Marketing, and Sponsorship/Corporate Sales Departments.

- Teams who have CRM currently invest an average of $73,076* annually in CRM hardware, software, service, and consultation, and have official “Database Management” departments of fewer than five people. (*Note: this figure does not include any salaries or expenses associated with internal staff.)

- When asked what most influenced their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with a particular CRM system or database, respondents cited “flexibility”, “customization options”, “integration capabilities”, “reporting capabilities”, and “ease of use”.

- Nearly 6 of every 10 respondents identified Microsoft Dynamics CRM as the best CRM system in the industry.

• Their feelings on VARs (Value Added Resellers) weren’t as clear: 76% of respondents had no opinion regarding which VAR is the leader in the sports space.

- When asked to rate their own CRM systems on various aspects of performance and use, SalesForce.com users gave their platform the highest scores while Archtics users rated their systems lowest

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM users’ scores fell in the middle, slightly below SalesForce’s.

- Respondents cited the Philadelphia Flyers as the professional sports team with the most sophisticated CRM/database management initiatives, followed by the Dallas Cowboys, Phoenix Suns, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Seattle Mariners (all tied with the second most-votes).

- 84% of Tickets.com clients identified Ticketmaster as the best ticketing company in the industry.

- Teams don’t have preferred list vendors/sources; however, they are more than three times more likely to name Acxiom as the industry leader in appends/reverse appends than all other companies combined.

If you’d like to view the raw data associated collected via this study, please contact Emily Huddell, SVP of Client Sales & Service at Turnkey Intelligence, at emilyhuddell@turnkeyse.com or 856.685.1450.

Emily Huddell has spent the previous five years employed at Turnkey Sports & Entertainment working with all three of the company’s core products and overseeing all team sports business. She is a graduate of the UMass Sport Management MS program.

We are at the tail end of the busiest retail shopping period of the year! Your customers and fans are spending money left and right. How has your team gotten into the buying frenzy? I’ve included several email marketing examples that I have seen this year. You can see that teams and leagues are leveraging this shopping weekend to move tickets and merchandise (granted, merchandise offers seem to be more common). Tactics range from simple discounts to holiday packages to free shipping.

Black Friday – Atlanta Thrashers:

Holiday Savings – Oakland Raiders / The Raider Image:

Cyber Monday – Orlando Magic:

Black Friday – MLS Shop:

Black Friday – Nashville Predators:

Cyber Monday – Buffalo Sabres:

Cyber Monday – NHL Shop:

Cyber Monday – New York Yankees (most MLB teams will have the same offer via MLBAM):

Cyber Monday – Philadelphia Flyers

Cyber Monday – Colorado Avalanche:

Cyber Monday – Arizona State Sun Devils:

One of the most fundamental aspects of selling tickets is identifying the people that are most likely to purchase (the “Glengarry” leads, for those Glengarry Glen Ross fans out there). You want your sales staff to have the best leads possible in order to increase the chance that they will be able to close sales. This seems pretty straightforward, but making sure you have the best leads is not as simple as it seems.  In many situations, your list of current and former customers isn’t large enough to reach your sales goals, and purchased lead lists can be a mixed bag in terms of quality, accuracy and relevance. So what does it take for an individual to be a top sales prospect?

To make this easy to remember, I’m taking a page from “bond ratings.” If you’re familiar with finance, you probably know that AAA is the highest rating that a bond can have. Well, in order to identify the best leads, you also want to shoot for an “AAA” rating. In our case, the three A’s you need to focus on are:

1. AFFINITY
2. ABILITY
3. ACTION

Let’s break this down one “A” at a time:

Affinity: This is the most fundamental element of the three A’s – clearly, your best sales prospects tend to be consumers that are already fans of your team. The degree of their affinity usually correlates with their purchase behavior. Putting aside the other A’s for a moment, the more affinity you have for a team, the more you tend to spend on tickets, either in quantity, quality or both. A more casual fan with only moderate affinity can still be a customer, but their purchases will be smaller or less frequent.

Ability: Being a fan doesn’t mean you are going to buy tickets. Unfortunately, for many die-hard fans, tickets are simply too expensive to purchase, at least with any regularity.  So having the ability to buy, meaning the prospect has the financial resources to afford tickets, is critical to identifying top leads. You can also think of this “A” in terms of “affluence,” especially when selling high-value items such as club seats and premium season tickets.

Action: This third “A” is often overlooked, but is still quite critical in identifying the best leads. Action is all about prospects that have shown a willingness to purchase your product, or a comparable product.  For example, you could have a very affluent individual that has been a fan of team X for his entire life. However, he prefers to watch his team on his 80″ super-HD TV in his “private theater” room.  In this case, he’s missing the third A since he’s never shown an interest in the act of attending a game in-person. In addition, action does not limit you to your own previous customers. Any related purchasing action (concert tickets, merchandise, etc.) can improve their quality as a prospect.

The other nice thing about this “model” is that it breaks down into components very well. We know the best prospects fit into all three categories, but you don’t always have the luxury of knowing about all three A’s.  As a rule, three A’s are better than two A’s, which are better than just one A. For example, you might know that someone is a fan and has purchased tickets, but you don’t know what they can truly afford. Or your organization might be able purchase a lead list of high-income individuals who spend money on entertainment, but you don’t know if they are fans of your team.  You should always strive to have information on all three A’s, but when that’s not possible, you can try to manage with two of the three. In these scenarios, your conversion rate will be lower, but with more quantity and time, you can still achieve your sales goals.

By the way, technically there is a 4th “A” that I haven’t mentioned, but it should go without saying – AREA.  You should always focus on the  most logical geographic area, usually a 50 to 75 mile radius around your stadium location. It is not worth the time and financial resources to extend your sales efforts beyond this area, as the likelihood of sales drops dramatically. I’ve written a bit about this before when reviewing a team’s direct mail campaign.

In future posts, I will go into more detail on each of the three A’s and show you ways to obtain the information you need to identify and qualify your best sales prospects.

Guarantees are a common part of sports lore. Being a NY/NJ guy, my mind immediately thinks of Joe Namath guaranteeing victory in Super Bowl III and making it happen, or Mark Messier guaranteeing a win before game six of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004 and then scoring a hat trick to clinch the game.  Other athletes have made similar bold predictions without the same level of success… we’ll be nice and not highlight those failed guarantees here.

Besides the athletes, sometimes members of a team’s management will step forward to make a guarantee. It’s this situation that I want to look at a bit more, especially with some recent examples. Take a look at these:

• The 2008 Arizona Rattlers (AFL) guarantee that their team will make the playoffs, or else their season ticket holders can get a full refund. The Rattlers, who were 4-12 the year before, did make the playoffs, losing in the 1st round (Deseret News, May 2009)
• Along a similar line, the 2010-11 St. Louis Blues are guaranteeing that they will make the playoffs, otherwise their season ticket holders in certain locations will only have to pay for 1/2 the cost of their season tickets (stltoday.com, September 2010)
• Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, in a “passionate” letter to the team’s season ticket holders, guarantees that his team will win an NBA championship before LeBron James will (see previous post on this topic)
• San Francisco 49ers team president Jed York, in a text message to ESPN, guarantees that his team will win the NFC West this year, after an 0-5 start to the season (sfgate.com, October 2010)

The first two examples are purely a sales and marketing tactic. Both teams were coming off of disappointing seasons where their fans could easily start turning away from the organization. This approach can be very effective, but also very dangerous. Generally a team’s sales and marketing efforts want to do all they can to sell the team without being dependent on the win/loss record, but this type of offer makes that impossible. The Rattlers’ offer was the most risky since it would apply to the full season ticket costs for all season ticket holders – that’s a lot of revenue.  The Blues offer can actually be successful even if the team does not make the playoffs, if they can show that at least 1/2 of those customers wouldn’t have purchased season tickets without that promotion (difficult, but not impossible to do).

Now what about the other two examples? In these cases, the reason behind the guarantee is not as clear cut. It’s very likely that over the past few years, many Cleveland Cavaliers season ticket holders became fans and customers just because of LeBron and his impact on the team. Now that Gilbert had just lost his marquee player, he needed a way to keep that connection alive between the fans and the organization. To me, this letter was his attempt to keep that connection alive on the brand and organizational level, rather than through an individual player.

As for the 49ers’ guarantee, I feel like his guarantee can be seen as a rallying cry among both fans AND team employees. Starting the season 0-5  is disappointing for fans, but it can also be very disheartening for people working within the organizations, both on the business and football side. In that setting, you need to find a way to motivate the people around you, and making such a confident, bold statement can have that effect. It can breed confidence and enthusiasm, which can lead to better results.

In each of the last three examples (Blues, Cavaliers and 49ers), it’s too early to know if the guarantee is a good idea.  In all of these situations, if the team doesn’t perform up to expectations, all the excitement created by the guarantee can melt away. Depending on the situation, it may or may not be worth the risk.

Today’s post is courtesy of Jared Frank, Editor of SEAT Magazine, Association of Luxury Suite Directors.

Future new construction and renovation projects will be propelled by social interactions in a world of connected interactivity.

Redefinition. Fan experience. Flexibility. Sustainability. Technology. Speak with any architect at any of the top tier firms in the sports industry, and inquiring minds quickly figure out these are the driving forces of design in the 21^st century. Not budgets or lack thereof, at least not exclusively. When presented with doubt, those who reciprocate with creativity rule the day. And the truth about constraints, financial or otherwise, is they are great for spurring imagination. So while no one can say with confidence what the next five or ten years will yield, it is clear the postmodern sports venue will not only survive, it will prevail. And it will prevail because its driving forces are inspired by social relations.

Human beings are social animals. That is not changing. Not in a bull market. Not in a bear market. No matter what variables are introduced, our nature remains a constant. Interfacing with new and existing friends and business associates is what drives us. And sports hospitality is still one of the best ways to satisfy this innate need for company. Maybe premium seating does not and should not only exist in the traditional form anymore, but it is still necessary in some form certainly.

Without question in this day and age, the way people interact is changing all the time and at a faster rate than we have ever seen. As people interact differently, they have different demands to meet people who have common interests, business and social. That realization provides tremendous opportunity to provide hospitality stages. In the end, social interaction is a major part of the opportunities for new revenues in sports facilities.

Elvis Has Left the Building

What has emerged in stadiums and arenas are neighborhoods within neighborhoods. Premium seats can no longer be classified as one area, such as other seating districts like upper concourse, mezzanine level or bleachers, but are now subdivided into many unique lots. This translates to increased market segmentation and to different sectors, such as specialized clubs or loge boxes or party suites.

Most of this change is in response to declining renewal rates. Teams must now adjust to what the market is telling them; a market that is not likely to come back in the foreseeable future, if ever. So the question is, “How are you going to capture any revenue if you have multiple events where your suites are not being sold?” One solution at present is to introduce new types of premium products into the marketplace.

Many new products to come online in recent years have performed quite well and have paid off initial investments in year one. To play devil’s advocate, there is an objection that asks, “Well, where did that money come from? Are we just recycling existing money?” It is fair to say a team is not going to bring in all new customers to fill a new space and will see some redistribution of revenue.

But here’s the selling point to remember: while the revenue generated by the reinvented space does largely come from upselling club seat patrons and downgrading suite holders, teams are driving higher revenue from both ends. In reference to relocation from club seats, those individuals are now linked to a higher priced commitment thus contribute higher revenues. That’s the easy one. In reference to suite holders relocating, if they do downgrade from a suite to something like a loge box, it is not because a team has cannibalized its own inventory; it is because the suite holder can no longer afford the investment or no longer desires that type of social outlet and were not renewing anyway, but they still need suite-like amenities to fulfill their marketing and relationship building objectives. The alternative to downgrading is impersonating Elvis and leaving the building to seek other hospitality options more in tune with their social needs. And once a customer is gone, there is little to no chance for an encore.

Mid-priced premium inventory is one of the best solutions to keep existing customers who are waffling over their renewals. And keep in mind, zero multiplied by 15 non-renewed suite accounts equates to zero revenue. So teams can no longer only cater to the top tier. Because nowadays, just like the general fan base, the premium fan base is not just top tier.

Everything is connected

The future of venue development is still largely tied to premium seating and the goals of generating maximum revenue while having a facility that is as low maintenance as possible. And whether a team is looking to keep current with a new facility or renovations to its existing one, premium seating remains a driver of the architectural design aimed at meeting those goals. What has changed over the past 15 years is not solely economic conditions; more relevant is how the changes to technology, sustainable and flexible practices and fan expectations have changed the way society interacts. Capture a progressive staging that meets the social environmental expectations of fans, and capture the revenue to kindle a profitable organization.

Jared Frank is the editor of SEAT Magazine, published quarterly by the Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) and provided complimentary to all members of the ALSD. For more information on the ALSD, visit www.ALSD.com, or find the group on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can follow Jared on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn and reach him via email at jared@alsd.com.

The Tampa Bay Rays have been in the news for two reasons this week: for clinching a playoff spot and for players complaining about low attendance. Specifically, Evan Longoria and David Price commented on how “disheartening” it is to play in front of such a small crowd when they are playing for a playoff spot.  Longoria said “…for us to play good baseball for three years now, and for us to be in a spot to clinch again and go to the playoffs, we’re all confused as to why it’s only 15,000 to 20,000 in the building.”

Rays management decided to respond to the players’ concerns by giving away 20,000 tickets for Wednesday’s (tonight’s) game, with the hope of creating a great atmosphere in the stadium before the playoff begin.  You can read the details on this promotion on tampabay.com.  I have a few thoughts on both halves to this story.

Let’s start with the players’ statements regarding the low attendance. My former classmate Eric pointed out that this is a potentially risky position for the players to take in “calling out” the team’s fans.  On the most basic level, the attendance for a baseball game is based on supply and demand, and over the past years, I think we’ve seen that the demand for regular season baseball games in this market isn’t there, at least not on a level that would fill Tropicana Field.  Outside of the physical venue itself (which I understand that people are not very fond of), the team has done pretty much all they can to increase demand. They clearly have a great on-field product, they offer tickets at all different price levels for a wide range of buyers, and they actively promote the team in the marketplace (marketing, PR, media, etc.).  With their current situation in that stadium and with all the alternatives that their have when it comes to time and money, the team may simply have reached their economic equilibrium.

With that in mind, the players’ decision to comment on the low attendance has little chance of actually increasing ticket sales. In fact, there’s a chance that their comments could actually hurt fans that do choose to watch on television but for some reason choice not to purchase tickets. These fans are still very important and should not be discouraged.

As for the team’s ticket giveaway, there are definite good and bad points about it.  On the positive side, it shows that the team cares about the players’ opinion and are willing to take action.  The giveaway has the chance of getting some fans in the building that typically choose not to buy tickets, and if they have a good experience, it could lead to future sales and increased attendance.  It can also be a positive PR move in the Tampa community.

On the negative side, openly giving away large numbers of tickets devalues the product that other customers have paid for, especially your season ticket holders.  The team is trying to account for this the best they can, by only giving tickets in certain sections and allowing paying customers to upgrade their seats at no cost, but you still create a divide between those that had to pay and those that didn’t. In addition, the team decided to hand out the tickets at the stadium starting at 4:45PM instead of allowing for an online redemption process.  There is a big trade-off here. With this method, their redemption rate will by close to 100% for however many tickets are distributed. However, in trying to distribute 20,000 tickets in roughly 2 hours, I can’t imagine that they’ll be able to collect contact information on these fans, which can be a lost opportunity for future sales and marketing efforts.

It will be interesting to see how many tickets they end up giving away tonight.  I wish the team a lot of luck with their offer and their future ticket sales!

The sports business folks down in Philadelphia have been coming up with some creative marketing campaigns lately (and hopefully if anyone from that area is reading this, they’re going to come to our Philadelphia Networking Event on Thursday night – details and RSVP here!).

Take a look at these two recent Philly team promotions:

Philadelphia Flyers – “We Saved You A Seat”

The Flyers have put together a special $200 package that includes two lower level tickets and two actual seats from the Spectrum (the team’s old venue, which will be torn down this year).

First off, I like the “We Saved You A Seat” title – very clever messaging that fits both halves of the offer. Secondly, the teams recognized they have a unique opportunity with the closing of the Spectrum, so rather than selling them separately, they can positively impact two revenue streams by packaging them together.  For any long-time Flyers fan, this offer has a lot value to it.

Philadelphia 76ers – “See Your Name on a Billboard”

Any customer that purchases a 10 game pack for this season can have their name appear on the Sixers’ LED billboards.  This in itself doesn’t provide a lot of incentive to purchase, but there is a “cool” factor that can help push a potential buyer into taking the plunge. In addition, they make sure that anyone who take part in this promotion receives a picture of “their billboard” through the Sixers’ Facebook page, which then makes the photo easy to share and create some viral marketing noise. Finally, this campaign can actually make the team’s billboards more effective. Fans driving past will see the names of actual buyers, which can in turn make the idea of buying a 10 game package more realistic to them.

What do you think of these campaigns?

Everyone knows that the economy has had an effect on ticket sales in sports. From NASCAR to the NBA (unless you’re the Miami Heat), increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of your sales staff is one of the top priorities. Major League Soccer (MLS) is no different, but they are attacking the problem in a unique way. They have created a partnership with the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN, and launched the MLS National Sales Center, headed up by MLS Club Vice President of Club Services, Bryant Pfeiffer. The idea behind the pairing is that many teams don’t have time to train new salespeople. They need their sales staff to hit the ground running. However, many new salesmen and women don’t have the skills or experience to be effective right away.

Pfeiffer mentions that representatives with more then three years’ experience generate five times the ticket revenue of first year hires. With that thought in mind, and with the blessing of MLS Commissioner Don Garber, an intensive 10-week session was created. “Through class room training, role playing and real life sales application we endeavor to expose them and build confidence with as many fundamental ticket sales selling environments which exist,” commented Pfeiffer. “Everything from basic phone skills, managing face to face meetings, online selling, networking events to maximizing game night selling opportunities.” Two real-life selling opportunities the first round of trainees had included selling for a one-off event (the MLS All-Star Game in Houston), and selling multiple-game ticket packages (a two-game package for FC Dallas featuring an appearance by Thierry Henry’s New York Red Bulls).

Ten trainees took part in the inaugural session, which concluded August 21. All 10 were offered (and accepted) sales positions with MLS teams. While a job is not guaranteed at the end of the sessions, MLS teams are kept apprised of scheduled conclusion dates. Some team executives even flew out to meet with the potential employees. The Center can be looked at as a complement to local hiring efforts. In speaking with Pfeiffer, he stressed that they are looking for two things in potential candidates: a passion for the game, and a desire to sell. Applications are submitted via one-minute YouTube videos, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at an applicant. “Seeing which candidates are willing to take the extra effort of filming themselves, downloading it on you tube and submitting is revealing,” mentioned Pfeiffer.

One of the most unique aspects of this program is the amount of work trainees do with a local improv group. Improv training helps the trainees to enter every sales situation with an open mind, and to think fast on their feet.

While the jury is still out on the success of the program, the second session is underway with a new set of candidates. In today’s tough sales climate, this kind of an advantage for a first-year sales rep could be enough to increase their revenues, leading to an increased satisfaction in their job and an increased likelihood to stay within the league. MLS and Pfeiffer will keep an eye on how well these first year reps do compared to those without training. They’ll continue to tweak the topics, special guests, and format as they get feedback from teams and participants.

To me, this seems like a win-win situation for everyone. The team gets a fully trained employee while the sales rep is armed with a cadre of tools to attack their new job. It’s a unique partnership in sports, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see other professional leagues copy this model.

When I checked my mailbox yesterday, I saw that I had received a direct mail piece from a professional sports team, advertising their 2010 ticket packages. There were some very nice aspects to this mailing, and unfortunately, two problems that could have been avoided. The name of the team has been removed to protect the innocent.

First, here is what I liked:

• Nice-sized, quad-fold piece, but not too bulky (keeps printing/mailing costs reasonable)
• Full color with attention grabbing photos
• Two calls to action right on the outside: “Free Poster Inside!” and a text-to-win free season tickets contest (great opt-in offer)
• Highlights the website right on the front and shows multiple low-price ticket options (important for a bulk mailer when you’re probably dealing with mixed-quality leads)
• Inside page shows feature lists for general seating, luxury seating, group seating and their free fan club (another nice opt-in)
• A good quality, decent-sized poster of a top, young player with the team’s schedule when the mailer is completely unfolded

Now, here are the two big problems with the mailer:

1.  As good a job as the piece did in featuring the website and opt-in programs, the phone number for the ticket office was only printed once, on the inside, and not in particularly large print. Most significant sports tickets purchases still take place over the phone with your sales staff, so this needs to be featured much more prominently. In fact, I would have included the phone number and website on the bottom of the poster itself to increase the chance for multiple views.

2.  The biggest problem with this piece is… I live over 1,000 miles away from where this team plays! Now, this is a bit misleading, as I did sign up for this team’s email club (I’m signed up for a LOT of teams’ emails so I can see what strategies teams use). However, this is the only team from outside my local market that sent me a mailer, probably because its very ineffective to spend money on direct mail for anyone outside your local radius. Now, if I had been a member of the email club AND previously purchased tickets, it would be a different story. Then I might look like an out-of-market fan who still comes back for games. But I have never purchased a ticket from this team, so there really is no reason to send this to me.

From other examples I’ve seen, almost 40% of fans that join an email newsletter or online fan-club live outside of that team’s local market. It’s a great way for fans to stay connected to their team when they have to travel or move. Because of that, teams need to be more selective on how they use these programs to try and sell tickets. It’s much easier to sell a jersey to fans who live thousands of miles away than it is to sell them season tickets!

I hope you all enjoy my first video blog post. I will mix these in occasionally with our traditional text posts for a quick change-of-pace. Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1apHmY7NkM

Earlier today, Jonathan Goldberg (@JRGoldberg on Twitter) pointed out a promotion that the Florida Panthers just launched. Take a look at the screenshot below:

While the team can’t actually use LeBron James to sell hockey tickets, the references are obvious and offer a creative way to try to leverage the buzz of LeBron’s potential move to Florida to sell hockey tickets.  Panthers President and COO Michael Yormark said “Based on the hype surrounding rumors of a new King headed to South Florida, we wanted to remind our fans that we want them to feel like royalty. Certainly, it’s an exciting time to be part of the South Florida sports industry.” (ESPN.com)

What do you think of this type of promotion? Some people would call it creative and outside-the-box, while others like @JRGoldberg call it “tacky” and says “This makes them look minor league, desperate and silly.” Share your thoughts in the comments (after you watch LeBron’s special of course, which is on in 10 minutes!)

In case you missed it, there was a big story last week about the University of Kansas box office ticket scalping scandal. As the story goes, some number of staff members sold at least $1 million worth of “comped” tickets secretly to local donors and ticket brokers, pocketing the money for themselves and not recording any revenue in the school’s ticketing system. A full audit of their sales records is taking place, with the belief that the scam could have involved up to $3 million worth of tickets.

This story is a wake-up call for any ticket selling organization. There are so many lessons to learn from the situation they went through.

Most importantly, a thorough, multi-tiered series of checks and balances is needed when it comes to managing comped tickets, and I mean more that just “my boss said it was ok.” Comped tickets may not seem like a big deal, but depending on how they’re being used, you can end up devaluing or even competing with your own product. These tickets are a valuable asset and should only be used for specific business purposes. Some examples include:

• To assist a salesperson in closing a larger deal
• Providing value to a current or potential sponsor
• Rewards for employees
• Giving back to the surrounding community

Regardless of which way they are being used, all comped tickets should be explicitly approved by a manager electronically or in writing (for record keeping purposes). Most CRM systems have easy-to-build manager approval workflows that can be used to streamline this process. Now in the case of Kansas, there was a manager involved in the scandal, so this wouldn’t have been enough. That is why, on a regular basis (weekly or bi-weekly), a game-by-game comped ticket report should go one or two steps further up the ladder to senior staff (Vice-President or Athletic Director level).  Again, CRM or ticketing system reports should make this a simple process, and any irregularities or unusual quantities of comped ticket usage will need to be justified, hopefully in a way that shows how those tickets have generated results (increased revenue, sponsor satisfaction, etc.).

Finally, every ticketing organization needs to develop an internal culture that stresses responsibility and integrity. According to the ESPN article, the report described these particular employees as “ice cream store” workers who seemed to “feel free to sample the wares without paying for them.” This shows how no one in the group took their responsibility seriously. The idea that these were “just free tickets” and didn’t hurt anyone was short-sighted and showed a lack of respect for their organization. Those ideas should have been stressed from the top down as part of the organizational culture from the very beginning.

Everyone in working in sports loves to be able to help friends or family out with tickets to events here and there, but without accountability and integrity, it can be a slippery slope when it comes to comped tickets.

A couple of weeks back, I wrote a post about how teams can take advantage of sponsor relationships to sell “discounted” playoff tickets without directly discounting their seats and in the process, devaluing their product. Well, the Suns’ Amar’e Stoudemire has found an even more creative approach that brings the athletes themselves into the equation through their social media outlets.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, you can find the full article over on Mashable.com. The short version of the story is that Amar’e partnered with RazorGator and AtCost.com to offer “group” discounted tickets through the store tab on his Facebook page. I call them group tickets, because the more people that took advantage of the offer, the better discount everyone received, similar to how Groupon.com and AtCost.com are able to provide great discount offers by selling their offers to a large number of consumers. By the time the offer expired, two tickets that normally go for $600 total sold for more than 50% off, and the entire allotment of tickets for both games 3 and 4 sold out (the offer was posted separately for each game). In fact, there is now an offer up on his page directed towards Amar’e/Suns fans for game 5 in Los Angeles (as of writing this, the price for a pair of tickets was down to $435.97).

This may be one of the most effective social media sales tools that teams (or athletes) have implemented to date. Now in this situation, they were selling a fairly high-demand/high-value item, but the tactic should translate to all different types of ticket inventory and beyond – maybe we’ll see a merchandise offer next. Very cool promotion from Amar’e and all of his partners.

So your team has made the playoffs – excellent! This is what your sales and marketing staff has been waiting for. Time to capitalize on it, sell those playoff tickets and rake in the cash. But wait a second…we’re not sold out? People aren’t knocking down the doors for seats? We sold out the upper-deck but still have good seats left? What do we do?

If this was the regular season, the easiest thing to do would be to discount the seats. Teams are always offering special promo codes and ticket offers to their fans through their website, email list or other communication channel. But in the playoffs, this can look really bad. This is a time when your product should be in demand and sell at a higher price point, so publicly discounting tickets has the effect of:

• Generating bad PR (makes it seem like your fans aren’t supporting the team)
• Angering existing buyers, especially season ticket holders that have already bought full playoff strips (i.e. tickets to all playoff games)
• Potentially flooding the secondary market, making it harder to sell your tickets directly

So how can you discount your playoff tickets without discounting your playoff tickets? I’ve seen two teams this year use a very successful strategy to move these tickets. It’s all about collaborating with your corporate partners. Compare these two scenarios:

1. Team X can’t sell out their playoff game, so they discount their tickets, creating all the negative effects described above.
2. Sponsor Y of Team X creates a special “Sponsor Y Playoff Pack” offer at a discounted price that the team and sponsor promote together.

In the 2nd scenario, you end up with the same results of getting lower-priced tickets in the marketplace to hopefully sell out your building, but instead of a negative perception for your team, the sponsor builds a positive perception my providing a service to fans of the team. Everyone wins with this plan: fans buy cheaper tickets, sponsor build brand affinity and the team has a sold out venue for the big game. This strategy can also be effective during the regular season as a way to “discount” premium inventory (suite and club seat) for low-interest games without devaluing your product.

Quick post for you all on this Monday morning, but it’s an important one. I wanted to share with you a letter that I recently received from the salesperson who sold me my car:

Dear Russell,

Hello!  I hope you do not mind my staying in touch with you!  It has been about six months since you purchased your new vehicle and I just want you to know I am here, at your service.

I hope you will give me a call any time you, your family or your friends have any automotive needs or questions.  I am here to help.  Remember, my commitment is to be of service to you.

Sincerely,
– HIS NAME HERE –
– HIS COMPANY –
– HIS PHONE & EMAIL –

There’s nothing fancy here, no sales pitches or angles. Just a simple message to say hello and see if there’s anything I need. Yes, there is a subtle reference to potential referrals, but that’s an important part of sales, and most of the time, people do need a little prodding before they’d refer a personal contact.

To me, a letter like this is a critical component on maintaining a valuable relationship with your customers, and this can easily be applied by sales and service staff for any sports organization. You don’t always need a reason to reach out to your season ticket holders. Sometimes just saying hello is enough to make them feel valued and important. It’s also a great way to casually remind them about your product, and that alone can lead to incremental sales and increased customer lifetime value at practically no cost to you.

One of the things I love about minor league sports is that they have so much freedom to try different things, and ultimately, all their promotions revolve around creating a fun atmosphere for their customers. They realize that they have a very wide spectrum of customers, from the local die-hard baseball fans to families looking for affordable entertainment. For many, minor league sports are the only alternative for those that want to attend live sporting events, but cannot afford the prices that come with tickets to major league games.

Here is a great example that I just stumbled upon from the Trenton Thunder, one of the local minor league teams here in New Jersey. They decided well before the season starts that they want to have something special to offer on any given day of the week, so why not let everyone know about it now and get their fans excited about what days they want to come to the ballpark. Their plans breaks down as such:

• Kids Eat Free Mondays – great for bring families out to the game
• $1 Dog Tuesdays – A favorite marketing tactic for any cost-conscious buyers
• Wacky Wednesdays – Theme nights designed for those that want more than just baseball entertainment when they come to a game
• Thirsty Thursdays – Beer specials and fireworks, who doesn’t enjoy that?
• Family Fun Fridays – Giveaways and fireworks, again geared toward family consumers, but without any discounting involved
• Fireworks Spectacular Saturdays – Another way to generate excitement for the less baseball-obsessive customers (who would come to games anyway)
• Kids Rule Sundays – Giveaways, youth entertainers, opportunity for kids to run the bases, and a free ticket incentive for Kids Club members (which can boost sales of their $15 kids membership club

This is an excellent mix of tactics that should help the team reach a wide customer base beyond the team’s core fan base. In addition, all of these promotions can be successful individually , but without a schedule, it is much more challenging for the team to try and promote each separate event or offer. By taking this approach, the Thunder can really plan our their marketing efforts for the season knowing that each of these offers occurs on a consistent schedule.

Yesterday I received an email from the Arizona State Athletic Department, announcing that all students would be given free admission for the next three home games. That got me to thinking about what other teams were offering to their fans this holiday seasons.

In Miami: You get to take your pick, the Panthers (up to 7 games, a puck and free parking), the Marlins (one ticket to each home series in 2010) and the Heat (too complicated to even get into here).

In Cleveland: The Cavaliers have a holiday ticket plan that includes two Cavaliers games and a Lake Erie Monsters game (hockey) with the choice of either the Harlem Globetrotters, Disney on Ice or a Mid-American Conference (MAC) tournament game. The Plan can cost as little as $79 and you get a FREE Cavs basketball. Not too shabby for anyone within shooting distance of Lake Erie.

In Atlanta: The Falcons’ Holiday Package includes two tickets to the Buffalo Bills game on December 27 (who wouldn’t want to see the Bills play? I would!!) and a $50 gift certificate to hhgregg.com (an online appliance and electronics store). Package of two tickets starts at $98.

In Los Angeles: Chivas USA is offering tickets to four games for as low as $45. The interesting thing about this one is that they are offering tickets to games that traditionally sell well. Games include the home opener versus the Colorado Rapids and match-ups with in-town rivals the LA Galaxy, the Chicago Fire (with popular Hispanic player Cuauhtemoc Blanco) and defending MLS Champions Real Salt Lake.

In Denver: The Colorado Avalanche’s Holiday Pack includes four games (one the day after Christmas, two in January and one in March), an autographed puck and a team flag. Prices start at $89, and the pack also comes with playoff ticket priority.

These are just a few of the offerings available out there right now. If your favorite team or city isn’t listed, I can almost guarantee you that your team has some kind of holiday promotion available. Even if you’re team doesn’t play until the spring, there’s still a good chance that they are offering some kind of deal. And if you work for a team and you aren’t offering a special holiday package, use the ideas above as examples and get to work! Happy Holidays!

Marquette University has taken a very creative approach to selling their season ticket and mini-plans that goes beyond a straight sales pitch. They worked with Row27 Studios to creating a new website that combines team-generated and user-generated content with both a contest and ticket sales information to create an interactive fan experience.  You can visit the site at www.marquetteminiplans.com.

The website displays a 3D rotation of different videos, including game actions clips, interviews with the team (some of which are VERY funny), and placeholders for user-generated videos. Some of the videos are grayed out and will be activated over time, giving fans reason to keep visiting the site. Everything is tied together through a contest, which you can learn about through the links at the bottom of the site. There are prizes based on accumulating points, and you can gain points by creating an account, uploading videos, finding a hidden video, sharing with friends via email or social networking (Twitter and Facebook), and purchasing a ticket package.

I’m not a Marquette fan (I’m actually an alumnus of a rival Big East school), but I’ve already visited the site multiple times to see the different types of videos that they’ve created. I’m sure that the school’s fans will really respond to this promotion. I love the interactive elements and how they encourage and reward the site visitors to share the link with others. This is a great alternative to a typical online ticket sales or marketing campaign.

In sports, it’s very easy to learn who is buying your tickets through the information collected via the ticketing system.  However, it’s not as easy to learn who is actually showing up to use the tickets. Beyond the ticket buyers, the people in the seats definitely include the following groups:

• Family and friends of full and partial season ticket holders
• Season ticket share partners who aren’t listed as an account holder
• People who bought tickets through a ticket broker or other secondary market option (StubHub, Craigslist, scalpers, etc.)
• Employees who received tickets as a reward or part of a company outing
• Current or potential clients being treated to a game

With all of these “non-customers” receiving and using these tickets, it’s important for teams to constantly be thinking of ways to collect information on these individuals and try to turn them into direct paying customers.  Here are some ideas on how you can collect this valuable data during your events.

• Use a drivers license scanner for anyone picking up tickets at the will-call window.
• Have enter-to-win raffle tables at different areas throughout the concourse.
• Run a text-to-win trivia contest on the big screen that sends a follow-up text message encouraging them to opt-in to your email and/or mobile marketing program.
• Make sure that any in-arena surveys being performed also collect names, phone numbers and emails at the end of the survey.
• Put computer kiosks in premium seating or high traffic areas that offer an incentive for completing a brief survey or entry form.
• Have a table to promote the team’s email newsletter or text messaging club, with a computer or forms that let people opt-in right at the table.
• Walk around to the suites, club boxes and premium lounges with a premium raffle item (signed jersey, free suite tickets, etc) and collect entries.  These individual could potentially be high-value ticket buyers or lead you to other potential companies that could be suite or club box leads.
• Make sure that any sales tables also have a business card drop for people interested in receiving more information.

Through these different methods, you will collect a great deal of information about your fans and potential new customers, building up your consumer database and making it easier for the marketing and sales departments to drive new ticket revenue.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Ron Contorno, President of Full House Entertainment Database Marketing.

Being in the middle of hundreds of direct marketing campaigns for sports teams and entertainment venues, we know what works and what does not work.  We also are backed by a lot of research that identifies the businesses and consumers with the most potential to buy tickets.

I want to share a couple hot ideas for finding new season and group sales customers.  Most of these targets address a current or upcoming event (state of the economy, upcoming birthday/anniversary, new mover).  This makes your direct marketing (direct mail, telemarketing and email) more relevant and better timed.

• Counter-Cyclical Industries: Collection agencies, pawn shops, debt consolidation, attorneys, auto repair, apartment-related, etc.
• Company Anniversary Parties: Businesses celebrating a milestone anniversary – 10, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100 years
• Ethnic Business Owners: Hispanic, Irish, Italian, Asian, etc.
• Female Business Owners: Great leads for women’s sports
• Small Business Owners: Great prospects for partial plans and second tier seating
• Kids Birthday Parties: Target parents that have a son and/or daughter with an upcoming birthday.
• Adult Milestone Birthdays: Turning 30, 40, 50, 60
• New Movers: Brand new to your market

Full House provides targeted sales leads for direct marketing campaigns: direct mail, telemarketing and email. Over 600 sports teams, arenas/stadiums and entertainment organizations have used Full House to find new business and residential customers. We also have a free program called BULLSEYE that delivers hot new target markets 1-2 times per month.  To sign up, visit www.fillthehouse.com/bullseye.  Hopefully, the tips that we provide here and in our newsletter will help you deliver the most effective direct marketing campaigns.

My last post discussed identifying the top targets for premium seating sales initiatives.  In that post, I referenced a research article that was prepared by a partnership between the Association of Luxury Suite Directors, Full House Entertainment Database Marketing, Ohio University Center for Sports Administration, and Turnkey Sports and Entertainment.  Ron Contorno from Full House sent me a copy of the complete article, titled “Who Buys Luxury Suites?” and I’d like to share it with all of you. The research for this article took place in 2007, but the information is still very relevant today.

Click here to download the PDF of “Who Buys Luxury Suites?”

I just had the chance to sit it on a panel discussing database marketing and demographic profiling in relation to premium sales.  Ron Contorno, who is the President of Full House Entertainment Database Marketing, talked about some of the things he’s learned through research and analysis that indicates how to best target premium sales prospects, so I’d like to share some of his insights here:

• Of all suite owners, almost 40% come from just 10 specific industry types and 50% come from just 20 industry types (industry type is defined by a specific SIC/industry code).  The top two types were banks/bank holding companies and attorneys/legal services.  Other members of the top ten were media (often through trade deals), insurance, finance, contractors, management consulting, accounting, real estate, and telecommunications. (Note: this information comes from a joint study between ALSD, Ohio University, Turnkey and Full House that was done in 1997).
• While things have definitely shifted a bit since 1997, there are still several counter-cyclical and “recession-proof” industries that are valuable targets.  Some examples of these segments are collection agencies, credit counseling, education providers, discount chains, fast food, auto repair, alcohol distributors, attorneys, home repair and apartment-related companies.
• There are also premium targets on the consumer side that can be easily identified.  Some examples of these consumer targets include airplane owners, luxury car owners, certain publication subscribers (WSJ, Fortune, Financial Times and Golf Digest to name a few), high income/net worth consumers (both local and recent movers to the area) and consumers with a high discretionary spending index. All of this consumer data can be easily obtainable to match against your existing customer database or as new target lists.

Hopefully this information helps share the power that data can provide.  By focusing your efforts based on the right SIC codes, industry segments and consumer demographics, you can generate more effective premium sales campaigns for your organization.

In the past couple of weeks, there has been some extra coverage of the Miley Cyrus concert tour, but it doesn’t have to do with her music.  The entire tour is going to use paperless tickets, meaning that the ticket information will be stored on the credit card that was used to purchase the tickets instead of any physical tickets being printed. The biggest reason behind this movement is to prevent ticket scalping.  Scalpers like to purchase large numbers of tickets as soon as these events go on sale (sometimes using questionable means) and then resell them on the open market at steep premiums.  However, without having a physical ticket to provide, these resellers are losing their inventory.  You can click here to read the full Wall Street Journal article on this topic.  

There are other benefits to paperless tickets as well, including reduced production costs, being environmentally friendly and reducing counterfeit ticket issues.  Of course, innovation always comes with some additional pitfalls.  In this case, there are concerns about long lines at the arena, the safety of patrons that still try to buy from a reseller (they’d need to be physically present at the arena with the ticket buyer to get in) and even some risk of lost sales (however much teams and venues hate to admit it, there is value in being able to sell a large amount of inventory to resellers and get that guaranteed revenue).

While the focus of these paperless initiatives is on the concert side, it won’t be long until this moves over to the team side.  In fact, some teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers have already moved some portion of their customers to paperless tickets.  In these cases, tickets can be loaded onto a credit card or any other id that has a magnetic strip.  Are we going to reach the day when all tickets are digital?  It might not be this year or next year, but I do believe that we’re not too far away from the end of physical tickets.

It looks like even New York isn’t immune to the current economy.  News came out yesterday that the Yankees have decided to cut the prices of their premium field-level seats (New York Times, 4/28/09).  Front row tickets that had cost $2,500 each have been cut in half to $1,250, and tickets along the first and third base lines have been cut from $1,000 to $650.  Anyone who had paid full price previously will be compensated with free tickets to future games, and additional complimentary tickets are being distributed to premium season and partial plan ticket holders.

In the days leading up to this decision, there had been some heated comments going back and forth between Don Garber, the Commissioner of MLS, and Randy Levine, the Yankees team president.  Garber criticized the Yankees for having so many empty seats behind home plate, which did not look particularly good on television.  Initially the team defended their pricing, but after reevaluating they admitted that some seats “might be overpriced.”  Even with cutting these prices in half, the Yankees will still have far and away the most expensive ticket prices in baseball, and they’ll still be the league leader in ticket revenue.

I’d be curious to know what type of price sensitivity analysis the Yankees did before setting their new stadium prices. I’d have the same question for all New York teams that are opening new facilities and substantially raising their prices. A lot of teams still set their ticket prices by feel, which cannot be a very effective method.  If the team’s did run some sensitivity analysis, when did they do it?  The Yankees and the other New York teams announced their price increases quite a while ago, before we knew the extent of the current recession.  If they do the same analysis today, their results would no doubt be quite different.  Some type of advanced dynamic pricing models might help the teams handle this type of situation more efficiently.

Red Bull New York has been working on building their new facility for a couple of years now.  They ended up about a year behind schedule, so instead of playing there this season, the team will play one more year in Giants Stadium before moving to Red Bull Arena in 2010.  When that day comes, the allure of the brand new, soccer-only stadium is sure to provide an excellent boost for new season ticket sales.  But what about today? 

Current season ticket holders will clearly get the first chance to lock up their seats in the new building, but is that enough to get people to commit to a 2009 season ticket?  As a customer, you have to imagine that the price of that very same season ticket is going to jump when the team moves, just like what has happened with the Giants, Jets, Yankees and Mets this year. Knowing this, Red Bull has gone one step further.

Red Bull New York has a special offer that does a great job using the new stadium in 2010 to sell season tickets.  Ticket prices for the 2010 season in Red Bull Arena will be frozen for all 2009 season ticket holders. Normally you do not see a price freeze announced this far in advance, but by doing this, they quell any fears that new ticket buyers would have about buying this year, allowing them to start using the benefits of the new facility a full season before it opens. It also helps them in their efforts to overcome the challenges of the today’s tough economy without cutting their existing prices. The team might be sacrificing some amount of potential revenue, but I think this is outweighed by the security of growing the season ticket base today.

News came out yesterday (Wall Street Journal) of a potential merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation.  This merger would have a very significant impact on the world of sports and entertainment.  Right now, Ticketmaster is the number one ticketing services provider in the world, especially with their purchase of Paciolan last year. They are also one of the top artist-management firms.  Meanwhile, Live Nation is the top concert and event promotion company in the world.  A merger of the two would create a company that can vertically manage the entire concert and event experience.  The power that this hold is tremendous, so much that this merger would need to be reviewed for potential antitrust issues.

What could some of the results of this merger be?  For one, this deal could all but force the majority of venues to switch from their current ticketing systems to Ticketmaster if they ever want to host an event with a Live Nation performer.  In turn, this means that any sports teams that play in that venue would also have to turn to Ticketmaster.  This would pose an interesting dilemma for MLB teams, which have a league-wide contract with Tickets.com for primary ticket sales and StubHub for secondary sales. Along that note, all other ticketing companies, both primary and secondary, will be facing an uphill battle to acquire or maintain their client base.  This deal could lead to other potential acquisitions, or at least attempts, by Ticketmaster/Live Nation.  Finally, with such control over event inventory and less competition, the new company could be in a position to increase ticket prices beyond their current high levels.

A friend of mine passed along an interesting article from AZCentral.com titled “Tickets to NFC title game pouring into resale sites.”  The article talks about how this year’s NFC title game between the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles is setting records for most ticket resales on the secondary market.  Also, because of the large supply of tickets being resold, the average price is just $320 for the NFC game and $380 for the AFC game.  This is less than half of the $710 average price from last year’s Giants/Packers NFC title game.

On a positive note, at least people are buying the tickets.  The Cardinals had a difficult time selling out their inventory for their first round playoff game, while this game sold out almost immediately.  From the team’s perspective, this is a positive economic indicator.  However, the fact that such a large percentage of local fans have no intent on actually attending the games shows problems with fan loyalty and a lack of perceived value (Note: according to the article, only Arizona residents were able to purchase tickets). The next thing to monitor is how long the ticket stay available on the secondary market, and if prices climb or fall as we approach this weekend’s game.  That will be the strongest indicator of what the actual market demand is.

One of the factors that impacts the demand for a product is the availability and price of substitute products.  In sports, substitute products are any alternative products or activities that provide entertainment to the consumer, such as watching television, going to an amusement park, or seeing a movie.  One way to reduce the threat of substitutes is to directly compare yourself to the substitute product and show why your product is the superior option.  The Orlando Magic have taken this direct approach with a recent email campaign:

The Magic have realized that movie tickets are a more affordable entertainment option that games, especially with the current economic conditions.  Rather than ignore the issue, they went right to their fans with an option that counters the ticket price issue, and highlighting the better entertainment value that the Magic games offer over going to the movies.  Teams are sometimes afraid to take such a direct comparison approach, but I think it can be very effective in acknowledging, addressing, and overcoming the competition. 

My only negative comment about how the Magic did this, was that the email takes you directly to their Ticketmaster purchasing page.  I understand that they want to convert a sale from this message, but the email alone is probably not enough.  A landing page that can go into some more detail on this comparison, tauting the benefits of tickets, maybe with an engaging flash video would probably lead to a higher conversion rate.  You have to engage the fans interest before you can monetize, and while the email message is great, its not engaging enough.

Wake Forest is in the midst of a seven-phase renovation project on their football stadium (BB&T Field), and one of the ways they are generating funds for the project is through a “seat rights” program.  In essence, they are selling PSLs that give the buyer the ability to lock in a seat location for a period of 10-25 years – the customer would still need to buy season tickets to take advantage of their seat rights.  PSL programs have taken a lot of heat recently, particularly with the new New York stadiums opening in the next two years.  They are very expensive and have a tendency to prevent some of the more loyal fans from being able to afford their season tickets.

Regardless of where you stand on the PSL issue, you have to give some credit to Wake Forest for coming up with a clever promotion related to their seat rights program.  They’ve announced a “Last Fan Sitting” contest.  They are giving away four “Football Seat Rights” for a 15-year period to the fan that can outlast all the other participants sitting in a specific section of BB&T Field.  Considering the value of this prize (worth about $21,000), I’m sure there will be a lot of participants, not to mention plenty of media coverage from tv, radio, and newspapers.  The school will probably sell a lot of additional seat rights packages via the publicity from this contest.  Maybe most important of all, they have the chance to generate good will from the contest itself, which is extremely valuable when dealing with a topic such as seat licenses.  Great idea by Wake Forest, and I will be interested to read about the results, including how long the winner has to sit!

Building off my previous post on using the holidays to drive sales, the Oakland Raiders have put together a unique program called “The 12 Days of Holiday Savings.”  Here is the email that I received today for the first day of this ongoing promotion:

I also received a “sneak preview” email to hype the promotion a few days earlier.  The majority of the holiday promotion is geared towards driving merchandise sales, and when you visit the site, they show you the next two days of sales, but keep the remaining offers secret to drive future website visits.  They also have partnered with the Golden State Warriors for a unique ticket offer called the Lucky Fan Package.  The Raiders may be having some trouble moving ticket inventory because of the team performance, so working with another local team and also building it into a contest (fans have a chance to win a $500 shopping spree at Lucky Supermarket) is a great approach, especially during the holiday season.

Saturday’s game between #3 Oklahoma and #11 Oklahoma State drew just over 49,000 fans to Boone Pickens Stadium.  For some places, that’s a great turnout, but the problem is that the stadium can hold about 60,000.  There was plenty of demand for these tickets, so why so many empty seats?

At the beginning of the season, Oklahoma State decided to make this game available only to season ticket buyers.  The goal was straightforward – the school needed a way to boost their season ticket holder numbers, and what better way than to use the season’s marquis game as the primary incentive.  This is a common strategy for any team, tying their most popular games into ticket packages to boost attendance at other games.  The strategy was quite effective for OSU – the game still had over 49,000 tickets sold (the majority had to be season tickets because of the policy) and the team had their best average game attendance ever.

So the week of the Oklahoma game rolls around and they have plenty of ticket to sell.  Most teams and schools in this type of situation allow any unsold inventory to finally be released to single ticket purchasers.  This way, those who bought the season ticket had locked up their guaranteed seat and the team can still fill in the open inventory.  There is sometimes a bit of backlash from season ticket buyers when this happens, but nothing extreme.  However, OSU did not do this.  Right up to the day of the game, anyone who wanted to buy tickets had to buy full season tickets – even though there was only one game left!  The cheapest tickets available from the box office were between $300 and $400.  Complicating the situation were scalpers that sold tickets for much cheaper than that.  The result was over 10,000 empty seats for the school’s biggest game and a lot of unhappy fans. 

Did the team do the right thing by sticking to their policy?  Would an extra 10,000 screaming OSU fans have helped the home field advantage (it was a close game for a while)?  Maybe they could have taken a different angle and given the option of putting a deposit on season tickets for next season.  This would still fit their strategy of leveraging this premium game and would have offered value to the ticket buyers, since there is little value of a season ticket for one game.

(Reference: Tulsa World, 11/30/2008)

By now we have all realized that the current economy has put a damper on ticket sales.  People that bought premium inventory may have downgraded to cheaper seats, and some of the regular ticket buyers aren’t buying at all.  However, with the winter holidays (and Black Friday) right around the corner, there is a definite opportunity to pick up some revenue momentum.

Even though many families have cut back on their discretionary spending, there is a good chance that they’ve still put aside money for the holidays.  People are still going to buy gifts for dad, the kids, family, and friends.  The challenge is to communicate to your customers the idea of buying tickets and merchandise for their holiday gifts.  It doesn’t matter whether your sport is in season or not.  Make sure your fans know that the best gift they can give is the gift of sports.  Here is a great commercial from the NHL that relays this message (with a nice touch of humor):

There was another one from NFL Shop I really liked, but I cannot seem to find it online anywhere.  Here are a few examples of teams that have put together holiday packages to really take advantage of this seasonal selling opportunity:

• MLB:  Arizona Diamondbacks Holiday 6-Packs
• NBA:  Indiana Pacers Holiday Pack (complete with a Holiday eCard)
• NHL:  Dallas Stars Holiday Hat Trick and Anaheim Ducks Holiday Pack (includes tickets, merchandise, and concessions!)
• NFL:  Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders Holiday Package
• NCAA:  Xavier Men’s Basketball Holiday Ticket Pack

I think the most effective holiday products will be packages that combine a physical gift (merchandise or collectibles) along with tickets.  Any sports fan would love to receive that type of present.  Teams need to make sure they are position to offer some type of holiday package to take advantage of the gift-giving season.  It may be the one time this year when people are willing to spend money!  And on that note, don’t forget to put together a Black Friday offer either, whether its a in-arena/in-store offer or simply an email-based promotion.  People are going to spend money on Black Friday – make sure that they have a good option to spend it on your team!

Update:  About ten minutes after posting this, I got a great holiday-themed email from the Orlando Magic.  Here is the image from that email.  Using players dressed in the holiday spirit is a great touch and helps send the right message to customers.

Earlier today, I wrote about the economy’s impact on sports, and noted that the impact really hurts on the ticket side more than anything (so some teams/leagues are trying to offset that via media revenue).  Well, the New Jersey Nets have come up with a creative way to try and help their fans get through this tough time, while also helping drive ticket sales (reported by ESPN.com, 11/12/08).

Right now, if you are unemployed and submit your resume to the Nets’ job bank, you can get two complimentary tickets to an upcoming game (click here for the actual promotion details on the Nets website).  The Nets will distribute the resumes to their corporate partners as well as participating season ticket holders’ businesses.  They are also hosting a career fair at the Izod Center, and anyone attending will get tickets to that night’s game.  This is a great promotion for multiple reasons.  They are going to generate tremendous good will from their fans and partners.  They found a good way to leverage their open inventory.  they are offering a new benefit to their season ticket holders and corporate partners.  And of course, if they do help some of their fans find jobs, you can believe that those fans will be ticket buyers for life!  Nice job all around by the Nets!

Are you looking for a good way to grow your potential fan base? Is your team having trouble getting people to attend a game for the first time?  This can be the case for many newer franchises that don’t have a lot of brand loyalty, teams in tough markets, or teams in more “secondary” leagues (minor leagues, AFL, etc).  To combat this, the Florida Panthers have come up with a great idea to reach a new audience, which they’ve called the “First Timer” program.

They’ve created a new website called www.panthersfirsttimer.com and the premise is very simple – if you’re a Florida resident and have not attended a Panthers game before, they will give you two free tickets to an upcoming game of your choice (limit of 500 redemptions per game).  All you have to do is complete a simple prospector survey, and then you will receive an email that you can print out and take with you to the game to claim your tickets.  As a potential customer, how can you argue with the chance to attend a game for the first time for free?  Meanwhile, the Panthers are going to simultaneously introduce new customers to the team, grow their internal database, and collect valuable information about first-time buyers through the survey.  The long-term value of this type of program is tremendous and well worth the small, short-term cost in some lost sales.

Are you looking for a unique way to drive interest in your products, whether they be collectibles, merchandise, tickets, or anything else?  Take a look at the website Woot.com.  Woot sells a fixed quantity of a single gadget every day, posting a new item for sale every night at midnight.  They also have two spinoff sites, shirt.woot.com and wine.woot.com, which logically sell shirts and wine (the shirts change daily and the wine changes twice a week).  The site has a cult-like following, with people staying up every night just to check the site every night for the next great deal.  They also have a very active forum-based community, which helps build a deep connection between the site and their customers.

So the question is, would this “deal of the day” model work in the sports world?  I think it would, depending on what products you sell.  I’ll use a basic professional franchise as an example.  The team could take one month of the season and run a Woot-like site and selling a new product at a discount every day.  One day it’s a t-shirt, then a jersey, then a mezzanine seat to next week’s game, then a bobblehead.  The idea of having a special item each day and changing that deal every night at midnight creates an exciting experience for your customers.  What’s today’s deal going to be?  Can I get it before they sell out?  I understand that there is only so much inventory to sell, so this would not be feasible long-term, but for a short-term jump in merchandise sales and to build some extra buzz for your organization, I do believe this would work.

I do plan on continuing with my team-by-team review of the NHL, but in the meantime, a friend of mine just sent me information on an interesting promotion that the St. Louis Blues are running.  From October 5 – 10, the team is letting fans tell them how much they are willing to pay for their tickets (full season, plans, or single game), and the team can decide if they want to accept the fan’s offer (BND.com, 9/26/08). 

For a team that has had recent attendance problems and poor on-ice performance, this promotion might be well received by the fans.  Even better is that Ticketmaster is covering the difference between the regular price and the fan’s price as part of their sponsorship deal, removing the financial risk from the promotion.  However, this program could easily create negative fan experiences, specifically any time the team turns down an offer deemed to be too low.  I hope they have a pretty wide range of prices that they’re willing to accept!  The other important element of this plan is that they are first offering it to their current season ticket holders for any additional single game purchases, hopefully preventing any disappointment that they couldn’t name their price when they made their purchase.

With the start of the NHL season around the corner, I thought I would go through each of the teams in the league and highlight one or two interesting promotions or business ideas from each.  I’m going to start out in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference:

San Jose Sharks:  The Sharks seem to be using blogs to promote the team more this season, with two different blogs being highlighted on their site, the Seagate Technology’s Broadcaster Blog and Marcel Goc’s Blog (a current player, but the blog is empty right now).  The first blog shows how you can also leverage new media offerings as new inventory for your corporate partners, as the Sharks have done with Seagate.  The Sharks are also offering both 10-game and 3-game ticket packs.  The 10-game is pretty common, but the 3-game might be a good way to start upgrading your regular single-game buyers and get them thinking about those 10-game plans.  The question is, will the 3-game plan cannibalize their 10-game plan sales?

Anaheim Ducks:  The Ducks are letting fans download the team’s goal song, which is a great way to build a continuous connection to the team away from the actual games.  It also offers a new sponsorship offering (in this case, with BestBuy).  The Ducks are also offering a Fan Loyalty Card - I know several other teams have tried similar loyalty programs with very mixed results.  I think something like offering the goal song will ultimately build more loyalty than a card with partner discounts.  Any loyalty program really needs to tie back to the team at its core, and this one doesn’t.

Dallas Stars:  I really like the StarsFanatics page they created.  Now this is a fan development program!  It connects with the die hard fans and it has a real fan-generated feel to it.  I also like the Stars iMix, which lets fans download the music that their favorite players listen to (I believe the Coyotes were the first team to do this).  Finally, they have a Student Rush program that has a similar structure to the student rush for Broadway shows.  The college student audience is very price sensitive, so this could be a great way to unload seats at the last minute and connect with a large audience.  They’ve also done a great job connecting with Chipotle as a corporate partner on this offer.

Phoenix Coyotes:  The Coyotes are doing a good job communicating with the younger audience through their Howler’s Den website.  I am a firm believer in developing a connection with younger fans to try and build a long-term fan base, which is particularly challenging in the Phoenix market.  They are also offering a Coach’s Corner Package which includes actual bench seats and other VIP amenities.  This is a wonderful way to not just create new inventory, but create premium inventory that can help make up for some of their difficulty selling tickets (the Coyotes have some of the lowest attendance numbers in the league).

Los Angeles Kings:  The Kings are offering a desktop product called Kings DeskSite.  These products are interesting, because you get the chance to integrate your team into a fan’s daily computer use – I just wonder what the adoption rate is on these initiatives.  If the content isn’t high quality and updated constantly, its easy to try it and then disregard it.  The team is also offering a complementary, customized third jersey to season ticket holders that complete a prospector survey.  I like finding ways to collect more information about your customers – the more you know, the better decisions you can make across the board.  Finally, the Kings are offering a service to connect with other fans and share a season ticket package.  This can help a team meet their FSE goals and provides another alternative to the now-traditional mini-pack.

Tickets to sporting events are considered a luxury item by most consumers, so in a time of economic downturn like we are experiencing now, convincing consumers to buy can definitely be a challenge.  So what are some ideas you have to combat this?  Here are some of my thoughts:

• Increase the “relative” value of the ticket – This is a time to really push tickets that include free food, merchandise, parking, etc.  If the buyer feels that they are getting more than just the game ticket, and therefore don’t need to spend money on all the additional items, it should be an easier sell.
• Offer gas-related promotions - Many teams have already done a great job of connecting ticket discounts to the cost of gas (the Twins and Braves come to mind first).  This is turning an economic negative into a positive with the fan and shows that you understand the difficulty they are having.  This connection will lead to more sales.
• Provide top-tier customer service – When you do get the fan in the arena, you must go above and beyond to make sure they have a positive experience.  The poor economy is already giving them enough reason not to buy the ticket – any additional negative elements will drive them away for much longer!
• Retention, retention, retention -  It costs between 6 and 10 times as much to create a new customer than keep an existing one.  Really focus on existing relationships for your sales efforts and you will see better results.  This is also a good time to reconsider some of your franchise’s fan loyalty initiatives.  What can you offer your fans, in and out of the arena, to continuously connect them with your brand?
• Use your partners- This is a great time to get your partners more involved.  Come up with some creative contests or unique giveaways to make the game more than just a game.  Give your fans a chance to win a vacation or a car (hopefully a Hybrid), or give out some giftcards.  If you can go beyond the traditional bat day or keychain, it can give the buyers that last little push they need to splurge on the tickets.

What are some of your ideas?  Share your comments, and good luck with your sales efforts!

For most teams, making the playoffs is not an everyday occurrence.  So when that day does come, you need to take advantage of it as much as possible.  The Arizona Diamondbacks are doing just that right now.  While most teams wait until the postseason to start the next year’s season ticket push, the Diamondbacks are offering an advanced option on 2008 postseason tickets to anyone who purchases season tickets for the 2009 season.  For a team like the Diamondbacks, which play in a tough market and do not have a history of postseason performance, it is critical for the team to leverage any on-field success into guaranteed revenue.  Other teams in similar situations, such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins and most of all, the Tampa Bay Rays, should follow the Diamondbacks’ lead and offer a similar promotion to their fans.