Boston Red Sox Go Live With ProVenue®

Tickets.com recently converted the Boston Red Sox to ProVenue, the industry’s most technologically advanced ticketing platform. The Red Sox upgraded to ProVenue for state-of-the-art features including the system’s ability to facilitate high-volume transactions with optimal speed and efficiency, and the technology platform’s flexible open architecture, allowing for additional applications, data management programs, and features from Tickets.com and other third parties—including a best-in-class virtual waiting room—to be easily integrated at any time.

“We are extremely pleased with the performance of ProVenue, and have great confidence that the system will meet all our consumer facing ticketing needs, as well as support our organization internally,” says Ron Bumgarner, Senior Vice President, Ticketing, the Boston Red Sox. “We have already received positive feedback from fans on the new and improved virtual waiting room, and are tremendously excited about our partnership with the Tickets.com team, and their outstanding attention to detail.”

A member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division, the Boston Red Sox went live with ProVenue on December 11th for the first public on-sale date for tickets for the upcoming 2011 season.

In the first hour of the onsale, ProVenue facilitated 32-percent more ticket transactions than during the time period last year. The day’s robust business was executed without incident.

An unprecedented number of fans passed through ProVenue’s “First In, First Out” (FIFO) virtual waiting room, the best in the industry. Customers are automatically filed in a queue in the order in which they entered, and have the extra advantage of being advised as to expected wait time. In addition to this equitable and orderly process, the virtual waiting room also allows ticket buyers to check inventory for alternate game dates while in queue.

“We couldn’t be more satisfied that the Boston Red Sox organization’s out-of-the-gate-experience with ProVenue was so successful for them,” says John Walker, President and CEO, Tickets.com. “It is a pleasure to be this outstanding club’s technology partner as we continue to expand the functionality and features of ProVenue in service of our clients.”

Select 2011 home games are still available for purchase in April, May, and September while supplies last by phone at (877) RED-SOX9 or online at www.redsox.com. The remainder of the 2011 regular season tickets for Red Sox home games will go on sale on a date to be announced after the first of the year.

Ed Gow Announced as VP of Sales & Marketing for Tickets.com

Tickets.com, a leading worldwide provider of integrated ticketing solutions, announced today the appointment of Ed Gow as its new vice president of sales & marketing. In this position, Mr. Gow will be responsible for developing and executing overall corporate sales strategy and managing the company’s national sales and marketing teams. He will be based in the Tickets.com world headquarters in Costa Mesa, California.

“We are pleased that Ed Gow has joined our executive team,” said Steve DeMots, senior vice president of business development. “His extensive ticketing background in various market segments is a perfect fit with our vision to advance the ticketing industry through leading-edge technologies.”

Mr. Gow has over 20 years in ticket operations and management and has worked with organizations such as University of Colorado, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche and Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment Group. Just prior to joining Tickets.com, he was with TicketsWest, a full service ticketing provider with over 100 clients and 7 million tickets sold annually.

“I’m very excited to be joining the Tickets.com team,” said Gow. “Tickets.com has a history of innovation and I see a real opportunity to build on here. The company is poised for significant growth in an industry that is evolving today more than ever and the ongoing development of the ProVenue ticketing solution puts us in a position to deliver dynamic solutions as the demands continue to change. I look forward to being a part of that success."

Mr. Gow spends his free time with his wife Andrea and his two sons, Eli and Jack. He is also a member of the National Eagle Scout Association and an active member of the International Ticketing Association. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Red Lion Hotels Corporation Esprit de Corps award acknowledging his dedication and company spirit.

Goldstar Announces Nationwide Expansion

SFGateTuesday, October 26, 2010

Goldstar, the leader in connecting people with live entertainment, announced today major market expansion for 2011. Goldstar, recently ranked third on Ticket News ticketing industry power ranking will be in the top 25 US markets in 2011 and will begin Q4 2010 by opening three new markets: Atlanta, Sacramento, and Portland, OR.

"We're responding to the demand of our members who are in these new markets and want more opportunities to have fun," explains Goldstar CEO Jim McCarthy. "We're also responding to our national venue partners who would like to use Goldstar's service in other cities. Everybody wins - the consumer, the venue, and ultimately the live entertainment industry as well."

Goldstar (www.goldstar.com) offers half-price tickets, generates ideas of fun things to do, and gives access to the world's largest source of user reviews for live entertainment, all online.

About Goldstar
A free no-hassle membership allows people to log on to www.goldstar.com and receive weekly e-mail summaries that feature the 900-1200 discounted events offered in ten major U.S. cities - Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York, Boston, Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C. and coming soon to Atlanta, Sacramento and Portland, OR.

Dynamic pricing pays off for San Francisco Giants tickets

The final weekend of the Major League Baseball season turned out to be more stressful than expected for San Francisco Giants players and their fans. But the unexpected suspense made it a perfect and quite profitable one for Giants ownership.

The Giants employ a dynamic ticket pricing system in which the price of tickets at AT&T Park fluctuates depending on demand. With the system, the team's bottom line got an impressive boost when the Giants—which needed to win only one game against the San Diego Padres to eliminate the Padres and win the NL West—lost the first two games of the series to set up a high-stakes finale (that wouldn’t have actually been a finale if the Padres won, but more on that in a moment) Sunday, October 3.

The Giants stopped their mini-skid in the nick of time by blanking the Padres, 3-0, to win the division and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2003. The Giants’ clincher came in front of a sellout crowd of 42,822—the third SRO crowd of the weekend at the 41,915-seat facility. The Giants drew 42,409 to the opener Friday and 42,653 Saturday. The sellouts were the first for the Giants since they played to capacity crowds for each of the three games against those same Padres August 13-15—a span of 21 home dates.

Not bad for a series of games for which the Giants originally expected decent but by no means overwhelming crowds. Director of ticket sales Russ Stanley told Bloomberg News last week the Giants figured they would draw between 30,000 and 35,000 per game. Presumably, leading the NL West for the final week of the season also boosted interest in the Giants’ penultimate home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks: The Giants swept three games in front of an average crowd of 37,646.

The additional demand for the Padres series meant those who walked up to the gate over the weekend—or bought tickets on the resell market—certainly paid more than they would have in April, back when neither the Giants nor Padres were expected to contend and the cheapest seat to the October 1 game was a mere $5. By the middle of last week, that cheap seat reportedly was up to $20.

Bloomberg reported that a seat in the Field Club behind home plate was $68 at the beginning of the season but $175 by last week. At StubHub, meanwhile, the cheapest ticket Sunday to the afternoon’s game was $69.

The final weekend wasn’t the only time dynamic pricing paid off for the Giants. Stanley told Bloomberg the Giants’ revenue per seat increased by between 7 percent and 8 percent this season.

The Giants’ division championship gives them the home field advantage against the Atlanta Braves in the best-of-five NL Division Series beginning Thursday, October 7 and at least two more chances to maximize ticket revenue. That sure beats the alternative: Had the Giants lost Sunday, they would have been part of a historic three-team playoff for two spots with the Padres and Braves but would not have hosted either the NL West playoff against the Padres today, October 4, or, if they lost that game, the NL wild card playoff game against the Braves Tuesday, October 5.

Source: TicketNews: By Jerry Beach

Rugby Expo Confirms Tickets.com as Lead Sponsors

Release Date – 30 September 2010

Rugby Expo 2010 is delighted to announce that leading international ticketing and CRM technology specialist Tickets.com have confirmed their position as lead sponsor and official ticketing partner of the world’s only global rugby trade show and exhibition taking place on November 9-10 at the Lawrence Hall in Westminster, London.

As part of the agreement, Tickets.com will provide a fully integrated ticketing solution for the event which will deliver an anticipated audience of 1,000 attendees over the two days. This solution will include online registration and payments, distribution of e-tickets and a CRM system that will support the management of all delegates at the event.

Tickets.com is the leading provider of fully integrated event ticketing technologies, solutions, and services for thousands of top sports, entertainment, and arts organizations worldwide. Rugby clients in the United Kingdom include Northampton Saints, Gloucester Rugby, Ospreys, and Worcester Warriors. The company offers venues and organisations seamless, cost-effective ways to reach their customers with fully integrated ticketing and marketing services, backed by state-of-the-art technology, rock-solid stability, and expert training and support.

Rugby Expo Sales Director, Jason Brightman said, “We are delighted to welcome Tickets.com to Rugby Expo and look forward to working across the event and the ticketing solution for our delegates. Tickets.com is the world leader in the delivery of ticketing and CRM products and services and their ticketing solution will benefit the event as well as our delegates.”

“Tickets.com is very excited to be taking this major sponsorship role,” said David McClellan, Tickets.com’s Managing Director. “ We look forward to synchronising the implementation of new technologies with the continued growth of Rugby as a global sport, and developing true business-driven solutions with a demonstrable return on investment”

Rugby Expo 2010 brings together professional and grass roots clubs, leagues, national associations, international federations, major brands, broadcasters, player representatives and key suppliers over two days during the second week of the northern hemisphere autumn internationals.

The first Rugby Expo attracted more than 1,000 attendees, 45 exhibitors and assembled a world class list of speakers, all dedicated to debating the future of the game with key decision makers from the domestic and international rugby territories in attendance.

For more information about Rugby Expo 2010, the complete conference programme, exhibition opportunities and delegate details visit www.rugbyexpo.com or call +44 (0)845 0740752.

2010 National Arts Marketing and Development Conference

Thursday, October 21 - Sunday, October 24
Arts Reach at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles.

“Empower Yourself and Your Team with the Most Successful, Cost-Effective Ways to Boost Audience & Donor Growth”

EARLY BIRD DEADLINE - GET 2 FOR THE PRICE OF 1 by October 8

Venue teams are encourage attend as both Marketing and Development topics will be addressed. If you register by October 8, not only will you get the lowest price, but you'll be able to bring a colleague for FREE. Plus, if your organization is a member of one of the many national and regional associations that are partnering with Arts Reach to make this important event as affordable as possible for their members to attend, you are entitled to up to $160 in registration discounts.

During the conference there will be two featured sessions related to ticketing:

• What to Look for in a Ticketing Technology Partner: Ticketing, Marketing, Fundraising, Patron/CRM Management and PCI Compliance

and

• What if You Spent 100% of Your Advertising Budget on Customer Service?

Conference details can be found here: http://www.artsreach.com/conference.html

Tickets.com Walks To Light The Night!

The Tickets.com Costa Mesa office has rallied together and formed Team Tickets.com in support of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s 2010 Light The Night Walk.

This Sunday, September 19th the Tickets.com Team will gather at Angel Stadium of Anaheim and walk 2-miles in honor and in support of those that have been affected by the blood cancers.

About Light the Night:
In communities all across the United States and Canada teams of families, friends, co-workers and local and national corporations come together to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS's) Light The Night Walk events and bring help and hope to people battling blood cancers.

Funds raised by teams and individual walkers provide:
Lifesaving blood cancer research
Free educational materials and events for patients and their families
Local programs such as Family Support Groups and First Connection,
a peer-to-peer counseling program
Comprehensive, personalized assistance through our Information Resource Center

Support Team Tickets.com and visit our team donation page:
http://pages.lightthenight.org/ocie/OrangeCo10/Ticketscom

Light The Night Walk events are evenings filled with inspiration. During this leisurely walk, walkers carry illuminated balloons - white for survivors, red for supporters and gold in memory of loved ones lost to cancer - thousands of walkers - men, women and children - form a community of caring, bringing light to the dark world of cancer.

Support Team Tickets.com and donate to cure cancer today! Funds raised through Light The Night Walk support the work of hundreds of the world’s best and brightest researchers in their search for better therapies and cures for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.