I think it is BS...

Frank Brickelmaier '92


----- Original Message -----
From: "Deron Treadwell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 6:44 PM
Subject: Ticket explaination


> I lifted this from the Maine Athletics web site.  It is a Q & A with
> Maine AD Patrick Nero.  What do you think?  -Deron
>
> ---
>
> Candis Shehata from Winthrop asks:
>
> My husband and I are both alumni of UMaine. Two of our sons are now
> attending the University. When the University of Maine started a hockey
> program on campus my husband and I were attending there and had season
> tickets the first year they were available. We live in Winthrop, ME,
> now, and occasionally go to Orono to attend a hockey or football game.
> When I called a few weeks ago inquiring about hockey tickets for this
> season, I was told that several "rival" games would only be sold as
> part of a package deal with a basketball ticket. I like to go to a
> basketball game, occasionally, but was disappointed to find out that I
> would be forced into going if I wanted to see these hockey games.
>
> I know you've made some clever changes in the athletic program at
> UMaine since you've been there, but I don't understand this one, other
> than to get more revenue from the basketball program.
>
> Please explain to me the reasoning behind this move.
>
>
> Patrick's answer:
>
> Candis,
>
> Thank you for this question, it gives me an opportunity to provide some
> background on this issue.
>
> When I arrived in the spring, I was surprised to find that our hockey
> ticket sales and attendance had been declining over the past several
> years. This was in spite of the fact that our team continued to play at
> a very high level, including being National runners-up two years ago
> and in the top 5 most of last year.
>
> Upon reviewing our records, the problem seemed to stem from inventory
> control. For various reasons, we were holding back many tickets until
> just before game time. The result of this was most people thinking
> games were sold out, yet we would be left with hundreds of empty seats
> and unsold tickets.
>
> We made some internal adjustments and we were able to put over 500
> additional season tickets on sale. These newly available season tickets
> sold out last week as the season was set to begin. The selling of
> additional season tickets really limited our ability to sell single
> game tickets. As we were preparing information on single game sales, we
> tried to communicate to folks that due to the additional season ticket
> sales, single games tickets may not be available for all games.
>
> As the date for single ticket sales arrived, we took a look at our
> inventory. Part of this inventory are tickets that must be held for
> visiting teams as per Hockey East rules. Not all visitors take the full
> allotment, however, New Hampshire, BU and BC do usually take the full
> amount. We also had to take a look at student tickets, these three
> opponents also draw our biggest student crowds.
>
> At this time it became obvious that we were very low on individual
> tickets for the games against our rivals, around 100. We put on sale
> all the other games, so fans like yourself who do not wish to purchase
> season tickets could choose from the other 12 games available. Since
> the tickets for the UNH, BC and BU games were so limited, we decided to
> package these games with some of our other sports.
>
> This was done to help generate interest in these other teams. Our hope
> is that fans such as yourself who enjoy the rivalry such as Maine-BU
> hockey, would also enjoy this rivalry in basketball.
>
> For those who did not wish to purchase the rival packs, season tickets
> were still available at the time single game tickets went on sale and
> also they could choose from the other 12 games.
>
> I hope that this gives you some of the background on this situation.
> The packages went on sale this week and the sales went very well. It
> looks like we will have a full house for all of these games and
> hopefully develop some new basketball fans at the same time.
>
> Go Black Bears!
>
> Patrick Nero