>I lifted this from the Maine Athletics web site.  It is a Q & A with
>Maine AD Patrick Nero.  What do you think?  -Deron

   I think it's another example of Patrick Nero providing great
   leadership and then taking the time to explain his team's decisions
   in a most understandable fashion.  (I wish weekly hockey releases
   were written so well ...  I've never seen "notched" used so much!).

   Maybe now's the time to ask for the ability to leave tix at the
   Will Call window to be reinstated?

cheers, wayne

>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