All I can say is "Give me a break, Patrick!"  This is just simply a way of
using a very limited number of tickets to take advantage of the fans that
are willing to buy the extra basketball tickets so that they can see one of
the "big" hockey games.  Who are we kidding here?!!   Candis is absolutely
right!  This is forcing fans to make a choice that they might not want to
make!   I really strongly object to this forced participation and I think it
will backfire more than it will generate interest in basketball.  I'll bet
that more often than not, people will buy the package and just go to the
hockey game, especially people that have to drive an hour or two to get
there.  Just because I've already made the expense of buying the basketball
ticket doesn't mean that I want to spend another 3 hours in my car and pay
for the expense of getting there and back to see basketball.

I do like basketball and if I lived in the area I'd probably go to a game
now and then.  But given the additional expenses of time and money I'll put
my efforts into getting to see some hockey!

I'm a Maine alumnus also and I've got a son and a daughter there now too!  I
don't have a lot of extra money floating around for trips to basketball
games.  If I lived in the area it might be different.

In my opinion, this is a very bad decision by Patrick Nero and he should
hear about it!!

Clair


P.S.  Please feel free to pass my message here along to anyone who might be
interested.








-----Original Message-----
From: Deron Treadwell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 6:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
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