A Ticketing Hall of Fame?

With the 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony set for the end of this month, the "Great Hall of Fame" debate has once again ratcheted up between me and my friends.
If you're a baseball fan, you know what the debate is all about, and you're more than likely to have participated in it on multiple occasions.
The basic tenet of the debate is to discuss whom amongst those currently not in the Hall of Fame should be and shouldn't be, and to compare those players to other "borderline" members of the Hall. Naturally, we're fixated on the players of our era, say the last 30 years or so, as there are plenty of interesting subjects amongst them for the sake of the debate.
Of course, we pull for Don Mattingly (even the Mets fans amongst us) and we try to justify that his five seasons of utter dominance should qualify him for the Hall. Yet, all the while we know that his injury-shortened career simply does not stack up to those of some other players of his time, and that "Donnie Baseball" must bear the rare indignity of being the best player on a bad Yankee team. Such is the case, we know that it's unlikely that Mattingly will ever make the Hall of Fame. Same can be said for Dale Murphy, whose career statistics were better than Mattingly's in some respects, but who just got mired on an awful Braves team for too much of his career, so that he never got to shine in a big moment.
But, there are other players as well, all great and recently retired, who make pretty strong cases. Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Kent, Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Mike Mussina, and Edgar Martinez, all were among the top players in Major League Baseball, not to mention their respective positions. By the same token, Biggio has 3,000 career hits, which has traditionally provided an automatic ticket to Cooperstown, and he may have been the best hitting second baseman ever. Yet, he did not get in last year, his first year of eligibility.
Speaking of great middle infielders, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, and Tony Fernandez have been eligible for a while and if Phil Rizutto can find his way into the Hall of Fame, surely those three fine ball players can as well.


Mussina or Morris: Will either be in the Hall of Fame?

Is one more deserving than the other?

Muddying the picture even more is the era variable, such as the steroid era. A good number of the most recent dominant retirees have been accused (and in some cases found guilty) of using steroids and other substances to get an edge on the competition. That said, were Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire not considered mortal locks for the Hall of Fame even before their alleged steroid use occurred? With all due respect to Mike Mussina, who had one of the best won/loss ratios for a pitcher in baseball history, he only won 20 games in a season once, never won a World Series or a Cy Young, and with 270 wins, he was short of the magic 300 win plateau. Yet, his candidacy is considered stronger than that of Jack Morris and Jim Kaat, both of whom were statistically similar to Mussina, and who accomplished more in their careers, simply because Mussina was regarded as a "clean" player who had the disadvantage of pitching against players who took steroids.
Throw in the shift to advanced analytics in which a new rubric of statistics is applied to determine players' true value, it's hard to know anymore exactly who belongs in the Hall of Fame anyway.

Perhaps it's not so cut and dry after all. Maybe it has more to do with a player's impact during the time in which he played than his raw skill set. Can you really compare players of one generation to another in order to decide whether or not certain players should be included in the Hall of Fame?
 
While this year's class of inductees- three players and three managers -is free of controversy, and their credentials are undeniable, there are generally no easy answers, and thus the debate rages on.



Toyota Camry. Guaranteed HOFer.

It seems these days, like there's a Hall of Fame for everything, with lists, blogs, and ranking systems devoted to the best of anything under the sun. A Hall of Fame for American Cities? Absolutely, although I bet the qualifications for such would be subject of debate. A Hall of Fame for Cars? Sure. The Toyota Camry would be in, as would the Ferrari Testarosa. These are both great cars in their own ways. How about the Ford Bronco? A strong case, be it for the Hall of Fame or the Hall of Infamy.

If you think about the idea that a Hall of Fame could apply to most any facet of society, then perhaps there should be a Hall of Fame for ticketing as well.
It may seem like a bit of a stretch because while everybody seemingly enjoys live entertainment in one form or another, ticketing services, are at worst despised and at best tolerated as necessary evils. We've heard all the complaints, and they're not without merit: Prices are too high, the fees are egregious, events are sold out too quickly, and a litany of others. While prominent ticketing services like Ticketmaster are derided for their imperfections, they should also be appreciated for their efficiency among other merits.

For one thing, these ticketing services help to guarantee that certain events even take place at all. There are a lot of folks involved in putting on live entertainment, from the musicians and athletes, to the promoters and executives, all the way down to vendors and security. Needless to say, each of these deserves fair compensation, and, if you think about it, much of that compensation goes to run the respective businesses, and not necessarily into greedy pockets. If you have a great time at a concert or sporting event, in a clean, safe environment, with access to food and bathrooms; and, of course, if the show was phenomenal, the total price you paid for the ticket was worth it.
The ticketing company that gets most of the slings and arrows is the aforementioned Ticketmaster. Such is the price of success. As the preeminent ticketing source worldwide, Ticketmaster is scoffed at as a monopoly that manipulates the ticketing market and entertainment landscape. Fair only to an extent. The fact that Ticketmaster has such deeply rooted contracts with so many sports teams, concert promoters, venues, and the like is what helps to ensure that the entertainment you love keeps coming around. It simplifies the whole process. Now, when a band announces a tour, it books Ticketmaster affiliated venues, Ticketmaster handles the ticketing, and the show goes on as planned. Were this not the case, the ticketing landscape would be even worse for fans. Imagine if each time a major musician planned a tour it put its ticketing rights up for auction in each city? You'd have five companies trying to outbid each other, which would drive prices up and the tickets would never become available. The bottom line is, Ticketmaster delivers the goods as a point of initial sale, which on aggregate, makes it easier on everyone involved.

For these reasons just explained, Ticketmaster definitely would belong in the ticketing Hall of Fame. In fact, it would be the Babe Ruth of the ticketing Hall. But, there's more to it as well.

A little historical context:

Prototype of early Ticketron Machine

Beginning in the mid 1960's, Ticketron was the first company to popularize third-party primary ticketing. The basic concept was that theater box offices could upload portions of their inventories onto a main-frame that would utilize fiber optics (phone lines) to send information for
that inventory to huge automated kiosks, which looked very much like photocopiers of that era. The kiosks were placed in locations like department stores, train terminals, and other places where potential theater-goers might also be found. That way, two ladies coming to New York for the weekend for example, could purchase and print out tickets for a show they planned on seeing while buying outfits at Bloomingdales.

The Ticketron model was revolutionary, although it suffered from usual early-concept setbacks; anything from inventory not loading into the system properly which caused mis-bookings and duplicate bookings, to the system going off-line, to kiosk paper supplies jamming up.
However Ticketron's main shortcoming was that it handled ticket procurement purely regionally. It had arrangements with venues in particular markets and there was no way to offer tickets on a national scale. Although Ticketron secured contracts with professional and college sports teams, and large venues like arenas and stadiums across the country, it was impossible to purchase tickets to a game in LA, if you lived in New York.
By the time Ticketmaster came onto the scene in the mid 1970's, it had perfected the technology to offer tickets to any event, anywhere, to anyone. It also was less invested in the automated kiosk platform and based much of it's service model on call centers and properly placed manned retail outlets, which instilled a certain level of accuracy and reliability. Ticketmaster aggressively pursued and won the contracts that Ticketron had- partly because its service was superior, but also because it presented the attractive notion of higher service fees. In 1991, Ticketmaster acquired the flagging Ticketron, its assets, and technology effectively putting it out of business. In 1996, Ticketmaster began offering tickets online, thus besting its own model, providing even more convenience for the customer, and cementing its place as the ticketing industry leader.

Unquestionably, then, Ticketmaster is in the ticketing Hall of Fame. But, is this unabashed PSA for


Nobody said you had to like Ticketmaster's

fees. But, they do serve a purpose.

the company really necessary? After all, Ticketmaster is still the 800-pound gorilla in the room and its perceived deceptiveness on many a level is well-documented. But, remember, the Hall of Fame is as much about impact as it is "greatness", and Ticketmaster's impact at the very least can't be denied.

If Ticketmaster is a shoe-in for the ticketing Hall of Fame based on its prevalence in the primary ticketing space (purchasing tickets for an event directly from the source for the event), then another lock is undoubtedly StubHub.

StubHub officially began in 2000, mainly as a listing service for ticket holders who could not attend certain events for which they had tickets. It was almost like a Craigslist, except that the ticket listings did not involve any contact, either virtually or personally, between the buyer and seller. Instead, tickets were put up for sale, bulletin board style, adhering to certain listing requirements, and buyers could anonymously select whichever listing they liked just as if they were buying anything else online. That model still holds true today and StubHub has carefully developed it over the last decade and a half with interactive features and convenient listing functions intended to aide sellers and buyers alike.

He seems nice enough, but you'd be better

off buying tickets online.

Despite all this, StubHub's biggest contribution might be that it helped to legitimize ticket resale, or the secondary ticketing market. Prior to StubHub, ticket resale was commonly perceived as consisting of the shady, trench-coat wearing street scalper hanging around venues, or the boutique ticket broker that was considered to be more "verified" than a scalper, but which also operated at a massive premium. StubHub gave regular ticket holders a vehicle to conveniently sell their tickets, which was very helpful to sports season-ticket holders who no longer needed to offer tickets around the water-cooler for games they couldn't go to. Besides this, the notion of "buying off of other fans" was attractive to consumers, and a service which made numerous listings readily available to the public kept prices under control to such an extent that tickets to certain events could be found for below face value.
Brokers and other ticketing professionals, such as sports teams and venue operators also utilize StubHub to sell tickets and StubHub controls many contracts with teams, venues, and leagues to operate as their "official" reseller.

Without question, Ticketmaster and StubHub belong in the ticketing Hall of Fame for their impact and overall efficiency. Likewise, Ticketron probably does as well since it's the third party ticketing pioneer. There are also numerous lesser-known ticketing services that deserve consideration. One such is TicketNetwork, which since 2002 has been aggregating brokers' listings through its server and then offering those listings out to numerous resale sites. This provides the traditional brokers the opportunity to put their inventory online and TicketNetwork in turn guarantees inventory to countless sites. If you do enough shopping around, you can find several other resale sites, each with their own unique service model. You can even come across new entries in the primary space, such as EventBrite, which gives anybody the opportunity to create an online box office and sell tickets for any event; even birthday parties! This service is popular amongst venues and artists not aligned with Ticketmaster. Whether any of these entities is Hall worthy is ultimately a matter of impact in their historical context.

Where, then, does Seatslink fit in with all of this Hall of Fame talk?

After all, Seatslink is brand new, and its concept is still largely unproven. However, the framework for an impactful existence is there. While Seatslink has ticketing inventory for most any event in Metro New York, Seatslink's unique value add is the 15% discount that it offers throughout a growing network of local businesses, all situated near the most prominent venues in the New York City area. Seatslink understands that a night out at the ball game, concert, or theater almost always involves added expenses and activities that go well beyond the cost of tickets. Whether it's a quiet dinner before the show, a spot to party pre and post game, a fun place to bring the kids, or simply somewhere to park your car, your needs and desires in terms of having a complete event experience are varied and unique.


Soon, you'll see the Seatslink sticker

in the windows of local businesses

all over town.

Besides that, there's a whole world waiting to be discovered outside the arena door. Neighborhoods, each with their own indigenous cultures and individual vibes lend to experiences that you can only have in those particular locales. Seatslink invites you to plan and save on your night out, on your own terms, in any of the wonderful neighborhoods, on any night of the week. There are countless underdiscovered gems in the business districts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Newark, as well as other parts of New York and New Jersey. If you're the type of event-goer who enjoys dinner out or drinks to compliment an event, then Seatslink can help you plan and save on those activities in the NYC area, with plans to soon introduce Seatslink into other markets.
While ticket prices are an extremely volatile subject, they can often represent less than half the total expense of a night out when you include all possible expenses, including babysitters, dinner, and parking among others. Other ticketing services offer rewards and hospitality packages for certain events, especially the higher profile ones like the Super Bowl, the Final Four, or particular stops along certain concert tours. The truth is, however, that any event can be considered "high-profile" and Seatslink helps you organize the extras at your own discretion and at a discount, so that you can enjoy yourself in the ways that are most meaningful to you.
It's about time that common misgivings with ticketing are put into perspective and that the focus should be put on the complete experiences that your tickets are part and parcel of. Buying tickets should not simply grant you admission for a live event. It should also be your ticket to a destination that can provide a thrilling night out whether the team you went to see wins, loses, or draws.
Seatslink is the only ticketing service that takes the added activities into account on a continuous basis, giving you the chance to maximize your event experience, more affordably and conveniently.

Will all this be enough to put Seatslink in the ticketing Hall of Fame? Time will tell. But, the true difference-makers in the ticketing industry are few and far between; that's why you haven't heard of many. Seatslink has the chance to make a difference because it truly is different, and not just a slight variation on the same old model.
It might be a silly debate anyway, this one about the Hall of Fame. Many baseball players, for example, are beloved for their moments of greatness, and contributions to their teams even if they don't make it into the Hall. Certain things should simply be appreciated, not debated. Hopefully Seatslink will be appreciated by many and recognized for the all-around service it provides. But, the ticketing Hall of Fame might prove to be more fickle than any other because a place in its lore is reserved for those that truly make a difference, and Seatslink is attempting to do just that.

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Look out for Seatslink Experience Guides coming online soon, which will highlight the events, neighborhoods, and local businesses in the area.

A Shameful Promotion

It used to be that a promotional giveaway at a baseball game was a true win/win proposition, no matter what took place on the field.
Teams had a surefire way to pull a decent gate, and the fans who came out got a little free souvenir to go along with their paid admission.
So what if these "tokens of appreciation" were also vehicles to pitch the team's sponsors? I loved the promotional days and had plenty of calendars, bats, gloves, wrist bands, plastic helmets, and bobble-heads to prove it. Besides, when I stepped up to the plate in the schoolyard, adjusting my Yankees batting glove, gotten free of charge when I went through the turnstyles, the unsightly Manufacturers Hanover Trust logo emblazoned across the front of the batting glove boldly declared that "I was there!"
Recently, while we were watching a Yankees game on TV, my 5-year old son Ethan announced that he wanted to go to the upcoming "Key chain" day at Yankee Stadium (Ethan is currently entrenched in a trinkets mode).
I immediately bought tickets on Seatslink, barely able to contain my nostalgic pride:
My eldest son, helping to carry on a fine tradition of hoarding that comes complimentary with a great afternoon at the ballpark.
Remember the old days when "all fans in attendance" received the promotional item? Or, at least, if the item was age-specific, it might be "all fans in attendance 12 and under".
Well, fortunately I checked the fine print a couple days before the game because on Key chain day, free key chains would be provided for only the first 18,000 fans in attendance.
Really?
Really.
As far as I know, key chains have mass appeal. Adults like them and 5-year olds evidently like them. The former use them to organize their keys, the latter dangle them from their backpacks. So, why would roughly only 1/3 of the paying customers be getting key chains?
Regardless of the illogic I was determined we'd be among the first 18,000 fans, and I made sure that Ethan and I arrived at Yankee Stadium a good two hours early for a 4:05 start.

Ethan's coveted key chain has found a home,
at least until he's old enough for a set of keys.

When we entered Yankee Stadium is when it hit me:
The little silver baseball glove key chain, bejeweled with a tiny Yankee baseball, was a REWARD for being among the first fans to spend extra time at the Stadium and pump it with money. With the line for Monument Park a good quarter of a mile long, what else was I going to do with a 5-year old in Yankee Stadium two hours before game time, besides buy things?
My first thought was to take advantage of batting practice, stand in a spot where BP homeruns were sure to land. For me, it was exciting to be in the sparsely peopled seating area, taking in the ambiance and trying to shag a ball.
But, with no baseballs coming our way, Ethan could only take it for so long. It was hot out there for a little guy and the concourses promised shade, food, and a souvenir stand every five feet.
The key chain was fine. Not as impressive looking as it was on TV, but Ethan carries his proudly. Still, it didn't suffice when there were stuffed bears to contend with, not to mention stuffed monkeys, $15 Yankees Lego
figures, foam fingers, mini bats, and many another "must have".
I got off rather easily. A small stuffed bear in a Yankees jersey for Ethan, which he reasoned was a necessary purchase because it was identical to another small stuffed bear in a Nets jersey that he got the previous year at a basketball game ("They can be brothers!").
Speaking of brothers, considerate lad that he is, Ethan selected a different stuffed bear for his baby brother Dexter, because it would be rude not to bring something home for Dex. Fair enough... and interesting how a few days after the game, Dexter's bear somehow migrated to become part of Ethan's vast stuffed menagerie.
So, one free key chain and $30 worth of stuffed bears later, the pre-game souvenir run was over. But then came the food, and a little dessert, putting me $65 in the hole, still an hour to go before the game was set to begin. The game itself, as well as the post game were of course peppered with modest visits to the concessions.
The up shot was we had a great time. The Yankees launched 5 homers and cruised to a 7-1 victory. A freshly-initiated little-leaguer, Ethan took an actual interest in the game, applying his new knowledge of baseball fundamentals to what he was watching down on the field, chiding the aloof professionals who were not standing in "ready position". And when we reached what I thought would have been his expiration point after the 6th inning, Ethan suggested we stay to watch the Yankees bat once more. Attaboy!
Thus, we got a great game, we got the free key chain, and all was right in the world.
Try telling that, though, to another father I saw, who was busy placating his two disappointed sons who were not among the lucky 18,000, with extra souvenirs to make up for the key chains they missed out on.

With that, my mild annoyance, all but quelled during the game, re-emerged. Not only was the key chain a hook to bring you and your wallet into the stadium early, but it also served as a punishment for not getting there early.
What a shame because the game itself painted a classic father-and-son portrait of a day at the ball yard. Ethan was sweet, funny, excited, and a hit with the folks sitting around us. We joked, laughed, discussed the game, and tried like maniacs to get noticed by a camera man who might put us up on the jumbotron. Just as importantly, Ethan cherishes his key chain.
However, Ethan expected a little more of a souvenir than the key chain because, well, he's a kid, and he got hungry, so we ate. But, to be manipulated into bringing a 5-year old into a stadium extremely early, just to ring the register, or be guilted into ringing the register even harder if you missed out on the promotion is simply grating.
How hard would it have been to offer the key chain to everyone in attendance, whether they were among the first 18,000 or the last 18,000?
The truth is, I would have gotten to the Stadium early anyway, but would liked to have shown Ethan the places I grew up with outside the Stadium, along River Avenue. I would have been only too glad to buy Ethan any souvenir he wanted at Stan the Man's Baseball Land, where I used to go after every game to get baseball cards, and once a year, a Yankees Yearbook.
We could have taken a table at Yankee Tavern or the Court Diner and dined like gentlemen to a proper lunch of pastrami sandwiches, rather than wait in line at the stadium food concession only to munch away an hour before game time in our seats, with the hot sun beaming down on us (by the way, the wait to sit and eat at the Hard Rock Café in the Stadium was more than an hour, and therefore not a viable option for us).

I promise not to use this space to plaster pics

of my kids. But, both Ethan and the bear are

integral parts of this tale, so here they are.

Then, we'd make our leisurely way into Yankee Stadium, a couple minutes before the National Anthem, collect our key chains, and watch some baseball. But, in making inclusion amongst the first 18,000 fans in attendance a prerequisite to the key chain, the Yankees ultimately had other plans for our afternoon.
For me, enjoying live entertainment has always been as much about the things I do outside the event as the event itself. I like to eat out around the venue, get a feel for the local scene and watch the other fans filter by. It's all part of the experience.
As opulent and convenient as the new stadiums and arenas are, they do as much to detract from certain aspects of the event experience as they do to enhance others.
What I find troubling is that since the new venues are designed as virtual shopping malls, and they use every trick in the book to get you to spend as much time and money at them as possible, the local businesses that are supposed to benefit from the crowds that the venues bring in, end up missing out. And, with that, an appreciation for the indigenous culture of a place is lost on many. In the end, the local businesses certainly suffer, but in many ways, the fans suffer as well.
Now, for a less shameful promotion.
If you are the kind of event-goer who feels that a live event-experience goes beyond the confines of a venue, then Seatslink is the ticket source for you.
Whether you want to educate your kids about the neighborhoods on the way to the stadium, enjoy a quiet dinner with your spouse away from all the excitement before a concert, or have a place for you and your friends to shift the festivities over to after the game, Seatslink offers its customers access to savings at local restaurants, bars, parking lots, retail stores, and car services, among others, so that you can enjoy a total event experience on your own terms.
You don't just have to go to a ball game or a concert and then head home, and you don't have to spend so much time in the venue that you're already sick of the place once the event begins. You can find recommendations on Seatslink for local services establishments, all convenient to the most prominent and popular venues in the New York area, so you can have a truly satisfying night out.
As Seatslink grows and solidifies its presence, its network of services establishments will evolve to highlight the best of what Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Newark have to offer.
It might even make up for it if you happen to miss out on a free key chain.


Please visit
www.seatslink.com