Leadership / 03.02.22

The Ticketing Challenges of Championship Games, Part 1

Teddy Durgin

Making it to a championship — whether it’s the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Final Four or some other climactic, end-of-the-season, winner-takes-it-all sporting event — is certainly a challenge to the players and coaches involved. But it can also be a challenge for ticketing professionals. Just ask Anthony Esposito, Senior Vice President of Ticket Operations for the Atlanta Braves. Back in October, his team defeated the Houston Astros in six games to win their fourth World Series title.

“Since this was our first appearance in the World Series since 1999 — and first in our new ballpark that opened in 2017 — we did not have any challenges selling tickets to the games,” Esposito says. “From my end of the world, the biggest challenge was the constant juggling act of managing inventory to make sure you had something available for when an executive called in a request for a VIP while also making sure that the general public had plenty of inventory to purchase from.”

Russ Stanley, Senior Vice President of Ticket Sales and Services for the San Francisco Giants, agrees with Esposito even though it’s been since 2014 that his team has won it all. “The whole process is challenging,” he says, “but the biggest is managing the inventory. You need enough tickets to handle problems and last-minute needs while still selling every ticket.”

The stresses aren’t any less during pro basketball’s post-season. Daren Mitch, Vice President of Ticket Operations for the Phoenix Suns, can testify to that. His team made it to the last NBA Finals before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks.

“One of the larger concerns for me personally revolved around the aspects of timing,” he says. “We did not put a game on sale until we were certain it was going to be played. Keeping that in mind, the turnaround time from when a Finals game was clinched and when it actually went on sale was less than 12 hours. This means you must have everything set and be ready to hit ‘go’ without even knowing if a game will be played or not. Because of tight deadlines and already working through previous playoff rounds, you don’t really have ample time to run through the thorough testing process you do during a regular season rollout. With that said, when an on-sale for a Finals game goes live, you’re sitting there with your fingers crossed praying everything works as it should.”

He continues, “Secondly, for this past playoff season, we had to factor in COVID-19 protocols, which my team had to implement a different social distancing manifest for each round of the playoffs. This presented challenges as protocols were changing daily, and we often found ourselves updating manifests late into the night prior to the next morning’s on-sale.”

Josh Logan, Director of Marketing and Ticketing/Championships for the NCAA, says he and his staff also face the challenge of the unknown each post-season in college basketball. Take the Final Four, for instance. “We don’t know the four teams that will be playing in it until the week before,” he says. “So, you’re selling the event — a marquee national championship — for 51 weeks. Then, you are selling the four teams … for one week! Together, the four teams have roughly 25% of the venue dedicated to their fans that are made available one week out.”

For some ticketing professionals involved in championship game scenarios, it’s best to seek the counsel of those who’ve experienced such challenges before. That’s what Andrew Bragman, Vice President of Ticket Operations at SoFi Stadium (the site of last month’s Super Bowl in Los Angeles), did. He also relied on his own experiences.

“I was fortunate to have hosted MLB playoffs and an All-Star Game before,” he says. “But every event presents its own challenges, and only those who have experienced something know the details. The most important thing I learned was really about the process that the NFL and its partners go through in planning for and operating the game. Understanding what the host is looking to do and how we can best help them facilitate a world-class event was a huge key to the week’s success.”

Esposito similarly drew on experience but was open to advice and assistance. “The biggest test of skills was staying organized and asking for help,” he says. “We had been to the playoffs each season since 2018 but had not made it out of the first round with fans in stands. So, we all knew what volume of requests to expect in that first round.  But once we got past the first round, you could sense the flood gates starting to fill up. Staying on top of email/office phone/cellphone/Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn requests became challenging. I handle all of the player/family tickets for road games during the playoffs, so I travel with the team and am away from the office a bunch. Leaning on my staff to help with anything and everything that came up was huge.”

Anthony Esposito (right) and his staff taken at 1:55 a.m. on Oct. 29, 2021. "We had stayed late to ensure that all sponsor/internal/employee ticket requests for World Series home games were ready to go," Esposito says. "We hosted our first World Series home game (Game 3 of the series) later that same night at 8 p.m. Proof that working in live entertainment requires some long hours and sacrifices!" 

Stanley of the Giants spoke with the voice of experience, having been with his team for over three decades now. For him, it has often come down to keeping everyone calm during such a highly stressful time. “We were fortunate to play in three out of five World Series,” he says. “But most times there are gaps between appearances, so you always have new people. They may be nervous and are taking on new responsibilities. It can be hard to enjoy the moment. I try to continually remind the ticketing team to step back and soak in the moment.”

Mitch concurs, adding, “During the NBA playoffs, all aspects of what you produce during a regular season is required yet is extremely amplified. You are rolling out the highest demand games with a fraction of the time. In addition to timing demands, there are supplementary challenges put on the ticketing team such as NBA required inventory allocations and an extremely heightened level of internal ticketing requests. Keeping that in mind, every aspect of your team’s job is instantly put on fast forward. As any leader of a ticketing team, not only did I need to ensure all my checks and balances were in place to handle the heightened demands I was facing, but even more importantly, I had to ensure my team had the tools and support needed to be successful.  My team has always been my top priority, as they are any leader’s most valuable asset.”

Win or lose, all five interviewees agreed that the result makes it all worth it. Come playoff time, Stanley says, he and his colleagues really go into service mode to help the Giants’ best customers make memories with their friends and families. “It is what we all look forward to and we want all of our customers to participate,” he says.

For Logan, he is in a bit of a unique position in that he gets to be part of multiple championships while not having to stress out about any one final game’s outcome. “My favorite part is the very end, when we get to the national championship game,” he says. “You’re down on the court, looking up at the stands, seeing the passion. There is nothing like the college fan base. And once it’s over, and you see the student-athletes celebrating and sharing in that moment, it’s pretty special. It’s unique for us. Anthony can experience it and be part of the Atlanta Braves. But my staff and I were not part of Baylor winning it all last year, yet we were there seeing them react to winning it all. Seeing a champion get crowned every year and knowing you had a part in everyone sitting in the seats, it’s pretty great. We get to see that every year. It’s not a matter of ‘I hope my team makes it.’ We’re a part of somebody winning it all each and every year.”

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Tags: Sports , NFL , Leadership