Union’s Site Advances Trend of Picking Neighbors as well as Seats

Philadelphia Union season-ticket holders can choose their seats as PPL Park based on, among other things, how many beers they drink at games.

It’s part of the MLS club’s seat selector program, which enables fans to go to the Union’s Web site and find locations that best suit their interests, said Tom Veit, the team’s president. The 18,500-seat facility in Chester, a Philly suburb, is set to open June 27.

The Union, in conjunction with ticketing vendor New Era Tickets and tech provider IO Media, which worked with the Yankees to sell seats and sponsorships at their new ballpark, have developed a site where fans do not have to exit the system to buy tickets on New Era’s site.

The system upgrades ticketing technology after Sounders FC developed a similar online tool in 2008 to create pockets of like-minded fans at Qwest Field in Seattle. The Sounders’ site converted deposits to season-ticket holders using Archtics, the team’s Ticketmaster-operated database.

“The one thing we hadn’t seen is a package that does everything,” Veit said. “New Era did a lot of work on its site to make it happen. It’s all combined with one fluid move throughout the process.”

By clicking on the seat selector box on the Union home page, patrons can zero in on the most appropriate seats for them by clicking through categories based on standing preference, chanting/singing, soccer knowledge, whether they have children, and alcohol consumption.

In the consumption category, under the question, “How do you enjoy the game?” the choices are alcohol-free, one or two beets and “at least a few.” The Sons of Ben, 2,000 of the Union’s most active supporters, bought all the seats in three of the seven sections reserved in the south end for those patrons that enjoy “at least a few” beers.

“It has its boundaries,” Veit said lightheartedly. “You can observe the carnage, but you don’t have to sit in it.”

EMOTIONAL RESCUE: Glenn Menard couldn’t help but get swept up in the emotion of the Saints’ Super Bowl victory.

Menard, hired in late January as director of operations for the North Texas Super Bowl KLV Host Committee, attended the game in Miami as the group continues preparations for next year’s event at Cowboys Stadium.

His ties to New Orleans run deep, Menard grew up in the city, and from 1998 to 2007 he was SMG’s general manager of the Louisiana Superdome and New Orleans Arena. He was in charge at the Superdome when it played host to the 2002 Super Bowl, the first one after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

After Hurricane Katrina wrecked the dome in 2005, Menard helped lead the rebuilding and reopening of the two facilities. He was back at the dome when the saints returned home in 2006.

Eight days ago, sitting in Section 129 at Sun Life Stadium surrounded by other Saints fans, Menard thought he was dreaming when New Orleans grabbed the lead in the fourth quarter. Grown men cried after the Saints scored the touchdown that sealed the victory, he said.

“Having seen the dome and the rebuild from the inside, it is a sweet taste that cannot be believed unless you lived it, but we are happy to share it with everyone,” Menard said.

NAME CHANGER: Expect Wachovia Center’s name to change to Wells Fargo Center sometime this summer in Philadelphia, possibly after the Flyers’ final game, said Peter Luukko, Comcast-Spectacor’s president and chief operating officer.

The cost to change everything over at the arena, from signs to paper napkins, will run $3 million to $4 million, Luukko said.

Adjusted for inflation, the changeover could cost $1 million more than in 1998, when the building’s name changed from CoreStates Center to First Union Center two years after opening.

“We’re already limiting our buys of stationery,” Luukko Joked.

Source: Muret, Don. "Union’s Site Advances Trend of Picking Neighbors as well as Seats."
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.preview&articleid=64854
15 Feb 2010