Chevy Centre talks with Global put contract with GetTix on hold

The ticketing vote will be delayed by a few months, the mayor said.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — The city is postponing the approval of a contract with GetTix.Net to be the Chevrolet Centre’s exclusive ticket agency — although it remains in that capacity — as it negotiates with its parent company regarding the facility’s management.

The city is continuing to talk with Global Entertainment Corp. about the operation of the center.

Specifically, the city is concerned about incorrect financial projections for the facility as well as ways to turn a profit, get the right mix of events there and management oversight, said Mayor Jay Williams.

The city’s three-member board of control, chaired by the mayor, was to approve a contract Aug. 30 with GetTix, but delayed the vote. At the time, Kyle Miasek, the city’s deputy finance director, said the board would vote on the contract at its next meeting, Thursday.

But Williams said Monday that talks with Global about the city-owned arena are ongoing and that would force a delay of about a few months on the GetTix contract vote.

“We’re having ongoing discussions with Global about operational matters,” he said. “We still have the same concerns.”

GetTix has a contract to be the center’s exclusive ticket agency with International Coliseums Co., another Global subsidiary that manages the city-owned building.

Exclusive agency

GetTix has served as the center’s exclusive ticket agency since the arena opened in October 2005, but it wasn’t until earlier this year that the city discovered it doesn’t have a contract with the Global subsidiary for ticketing.

GetTix signed the contract the board of control is deferring and agreed to pay its expenses at the center as of July 1. Those expenses are between $50,000 and $100,000 annually for items such as ticket printing, its computer system and overhead items.

GetTix includes a service charge as high as $7 a ticket it sells via the Internet or the telephone as well as a $3 handling fee for each order.

Tickets sold at the center box office don’t have the service charge or handling fee.

Global had estimated a profit of $726,585 for the first nine months of its current fiscal year, October 2006 to this past July. The center actually lost $33,451 during that time frame.

It also ended its first fiscal year with a $23,653 loss when a profit of $652,264 was estimated by Global officials.

skolnick@vindy.com