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Ticketmaster to sell center’s tickets
A final deal is expected Thursday.
YOUNGSTOWN — Ticketmaster will start handling the ticketing for events at the Chevrolet Centre on May 1.
The city’s board of control approved an outline of a contract Friday with the nation’s largest event ticketing agency. The board is expected to sign a final five-year contract Thursday.
Ticketmaster officials will be at the city-owned center Monday to review what needs to be done to transfer the ticketing operations to the company.
GetTix.Net, a Tempe, Ariz., company, has handled the center’s ticketing since the facility opened in October 2005.
Ticketmaster, based in West Hollywood, Calif., will guarantee annual payments of $25,000 for the life of the contract with the city.
The city successfully negotiated to add that guaranteed revenue during discussions with Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster estimates it can generate $942,000 over five years for the city in ticket surcharges, or what it calls “convenience charges.”
The company will give the city between 25 percent and 40 percent of its surcharges, which range from $3 to $6 per ticket.
The 40-percent surcharge is for more expensive tickets as well as for the $4 handling fees paid per order by customers for telephone and Internet purchases.
Tickets bought at the center’s box office don’t include “convenience charges” or handling fees.
Richard Floco, GetTix’s president, said close to 65 percent of all Chevrolet Centre event tickets are purchased at the facility’s box office.
Ticketmaster expects to sell about 80,000 tickets for center events in its first year with annual increases of 3 percent in sales.
The company also plans to invest $106,700 in the center’s ticketing operations for equipment and computer software as well as for maintenance and licensing fees.
Besides its telephone and Internet operations, Ticketmaster has 126 ticket centers, primarily in Giant Eagle supermarkets, in Northeast Ohio.
Ticketmaster was among nine companies to submit proposals to the city two weeks ago to be the center’s ticketing agency.
The city received none of GetTix’s surcharges, as much as $7 per ticket, nor any of the $3 handling fee on each ticket order.
Also, GetTix charged the facility 3 percent for each ticket purchased with a credit card. That fee was more than $75,000 last year, said Kyle Miasek, the city’s deputy finance director.
GetTix’s proposal to remain at the center had the city receiving 60 percent of the surcharges and fees. That would have been about $200,000 last year, according to GetTix’s proposal.
That would work out to close to $1 million over a five-year period.
Floco contends the city never had any intention of retaining GetTix, a sister company of Global Entertainment Corp. The city terminated the arena management deal with Global in October 2007 in a messy breakup primarily because the company’s financial projections for the center were wildly inaccurate.
Miasek said the city chose the company its officials believe provides the best deal and best opportunity to help the center’s finances. Ticketmaster’s considerable national presence made it the clear choice for the city, he said.
“We’re moving forward,” Miasek said. “We picked the best company.”
Also, the city plans to hire a company to help operate the center in the next few weeks.
The city is considering proposals from Global Spectrum and SMG, both of Philadelphia, for that work.
skolnick@vindy.com