Your client is dying to attend that big football game, and you’d love to play host. But making sense of the ticket world—especially for hard-to-score tickets—can leave you scratching your head. Patrick Glass, CEO of Glass Entertainment Management, gives Executive Travel the inside scoop on how to acquire must-have event tickets.

Q. YOUR COMPANY DOES ENTERTAINMENT MANAGEMENT. HOW DOES THAT DIFFER FROM BEING A TICKET BROKER?

A. Glass Entertainment Management can get tickets to any major event, like any ticket broker can. However, Glass creates a memorable event, along with a measurable return for our clients. Our priority is to help you make an impression that will last a lifetime.

Q. HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE HARD-TO-GET TICKETS?

A. We trade and barter different event tickets with corporations and work with athletes to get them well-paid golf outings/meet-and-greets, in return for their tickets. If you don’t have an “in” with someone who has tickets, this business will never work.

Q. HOW DO CONVENTIONAL TICKET BROKERS GET THEIR TICKETS?

A. Conventional ticket brokers are the guys who started 20 to 30 years ago. They are the pioneers of the industry. They are the ones who have been buying up season tickets for every major sport forever.

Q. DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR READERS ABOUT WORKING WITH BROKERS?

A. Make sure you are working with someone you trust -- and someone who actually has the tickets.


Q. ANY HINTS FOR READERS BUYING THROUGH THE PRIMARY TICKET MARKET?

A. The primary ticket market is the hardest way to buy tickets, due to the fact that most popular events sell out before the general public has a chance to buy tickets. I would say it is always good to have friends that are season-ticket holders, or hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones to be able to buy tickets from Ticketmaster. If not, plan to pay a pretty penny for these hard-to-get tickets from a ticket broker.

Q. WHAT’S A FAVORITE “EXPERIENCE” YOU’VE PACKAGED RECENTLY?

A. Two of my favorite events that I have organized recently were the BCS National
Championship game [LSU vs. Ohio State, held in January in New Orleans] and the upcoming ’08 Ryder Cup [September 16–21, Louisville, Ky.]. I am a huge college-football fan, so any bowl game or college-football experience gets me excited! The Ryder Cup is going to be a huge deal, and I am looking forward to it coming to Louisville. This will be an awesome event to entertain clients or reward top performers and will leave an impression that will last a lifetime. And yes—we still have availability.

THE PLAYERS

Primary ticket seller: Operates with a contract from the venue. Largest company, with online, phone and retail location outlets: Ticketmaster
(which also owns resale marketplaces).

Ticket broker: Resells tickets.

Largest company online: StubHub, bought in 2007 by eBay.

Ticket scalper: Usually refers to an individual ticket reseller without a storefront or Web site.

THE LAW

Six states—Kentucky, Arkansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island and North Carolina—have anti-scalping laws that either prohibit the sale of tickets for greater than face value, or at least cap the margin.

THE RACE

Ticketmaster says “bots” generate as much as 80 percent of all ticket requests for some shows or events. These bots are used by brokers and have automated features that allow them to beat individual consumers to the hot tickets.

THE MONEY

The secondary ticket market is estimated at $2.5–5 billion per year in the U.S.

Anyone accepting just cash...you’d better run the other way.