Post by TheShadow on Sept 3, 2006 6:21:25 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com
Two home games already sold out
By Paul T. Rosynsky, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — When tickets to Oakland Raiders home games went on sale last month, there was a line out the door of The Raider Image store on Hegenberger Road.
Within one hour, the Raiders home game against the defending Super Bowl Champs Pittsburgh Steelers was sold out.
It appears Raiders tickets have finally become a hot commodity.
People are really excited, said Steve Gonzalez, a sales representative at the Raiders Image store. Now that the Personal Seat License is gone, people can get the tickets they want (and) the response has been really good.
Although the team still has thousands of seats to sell to reach the hefty attendance records of its NFL rivals, the first year without the PSL appears to be a success.
Team officials will not release specific sales figures until Wednesday but an unscientific check of availability shows the team is on its way to having at least two sellouts this year.
Paid attendance for the teams two pre-season games, a good indication of season ticket sales, averaged 45,869 out of roughly 63,000.
Individual game tickets for club seats and for seats in the two highest pricing categories also appear to be sold out. Although, its unclear if those seats are being reserved for future season ticket buyers.
The club seats are all but sold out (and) we are significantly ahead (from last year) on a season ticket sales perspective, said Amy Trask, Raiders chief executive officer. Our goal is to sell out every game.
The enthusiasm shown for the Silver and Black this year is what team owner Al Davis envisioned when he brought the team back to its birthplace more than 10 years ago.
But it also was the type of enthusiasm that was taken for granted when the team and local officials devised the woeful PSL plan.
That plan, which required fans to pay between $250 to
$4,000 for the right to purchase season tickets, resulted in empty seats and years of frustration for fans, the organization and local government.
It also resulted in a $1.1 billion lawsuit which ended in 2003 after a Sacramento jury said the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum must pay the Raiders $34 million.
Though the original plan called for the PSL to continue until the Raiders lease at the Coliseum expires in 2010, local officials and the team agreed this year to scrap the PSL.
In doing so, Alameda County and Oakland forfeited the right to collect money on the sale of Raiders tickets but they gained new revenue sources, including parking and concessions sales.
The agreement also gave the Raiders control of ticket sales. And it abolished PSLs and the Oakland Football Marketing Association, a group that, until this year, sold Raiders tickets.
With new control, the Raiders revamped the ticket price structure offering fans more options and, in some cases, cheaper seats. The team also began an advertising campaign and sent representatives throughout the Bay Area to sell tickets at fairs and festivals.
You name it, we have been there, Trask said. We want the fans to know that we have taken over ticket operations.
It also allowed the Raiders to begin selling tickets through Ticketmaster, at Raider headquarters in Alameda and the organizations 13 The Raider Image stores.
The future of the Oakland Raiders, both on the field and off, depends on the success of the sales effort.
When announcing the deal that killed the PSL, Davis said the next five years will determine if the Raiders can be viable economically in Oakland.
Nobody knew for sure if the lack of ticket sales was a result of a faulty ticket operation or a lack of interest in the team.
While it could be both, sales this year appear to show that fans are willing to buy tickets.
And the more tickets sold, the more money that is spread to both the team and local government.
Its better than before, definitely, said Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente. I am pretty sure it is going to be a great season and we are going to get more money.