One Stop Shop Ticketing

 

The Intercollegiate Athletic Department spent the last year examining and evaluating football season ticket sales. The Grizzly Scholarship Associations priority seating procedure was given special consideration in the study.

The major areas of concern identified:

A. Modernize. It was apparent that the membership and ticketing process was antiquated and inadequate given our current success. Changes need to be made to make the process more convenient and user friendly for the consumer.

B. Establish an avenue to recognize and promote philanthropic giving. It was obvious that the philanthropic aspect within the GSA was underdeveloped. In fact, no solicitation of GSA membership not attached to seating priority has been done in the last five years.

C. Reorganize and prioritize. The workload within the GSA was unbalanced, thus issues tended to be addressed reactively, not proactively.

The premise for change was primarily based on the rationale that the following goals would be accomplished:

1.              To produce the needed revenue to meet the Deficit Prevention Plan.

2.              To improve positive communication between the Adams Center Box Office, the GSA and Intercollegiate Athletics

3.              To provide a customer friendly setting for Grizzly fans, booster and alumni.

4.              To minimize the amount of staff time committed to ticketing issues.

The result was the creation of a "One Stop Shop" approach to season ticket sales. In the past, GSA members and season ticket holders were required to physically purchase tickets by visiting the GSA as well as the Adams Center Ticket Office. The Adams Center Box Office invoiced and accepted payment for the season tickets, while the GSA invoiced and accepted payment for GSA memberships. Under the new "One Stop Shop" approach, the Adams Center Box Office will invoice and accept payment for season tickets and the appropriate priority seat membership premium. This will free up the GSA staff to concentrate on building the membership base and encourage philanthropic giving.

In addition to being more customer friendly, this will give administrators and executives a readily accessible "go to" person who can also report back to them how requests were handled. Additionally, through their interactions with ticket buyers, the person in this position will be able to serve as a conduit to GSA and the UM Foundation as they look for growing the base of philanthropic giving to their organizations.

The restructuring of the GSA and the creation of the "One Stop Shop" will usher in a new, positive process that will provide a consumer friendly setting for our fans and provide an avenue for the GSA to better acknowledge donors who give without the expectation of seating benefits in return.