|
Early ticket sales are
strong for the Forum’s return to boxing on May 17th, featuring the
return of its prodigal son, Juan Manuel Marquez versus Mike Alvarado. And get
this: fans were actually going to the actual box-office at the newly renovated
building in Inglewood, California to buy tickets (I didn't know people still
did that). [Editor’s note: As “K9” likely
does, I find this highly interactive and equally awesome.]
“We had lines around the
place; I mean, it was huge,” said an enthused Bob Arum on Tuesday afternoon. “We
tweeted it out; we sent out a photographer.”
According to the veteran
promoter and CEO of Top Rank Promotions, the building will be configured for
around 14,000. It's clear that for the rechristening of this storied boxing venue,
the organizers want as many asses in the seats as possible. With that in mind,
they offered a special April 1st promotion (that was no April Fools joke), offering a “complimentary
companion ticket” for seats in the $75 and $150 range available between noon
and 4 p.m., Pacific time on Tuesday, as the tickets were released to the
public.
That said, I did receive
some emails expressing some dissatisfaction over the ticket buying experience:
I
read an article of yours in which you stated there was two-for-one tickets at
the upcoming Forum fight. So I go on Ticketmaster at 12 p.m. to secure two paid
tickets in the hope of getting two freebies. Nothing in my order summary
indicated I got the additional two tickets. I contacted Ticketmaster. They
say I needed a special promo code which I can’t find anywhere, so I canceled my
damn order. F*ck those unscrupulous business tactics. Ticketmaster “doesn't
know” the code. As a consumer, I can’t
contact Top Rank and speak to someone, so I guess my question is, do you know
the promo code? Was it released to the press? Thanks.
Casey
According to Dena duBoef,
who handles tickets for Top Rank, “Nobody had a problem,” as a couple of
thousand tickets were sold. She further explained, “They even went online at
Ticketmaster and it did say, ‘Buy one and take your companion.’ So this guy was
the only person, everybody at the Forum, everybody who did this, they made sure
all the ducks were in order and there wasn't a problem. So this guy, we are happy
to honor whatever he wants.”
(DuBoef asked that Casey
give them a call at the office where he would be accommodated with the original
promotion. This gentleman was given the proper numbers to call.)
Then there was this email:
 |
Photo © Mikey Williams /Top Rank |
Steve
and Gabe,
I wanted to give you guys the lowdown on Arum's “promotion” for the Marquez vs.
Alvarado fight.
The ad is for “buy one/get one free” in $75 or $150 price range. When I went to
purchase four $75 tickets, it basically downgraded the seat quality to $37.50
seats. Mid-rows of upper level. You think you are getting $75 seats
but you really get marked up $37.50 seats sold as $75, four tickets for $150
plus fees (buy one, get one free).
If you go to buy $75 seats outside the promo, you will get lower-level
seats. I thought I would be able to get four of these. Wrong.
This is a fake promo. Fans should be aware. This is wrong.
Best,
JK
To this, duBoef responded, “It
didn't downgrade them. It's $37.50, half of 75. You're getting your $75 tickets
for $37.50. If you bought a $150 ticket; you'd be getting it for $75. We're not
downgrading the tickets. She added later, “We never said, ‘two-for-one tickets’
- it's buy one and bring your companion. ‘Two-for-one,’ we never used that
because we didn't want to sound like it's not a good fight. It's a fantastic event. We were just doing
something to say, ‘Hey, let’s get people on board.’”
The bottom line is Top Rank
wants as full a house as possible on the night of May 17th.
“We did it because we know
people wanted to go see Forum boxing again and we were bringing it back,” said
duBoef. “The Forum was supportive of it. They thought it was a great idea. The
radio stations in L.A. thought it was a great idea and they helped promote it
because they wanted everyone to have the opportunity to go.”
I can be reached
at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.twitter.com/stevemaxboxing.
We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing,
where you can discuss our content with Maxboxing readers as well as chime in
via our fully interactive article comments sections.
|
