Joris Drayer
David K. Stotlar
Richard L. Irwin

The secondary ticket market includes all ticket transactions where the seller is reselling previously purchased tickets and is not officially affiliated with the league or team associated with the event (Happel & Jennings, 2002). The secondary ticket market, which has grown to a $10-15 billion industry, presents challenges as well as new opportunities for team, event, and league management alike (De Atley, 2004; Fisher, 2005; Lacy, 2005; Stecklow, 2006). For instance, fraud has traditionally been one of the major flaws of the secondary ticket market with the image of “scalpers” selling...Read more

Dallass Branch

In 2002, the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets exited the Queen City for greener pastures in New Orleans, thus closing the book on a tumultuous 14-year relationship with their host city and fans. Their tenure in Charlotte was characterized by an NBA record for sold-out attendance from 1988-1996, a lengthy and nasty “divorce” with ownership starting in 1996, and a near complete falling-out with fans from 1997-2002 (“Losing the buzz,” 2002). In that span, average game attendance dropped from 23,000 in 1996 to 11,000 in 2002, even though the franchise made the NBA playoffs for the second straight year...Read more

Michael D. Musante

Mary Davis is the Vice President of Ticket Operations for the NBA’s Cincinnati Devils basketball team. As Mary walked to her office from the breakfast meeting she could not help but wonder how the fan base would respond if the proposed ticket increase for next season was implemented. While there were still eight home games left in the season, it was clear that many of the fans had given up on the team. She feared the announcement of a ticket increase would further erode fan attendance.Read more