Friday, Jan. 21, 2005

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Ticketmaster to sell Fred shows

Won’t affect season ticket program operated by staff

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Patrons of the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater who can’t make it to the box office to purchase tickets will soon be able to go online or to any Ticketmaster sales outlet.

The amphitheater has struck a deal with Ticketmaster to sell concert tickets, but patrons can avoid the Ticketmaster service charges if they can purchase their tickets in person at the amphitheater box office, said Linda McCarthy, executive director of the Peachtree City Tourism Association.

This will not change how the amphitheater runs its season ticket sales, McCarthy said. The amphitheater staff will continue to run that program, which allows season tickets to be sold before single tickets are put on sale for each individual concert. The same computer system will be used for both season ticket sales and single ticket sales, McCarthy noted.

Patrons who purchase tickets at the box office will not have to pay the usual Ticketmaster service charge, McCarthy noted.

A contract with Ticketmaster was approved unanimously at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Peachtree City Tourism Association.

The association will not have to pay any money for hardware or software, only paying a 20-cent charge for each ticket printed at the box office.

The main benefit of the system is that it allows anyone to go online 24 hours a day if they want to purchase concert tickets, McCarthy noted. Ticketmaster’s phone system is also open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for ticket sales, she added.

Also, the software for managing the ticket sales allows for hourly and daily reports to make tracking sales easier, McCarthy said. Such information can be used to increase marketing in the weeks before a show if necessary, McCarthy added.

The association also heard from Dave Wortmann, the husband of former part-time tennis pro Beth Wortmann. He said he hopes the City Council holds the Tourism Association to the same standards it wanted from the Development Authority: for the tennis center to be self-sustaining from a financial perspective.

Wortmann pointed out that in December, only 13 memberships to the center were renewed, but 19 members declined to renew their memberships.

Wortmann said the association should have hired an accountant and kept its former management team in place. Instead, the association declined to re-hire interim Tennis Center Director Sean Ferreira and interim General Manager Mary Dillon.

Association chairman Murray Weed asked Wortmann if he’d be willing to serve on an advisory committee about tennis center matters. Wortmann replied that while his schedule is sometimes difficult to manage, he would consider it.