We anticipate more or less normal newsletters during the New Year's holidays, but expect the newsletters to be relatively short.

We wish all our regular readers and visitors a joyous and happy holiday season.

Warren E. Domke, aka Newsnose

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San Antonio Express-News

Rodeo & Stock Show

Just try to lasso a seat at rodeo

By David Uhler
San Antonio Express-News

A few days after Diamond Rio was made part of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo's musical lineup, Henry Juarez and his wife visited the ticket office at the SBC Center in hopes of scoring some good seats.

They first asked about tickets in the so-called "Lower Bowl," an area closest to the stage.

All sold out, they were told.

What about a spot in the "Upper Bowl," such as the choice seats right in the center of the balcony?

Gone, too, came the reply.

The Juarezes finally settled on a pair of $18.50 seats behind the upper bowl's front-row section, the "best available seating," according to the ticket seller's computer.

"I'm disappointed," said Henry Juarez, a corrections officer.

Juarez won't be the only rodeo fan disappointed by the lack good seats still available for the rodeo's first year in the SBC Center.

Although promotional material for the Feb. 1-16 rodeo, including a brochure Juarez clutched in his hands, boasts that "in here every seat is the best one in the house," many of the best seats were sold long before customers had a chance to ask for them.

A highly successful sales campaign for season tickets, giving purchasers seats at all 20 rodeo performances and concerts, has pushed many individual ticket buyers into the back of the balcony and onto the wings.

The SBC Center has 16,500 seats for the rodeo; 8,400 season tickets were sold before individual tickets went on sale Dec. 7.

"We come to the rodeo every year," Juarez said. "I didn't know so many seats would already be sold out."

At Freeman Coliseum, a 10,000-seat dome that was the annual rodeo's home for more than half a century, organizers typically sold 4,000 season tickets.

Rodeo officials admit they're on the horns of a dilemma: The more tickets they sell, they better they're able to fulfill the rodeo's mission. All proceeds from the annual event go to a fund that has provided more than $42 million in scholarships, grants and endowments to kids since 1984, including $4.6 million last year alone.

At the same time, officials want to keep their paying customers, both season and individual seat holders, happy.

"You've got the customer side," said Bruce Cobb, assistant executive director of San Antonio Livestock Exposition Inc., the organization that runs the rodeo and stock show. "But we also have the whole mission, which is driving scholarship programs.

"We're trying to create a lot of happy people on both sides. Sometimes you can't get there."

For years, officials capped the number of season ticket holders at the coliseum, which meant 6,000 seats still were available for individual sale every year. At the SBC Center, about 8,100 seats were left when individual tickets went on sale two weeks ago.

The new arena doesn't have the beams and rafters that plagued the view of some spectators in the coliseum's "nose-bleed section." The SBC Center's greater size, however, also means several thousand seats in the upper balcony actually are farther from the stage.

In addition, season ticket holders automatically earn the right to buy the same seats next year. Cobb said SALE doesn't plan to cap season ticket sales in the new arena.

"We don't view that we'll sell out the whole building in season seats," he said. "We want to continue to have some opportunity in this building, like we had in the Freeman, where we can go out and sell to the public for all of the performances."

SALE kicked off its season ticket drive last summer. Previous season ticket holders got first pick. Officials next turned to people who had put their names on a waiting list. Then, for the first time, they opened up season ticket sales to the general public.

The arena's prime seats are relatively pricey. "Super Box" seats, which cost $50 per show, or $1,000 for the entire rodeo run, come with amenities that include a private bar and in-seat food and beverage service. "Lower Bowl" seats, which range from $28.50 to $31.50 per show, include access to two exclusive clubs, with a buffet, carving stations and a full-service bar.

Both the "Super Box" and "Lower Bowl" sections, which also require a $50 club membership for each ticket account, are completely sold out to season ticket holders. Tickets in the "Upper Bowl," where officials have also sold 2,450 season seats, don't include any special perks.

Lisa Lindner, director of public relations and media at SALE, said many longtime season ticket holders are members of ranching families, corporations, rodeo aficionados and others who have held their seats for generations.

"Some of those boxes have been owned by the same family since Joe and Harry," said Lindner, referring to the Freeman brothers, now deceased, who helped launch the rodeo in 1949. "It was a tradition to keep it in the family. They knew that if they ever lost a box, it would be very difficult to get back in."

The season ticket drive at the new arena opened the door to everyone. Cobb said the buyers may have included ticket brokers, more derisively known as "scalpers," the people who buy tickets and try to resell them at a profit.

"As much as we would like to prevent that, it's really impossible," Cobb said. "When you're selling to a customer, you don't know that customer's intentions unless you have some kind of superpowers."

Several local brokers already have rodeo tickets for sale. At Prime Seat Tickets in San Antonio, however, a salesman who identified himself only as "Mark" said all of the brokers he knows wouldn't buy season tickets directly. Instead, he said, they sell tickets on consignment from season seat holders and others who already have them.

"We didn't buy season tickets," Mark said. "It's really not that profitable. There's too many shows during the week."

It's the basic law of supply and demand: The hottest rodeo tickets are for top acts and weekends —— and the best seats. On its Web site, Prime Time has several blocks of seats that belong to season ticket holders, with the same seat assignments at every performance.

For instance, someone with 10 season seats in section 124 in the "Lower Bowl" offered them for sale with Prime Time. The original cost of the tickets: $6,350 for 20 performances, including the club membership fee. Prime Time has them for sale at $135 per ticket, which means this block of seats could fetch $27,000 if all tickets sell.

As of Friday, a pair of $135 tickets in this section still was available through Prime Time for the Diamond Rio concert and rodeo performance.

duhler@express-news.net

12/21/2002

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KBUC FM 95.7
Jourdanton – Pleasanton – Poteet – San Antonio

Big and Getting Bigger: San Antonio Rodeo

December 26, 2002

Rodeo fans are getting some bad news that followed the good news that there will be more seats available with the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo's move to the new SBC Center beginning next year. The bad news is, those seats are going so fast the choicest seats have already been sold.

Although promotional material for the February 1st through 16th rodeo boasts "every seat is the best one in the house," many of the best seats were sold long before customers had a chance to ask for them. A very successful sales campaign for season tickets, for seats at all 20 rodeo performances and concerts, has pushed many ticket buyers to the back of the balcony and onto the wings. The SBC Center has 16,500 seats for the rodeo; 8,400 season tickets were sold before individual tickets went on sale December 7th.

Officials limited the number of season ticket holders at the Joe and Harry Freeman Coliseum, leaving 6,000 seats still available for individual sale. At the Center, about 8,100 seats were left when individual tickets went on sale. Season ticket holders automatically earn the right to buy the same seats next year.

The new arena seats more and doesn't have the beams and rafters that blocked the view of some spectators in the coliseum's "nose-bleed section." But the SBC Center's greater size also puts several thousand seats in the upper balcony farther from the stage.

I'm Warren Domke, for KBUC News. wdomke@hotmail.com

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