Jackson Hole Rodeo: There is No I in Team

For over 125 years the Wilson family has strived to keep western heritage alive at the Jackson Hole Rodeo. Founded in the 1890s, Jackson Hole Rodeo is a family-run destination for events in the Wyoming area. The rodeo hosts a variety of events from bull riding, horse riding, roping, barrel racing, and more.

The Rodeo began utilizing Tickets.com’s ProVenue^® back-office ticketing platform in 2018 and selling online tickets through MyProVenue™ at the same time. Additionally, the Rodeo utilizes Alfred^®, the proprietary all-in-one access control solution for ticket validation from Tickets.com running on Zebra^® handheld devices.

King Mountain, the weather is a major component of outdoor sports and rodeo activities. The Rodeo typically operates events seasonally from June – August. The rest of the year the Wilson family and staff work to maintain the Rodeo facility, plus manage the care and feeding of the animals on site. “Our facility is not like a regular store, we can’t just close shop in August when the fans leave,” said Brandon Wilson, Partner at the Jackson Hole Rodeo.

So how did the Rodeo swing it in 2020 and 2021?

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NASCAR Speeds Ahead with Ticketing Technology

NASCAR ticketing technology moves at the speed of, you guessed it, NASCAR. Tickets.com sat down with Kari Gritton, Managing Director of Consumer Strategy at NASCAR to discuss the return to live racing with fans, how their strategies have evolved, and the technology that helped them manage the constant changes.

“We were days away from the NASCAR Cup Series at Homestead Miami Speedway when all of sports and live entertainment shut down,” said Gritton.

Tickets.com Interview | Kari Gritton, Managing Director of Consumer Strategy at NASCAR

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Wolf Trap Celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2021 with New Technology

2021 marked the 50th anniversary for the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts (Wolf Trap) and a sorely missed return to live events at the venue.

Wolf Trap is a unique venue in many ways. For one, it is part of a nonprofit organization nestled inside of a National Park. Secondly, performances at Wolf Trap cover the full spectrum of music and performing arts genres, and lastly, the venue operates three different stages for these events. The Filene Center is an outdoor venue that can seat 7,000 patrons, while the outdoor Children’s Theater-in-the-Woods can seat about 800, and The Barns indoor venue is the smallest and can seat 382.

Bernard S. Berry III, Senior Director Ticket Services Wolf Trap, spoke on how grateful the Wolf Trap team is for the support the venue receives from its patrons,

“The community responded any way they could, supporting anything that we put out, whether it be streaming or fundraisers… They (patrons) were going to make sure that Wolf Trap lasted through the pandemic. Everything from the members saying to just ‘hold on to my tickets’ and making donations until we figured out what was going on, to the public saying ‘nope, we trust you’. And when your spirits are low, as you are canceling shows, to be buoyed by the fact that the public not only would like to see you around, wants you to be around, needs you to be around, I don’t even know what to say about it other than, thank you.”

Tickets.com Interview | Bernard S. Berry III, Senior Director Ticket Services Wolf Trap

In 2021 when Wolf Trap re-opened its doors to the community, the box office team to worked closely with Tickets.com to temporarily create modified seating plans in the ProVenue® ticketing platform and leaned in on digital, “…we adapted our ticket selling methods,”

The Wolf Trap team made key strategic changes including:

Leaning in on digital
Becoming a Tickets.com Certified Registered Developer and creating a home-grown custom solution.

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Erie County Fair | The Best of Summer with Digital Tickets

Hamburg, NY Tickets.com and Erie County Agricultural Society made history at the 181^st Erie County Fair (Fair) in Western New York in the summer of 2021. For the first time ever, the ‘Best 12 Days of Summer’ admission tickets were sold exclusively online through MyProVenue™, the Tickets.com web application for digital tickets.

Under the cloud of the pandemic, the Fair had a compressed timeline for planning, marketing, and selling tickets to their GUSTO Grandstand events as well as fair admissions. Events and operations were pulled together in just over 80 days once state and county officials provided final approval and guidelines when normally the planning process would be a year in the making. That’s 285 days less, for those of you doing the math.

The 2021 Fair Experience

Though the team knew the Fair would not look the same, it would remain true to the values and traditions that are reminiscent of the annual event. The team was anxious to provide families with the opportunity to create memories in person, get back to tradition, where patrons could immerse themselves in a world of ‘Summertopia’ with the traditional crazy foods, cute animals, top-notch competition, spinning rides, and just plain fun entertainment.

The adjustments started with online-only ticket sales while in previous years patrons could make purchases in retail locations. Ticket inventory was adjusted and re-adjusted for events at the Fair Grandstand, the aisle walkways were widened and vendors were limited to increase social distance, and the Fair also offered free parking to limit contact touchpoints. With staffing shortages, the 2021 Fair was very different.

Get the full story to learn more about this pivotal summer.

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Tampa Bay Rays | The Walk Up Game

Going into the 2021 season, the Tampa Bay Rays explored all kinds of new technologies to help them collect more directional data, identify more of their fans, and improve the overall ticketing experience.

Tickets.com sat down with Jimmy Reed, Manager, Strategy & Analytics at the Tampa Bay Rays to discuss the 2021 season and what they learned while welcoming back their fans into the stands.

The Walk-Up Game

A portion of sales for the Rays come from game day ticket purchases at the box office, known as walk-ups. While in the past walk-up sales were done in-person, in 2021, the Rays made modifications to adopt mobile-only ticket sales. On game day, fans looking to purchase tickets were met with QR-code signage which when scanned, took them through the MyProVenue^™ ticket purchase flow and then to ticket delivery within the MLB Ballpark™ app.

“We’ve been mobile-only the whole year, we’ve had the ability for fans to scan a QR code to buy tickets through the MyProVenue^™ purchase flow, but we really wanted to see if we could take it to that next step to make the experience even quicker.”

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Medieval Times | Royal Re-Opening with Strong Communication

Tickets.com sat down with Kristen Schascheck, Vice President of Sales at Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament (Medieval Times) to discuss how this unique attraction faced the many challenges re-opening castles across North America.

Medieval Times is North America’s most popular dinner attraction featuring heroic knights on spirited horses displaying astounding athletic feats and thrilling swordplay along with a four-course feast fit for royalty. With ten North American locations (Florida, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, Arizona, and Ontario, Canada), the pandemic posed a wide range of new regulations and safety protocols. Changes to the Castles included items like seating arrangements, entrance modifications, distancing and cleanliness protocols, personal protective equipment, and adjustments to food and beverage service.

Kristen Schascheck said about the changes her team has gone through, “Our internal motto is ‘be like water.’ We have learned to flow with whatever challenges and changes come our way!”

Tickets.com Interview | Kristen Schascheck, Vice President of Sales at Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament

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Phillies | Always Loyal with Stored Value

PhilliesScript PNG The Philadelphia Phillies in tandem with their concessionaire Aramark have been in the stored value game for over 18 seasons. Working closely with Givex™, a Tickets.com certified solution via the Registered Developer Program, they have taken stored value to a new level.

What is Stored Value?

Stored value is ticket functionality which enables barcoded tickets to have multiple functions, (gate entry, food, beverage, and merchandise redemptions) with the scan of a barcode on a Point of Sale (POS) system.

“The Phillies have been a valued, long-time Givex partner and are using gift cards and Uptix to enhance their fans’ ballpark experiences,” said Debbi Blackburn, Vice President of Business Development at Givex. “Our leading stored-value ticket technology and overall Givex tools provide them with new opportunities to engage with and reward fans for their incredible loyalty,” she added.

Stored value tickets are used every game day at Citizens Bank Park for a slew of programs including, Designated Driver Program, fan appreciation gifts, group outings, club-designated premium areas, customer service issues, and more.

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Hickory Crawdads | Migrating to Tickets.com ProVenue Ticketing Platform

The Hickory Crawdads joined Tickets.com in late 2019 and have been maximizing their use of vouchers and reporting functionality from the ProVenue system. Additionally, they have expanded their group sales and offered new fan purchase flow options with FEVO, a Tickets.com certified Registered Developer.

Tickets.com Interview | Kristen Buyner, Director of Ticket Operations, Hickory Crawdads

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Youngstown State University | Digital Tickets

What’s has wings but cannot fly, and can weather the storm of a pandemic?

The Youngstown State University Penguins.

Long-standing Tickets.com partner, Youngstown State University (YSU) upgraded to ProVenue^® and MyProVenue^™ just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the box office, YSU suspended in-person sales and implemented QR codes to reduce crowding on game days. By prompting Penguin fans and students to access MyProVenue for purchases and managing their tickets, the box office team was able to drive more operations online and reduce their on-site staff.

“We are pleased to continue our partnership with Tickets.com. Upgrading to ProVenue has already proven to be the right choice. There has been a steady increase in our online football and basketball sales. The Tickets.com staff has always been available to assist with remote training,” said Ron Strollo, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Youngstown State University.

Currently, YSU is utilizing the Zebra hand-held scanners powered by Alfred, the all-in-one access control solution from Tickets.com. Zebra technologies provide a cost-effective hand-held ticket scanning solution for the ultimate on-site efficiency.

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Exploration and Reinvention in Memphis with the Museum of Science & History (MoSH)

In 2020 the Museum of Science & History (MoSH) was on the precipice of launching a 5-year strategic plan to reinvigorate the organization. A new Executive Director was in place, plans for a rebrand were being contemplated, and then the pandemic hit. But while live events were put on pause, the team at MoSH dove head-on into research and testing for their long-term strategic vision.

Tickets.com Interviews |

Kevin Thompson, Executive Director, Museum of Science & History
Jeff King, Director of Guest Services, Museum of Science & History

Strategic Vision

Beyond a new look, the strategic focus was to create a more inviting space to increase engagement with patrons and to foster more curiosity in every patron touchpoint. Everything from new content to new communication strategies to new technologies were explored.

The MoSH team even collaborated with the national Metal Museum in Memphis to install a twenty-five-foot statue of a Mosasaur to greet incoming patrons. Part of creating an inviting space comes from making a less intrusive ticketing experience. Jeff King, Director of Guest Services commented, “The less you notice the ticketing experience, the better,” which is in part why moving to digital tickets was so important to MoSH.