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Andrew: I mentioned tickets before, what’s it going to take to get you into the building? Michael Lipman joins us every week from www.ticketsofamerica.com.

Michael: Andrew, don’t you love this time of year?

Andrew: I do… but not until next week to be honest with you, the conference championship games don’t do much for me. However, I know it’s a big draw in NY. We talked about it last week. So, Big East Tournament, Title game, Saturday night. What are talking here?

Michael: Wee I’ll tell you something, before UConn lost it was $200.00 to $1500.00. Now since UConn lost it’s $100.00 to $1000.00.

Andrew: Wait…UConn was that big of a draw?

Michael: Oh, UConn is the tournament, if you don’t have a NY area school in the final it makes a huge difference, because of the drive over factor.

Andrew: I understand that, but to me, even though there’s a drive down from Stores, and not that much of a drive, to me for some reason UConn is that sexy team this year, maybe I’m looking at it the wrong way.

Michael: Well it’s just the fans, it’s like a culture, I mean the whole state is really behind basketball, and I’ll tell you one thing, people look at the finals and obviosly people are looking at the ACC final and circling that. We talked about the prices last week at Cameron it was $1900.00 to get in. Right now for the ACC Championship everyone is looking ahead to the NCAA and the Conference championship right now is $150.00-$250.00 to get in, Duke vs. UNC, one week later.

Andrew: Michael, what about in the Big Ten? Where Indiana is on to a second round game and they are in Indianapolis.

Michael: Great Fans. Obviously they’re going to have an impact and if they go to the championship of the Big Ten that is going to definitely drive the price. But you know what interesting enough, even so with the Final Four, we call it the Final Four, we don’t call it the Final Two. The Semi Finals is definitely a bigger tickets and there’s definitely more value for the championship because you have two losing teams selling their tickets. So that also dictates the price and really has an impact. the Semi Final game definitely is a bigger ticket.

Andrew: Michael Lipman, www.ticketsofamerica.com joining us on Game Time Live on FOX. Michael, compare it, these championship weekend tickets, these conference championship weekend tickets, to anything we’re going to see next week in the first round.

Michael: Nothing, the way they have the format, you can go to ticketsofamerica.com Sunday when they put the draw out, it’s really tremendous because the teams are playing closer to their homes. They put UNC in Raleigh, that’s going to drive the price to the moon. Memphis playing in Arkansas is going to drive the price to the moon. And I’ll tell you, in Miami, the people, they are not the best fans for the Miami Hurricanes, but as many games as have been selling out, they put them in Tampa and they are going to drive over and put the price up.

Andrew: Miami fans!

Michael: They are hot right now!

Andrew: I know, I just didn’t know they had any basketball fans.

Michael: I didn’t know either! But they’re selling out every game now.

Andrew: I didn’t even know they had a basketball program.

Michael: And obviously Florida State if they get in to the tournament you the drive over factor again. Where ever the game is, if there is a team close, they will drive over and push the price up. And that’s good the NCAA did is keep them close together.

Andrew: We have about a minute left, what is the perfect Final Four match up for a ticket broker?

Michael: It depends what side of the fence, obviously ticket brokers such a ticketsofamerica.com, we take orders all year long, so if you have a lot of orders you want a soft Final Four, if you have a lot of inventory you want to see a big Final Four. So if you want to see a big Final Four you want Texas to make because it is in San Antonio. UNC and Duke are also big every time they get in

 

 Interview with Andrew from Fox Sports Radio [4:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Andrew: To get a ticket maybe you should go to www.ticketsofamerica.com, Michael Lipman joins us every week, hi Michael!

Lipman: Hey! good evening Crystal and Andrew, how’re you guys doing?

Andrew: good how are you?

Lipman: I’m great great, march madness, big week for us!

Andrew: I heard a rumor about march madness, let’s talk about these stadiums here, Detroit’s Ford Field and then Reliant stadium the one I just mentioned in Houston, they’re not going to do them in their traditional layout, which is, throw the court at one end and one endzone of the dome stadium, and then drop a curtain, these configurations are going to be different, what does it mean for the fan?

Lipman: Boy, it really deplets the huh, well for me it makes the prices go down because we buy tickets well in advanced and unfortunately for me they cost me a lot of money, for the fans, they’re the real winners, because obviously more supply is going to bring the prices down, and I tell you, if you had the game at the Toyota Center in Houston, you’d probably looking at about a $500 ticket versus a $250 ticket, I’m talking lower bowl strips for the South region, right now the south region is going anywhere from $250 to $2500, and the hottest ticket obviously at a regular stadium where the Bobcast play, the east regional, obviously some great matchups, like we talked last week with the home cooking, you have North Carolina, in the East region, you’re looking at a $400 and up strip right now so, and definitely the ford field, I mean the economy in Detroit, tickets are actually going under face value, according to www.ticketsofamerica.com

Andrew: under face value! really?

Lipman: for the midwest region, yes!

Andrew: is that because nobody likes Kansas or nobody wants to go to Detroit? it’s, several factors, A: you have to look at what the local economy is going to drive, because obviously you have the teams thats going to drive the market up, and you do have some good teams like Wisconsin and Kansas, and they’re good traveling fans, but the local economy in Detroit is very bad, as we all know, there is a recession going on, so I think that has a good impact on the price especially the premium tickets, obviously you’re seen much higher premium tickets in the East region where they’re topping at $2000 a book, and the south region is topping at $2500, and the west you’re looking at $1750 for the top courtside seats, for the midwest we’re talking about Detroit is only $850, so it’s really 40cents
on the dollar less than the other markets.

Andrew: Michael Lipman, ticketsofamerica.com, Michael we’ve talked about this in the past, we have 16 teams remaining, your dream final four match up, other than we know Texas because they’re going to be in Texas.

Lipman: well, obviously, the North Carolina fans are not going to let go of their tickets, they have driven the final four to the roof before, so obviously North Carolina is going to make a very big ticket, Texas obviously is going to make the largest ticket because of the drive over factor, the kansas fans definitely would drive the price up, and actually I think memphis would drive the prices up too with the drive down factor or Tennessee, and UCLA fans obviously representing the west coast in Texas, I think they would drive it, so I would say those are the major schools that would make this a tough ticket for the final four, but obviously Texas is the million dollar question because without Texas in there, you’re looking probably about $200 a book, which is just about face value, versus Texas being in there you’re looking at a $500 a book, so Texas is the factor for this final four when it comes to prices.

Andrew: and for those who don’t know, Austin and UT is only about 65-70 miles away from San Antonio. Michael I have only a minute remaining here, opening day now that we have this game out of the way, stateside which is the most sought after opening day ticket for next week

Lipman: obviously because of the Red Sox getting the rings, Fenway Park is going to be packed on April 8th, right now you have a record opening day, $250 to get in the door for an opening day baseball game and the field boxes are going for $2500 and up, the most expensive seat for opening day is at Yankee stadium on 3.31 which the legend field boxes are going for $3500 a piece, so once again it’s Boston/NY

Andrew: wow! Michael Lipman, www.ticketsofamerica.com, Michael as always sir, thank you very much!

 

 Standard Podcast [4:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Announcer: It’s time for Ticket Talk with Michael Lipman from Tickets of America! Tickets of America is never sold out, call 888-383-1515 or go online to www.ticketsofamerica.com <http://www.ticketsofamerica.com/>.

Evan: 4:49 and Evan Cohen back with you on ESPN Radio 760. Joining me now on the Metro PCS Hotline from Tickets of America it is Michael Lipman! Michael, how are you today?

Michael: Hey, good afternoon Evan. It’s been a busy, busy day strategizing in the ticket world after last night’s injury.

Evan: Yeah, it’s interesting, I was thinking about that when I.there’s been a big debate about who brings people to the seats, is it Duane Wade? Is it Shaquille O’Neill? Is it both of them? So take me through, because you’ve been down here in South Florida for a while and you know how fans think better than anybody, in terms of people buying tickets at Tickets of America. Was it Shaq, was it Wade? What was it that brought people to the table for the Miami Heat?

Michael: It was definitely Shaq, I mean when Shaq was rumored to come from LA to the Miami Heat, that’s when the season ticket holder base went nuts. Granted the year before that happened.or the month before when they made that great playoff run out of no where and they actually lost in the semi-final of the Eastern Conference to the Indiana Pacers and Wade went nuts in the series, as well as the series before when they went seven games with the Hornets. That really got fans excited but when season tickets holders really went over the top was when Shaq came.

Evan: Interesting, I’m here with Michael Lipman of Tickets of America, “Never Sold Out,” 888-383-1515, www.ticketsofamerica.com <http://www.ticketsofamerica.com/>. So you said you’ve been strategizing, take me inside what that means exactly. What has gone on in your world since Duane Wade got hurt and we don’t know if he is going to play again at the triple A all year.

Michael: Well. the bottom line is, we are really vulnerable to the.being in the service industry in Florida, to the tours and what comes in, so you find that the hottest Heat tickets are during the holiday times, the kids Spring Break time, and certain times a year, and Presidents Day weekend, three day weekends, Memorial Weekend, whenever there’s a lot of tourist down here. That all comes in to effect, those times of the year won’t be affected, what is affected is the weekday games with corporate people, if you don’t put a winning product on the court, which we have found this year, definitely sales are down, and not having Shaq for the first half of the season basically, we really suffered. Wade was playing so I think the combination of them both not being on the court at the same time.bottom line is the Ws and Ls.

Evan: Again, Talking with Michael Lipman here, I’m Evan Cohen on ESPN Radio 760. www.ticketsofamerica.com <http://www.ticketsofamerica.com/> - 888-383-1515. For all of your ticket needs, not only here in South Florida but all over the country, if you have friends across the country, Michael can hook you up anywhere. I’ve been on the website, it amazing the amount of inventory they have with these tickets. Anyway, Let’s just say for arguments sake, the Heat all of a sudden out of nowhere, now I don’t think you think this is going to happen or that I think this is going to happen, but let’s play the hypothetical game, somehow they start winning some games even without Duane Wade you think maybe all of a sudden it’s a buzz now, because Shaq is there and they’re winning without Wade, that hey maybe you got to come see this team win without their best player.

Michael: Yeah it’s a combination of that, when you have busy times of the year, obviously you have the Sony Ericsson, there will be a lot of tourists in town during that time, there are a lot of Heat games, I think the times you’re going to see how strong the fans are is during the Monday, Tuesday, the weekday games, are you going to have a sellout crowd. Weekends you’re guaranteed a sellout crowd just because the kids want to go to the games; it’s not a school night, and there are a tremendous amount of weekend games. And we have great seats, prices have not changed, we haven’t lowered the prices but we have great deals to begin with. You can sit lower bowl for most games for $69.00, just go to www.ticketsofamerica.com <http://www.ticketsofamerica.com/>. You can sit upper level for $29.00. I mean you can’t beat those prices to begin with. Evan: Right, and the other thing is, we all know about South Florida is that Wade or not Lebron James is still here on Sunday.

Michael: Right and the Detroit Pistons are coming here Saturday night, and then there are teams like the Nets and.you know we are still fighting for the division, so also Orland and Washington. I mean it will be very hard for us not to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. I mean we’re not talking about a tough conference here, we are in seventh, eighth place, for us to drop out of the running would have to be a disaster.

Evan: Evan Cohen talking with Michael Lipman from Tickets of America at 888-383-1515, www.ticketsofamerica.com <http://www.ticketsofamerica.com/>, alright, let’s move on from the Heat. March Madness coming up, I still think in my opinion, the Gators are the best in America, you could say Wisconsin, Ohio States, those teams play this weekend. If Wisconsin beats Ohio State than the Gators wind up at number one again, they beat South Carolina last night. I would be shocked if they didn’t make a run in the NCAA Tournament. At this point, gun to my head Michael, I’d pick them to go to the Final Four. So I got to assume March Madness is already starting to heat up, especially with Gator fan looking for tickets to see them in the tournament.

Michael: I think you’ve brought up an interesting point here, it doesn’t really matter who’s number one today, I think the bottom line is once they put the draw out, there are four number one teams. So, I think, when it is all said and done, as long as they get a number one seed, which I can’t see happening, I think those three teams you just said are pretty much locked.

Evan: Now I don’t know this off the top of my head, and you may not either, I am almost positive part of the NCAA tournament takes place in Florida this year, but I can’t remember where, I may be wrong Michael, do you have nay idea about that?

Michael: You have the ACC Conference Tournament in Tampa this year, but there are no regionals down here this year. You have the Tampa ACC Tournament, which we have great seats for, so that should be a great thing. I remember the last time it was in Tampa it was the Final Four, the biggest Final four in the history on final Fours, you had Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State and you had Yukon in there. That was a monster ticket. It’s going to be at the St. Pete Times, we have great seats, your audience would be a car ride away, and that’s great basketball. I think, Evan, that is the best value in sports, for anything, is the NCAA Tournament and these Conference Tournaments. We specialize in the big East tournaments; our office in NY City is exactly across from Madison Square Garden on 31^st and 7^th in the lobby of the Affinia Hotel. So we take a strong position on the Big East basketball tournament and the ACC, we have a satellite office in Tampa, so we can satisfy all your needs for the conference tournaments. Then we move into the first and second rounds, regionals and of course the Final Four. There will be a huge amount of action there with Florida favored to go back to the Final four in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

 Ticket Talk with Michael Lipman on ESPN 760 with Evan Cohen [7:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download