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.
