Ticket to the Top
By Melanie and Jonathan
The Houston Field House is a lively, exciting place to watch a hockey game, and with good reason: hockey is the only Division I sport at RPI, and by far the most popular of the varsity sports. Despite having the largest arena in the ECAC Hockey League, the men’s team still manages to pull in a sell-out at least once a year, and usually records over 3,000 fans in the stands. With so many tickets being sold, many of them season tickets, the task of keeping track of the attendance and of which seats belong to which ticket-holders is a daunting operation indeed. The box office staff currently needs to count tickets by hand in order to keep track of the attendance at each game, and before the start of each season the staff needs to sort hundreds of season ticket applications to fit the seats together. This particular aspect is especially difficult when it comes to the nonstudent side of the arena; on this side season tickets are renewed each year and the staff thus needs to manage each new application, each fan who wishes to change seats, and each application which was not renewed – and then somehow make sure no two fans end up in the same seat. This job could be made much easier and more efficient if a new, more electronic system was implemented. By using electronic seating charts and databases to store information about who has purchased seats and handheld barcode scanners to scan tickets
2 for entry to the Field House, the current system could be greatly improved. Ticketholders and the box office staff alike would enjoy the benefits of a system like this. Problem The current system is more complicated than it needs to be for everyone involved. When fans buy season tickets in the hockey line, they select their seats on a huge paper diagram, one for each section of the arena. These diagrams are basically a large grid, with the rows and columns labeled with row letters and seat numbers. However, these labels are small and it is hard to see which labels go with which rows and columns, so it is difficult to select tickets. Once the customer chooses seats, his name is written in the boxes corresponding to those seats, and once he pays the process is complete. Because this is all done on paper, there is no practical way for receipts to be offered, so when this is combined with the difficulty of choosing seats in the first place, it is all too easy to not know or to forget which seats you have purchased. This is especially true for fans buying tickets in large groups who want to be able to report back to the group which seats have been purchased. Without a receipt, it is also possible to encounter disputes when picking up tickets, since season tickets are picked up at a later date. If a set of tickets ends up filed under the wrong name, or if some similar misplacing occurs, it can be very hard to tell who should receive the tickets. Hand in hand with these problems come difficulties for the box office staff as well. Using the large paper diagrams is unnecessarily cumbersome and unwieldy, and it also makes it difficult to keep track of who has which seats. Because everything is done by hand on paper, keeping track of all the information is very complicated and it is impossible to prevent the small errors such as a ticket being filed under the wrong name,
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3 and then the same paper-intensive system which spawns these errors in the first place makes them difficult to resolve. In addition, the Houston Field House staff must hand count the tickets for each game in order to record the attendance; this figure is usually above 3,000 tickets and on some occasions runs upwards of 5,000. The arena also faces a possible financial loss due to the possibilities of fraud, as it is conceivable that someone could enter the game using a ticket for a different game or a ticket which has already been used. Solution We propose a more electronic system for handling hockey tickets at RPI. This system would make the process easier and more efficient for both the ticket-holders and the box office staff by improving the procedures for purchasing and using tickets. The changes to the method for buying tickets would come in two main parts: an improved seating chart and an electronic database to store ticket information. The Houston Field House’s website currently includes a chart diagramming the seats in the arena (RPI Houston Field House). This seating map is a great starting point for the new system, as it allows fans to see where the various sections are located and choose which section they would like to sit in. There is also a feature which allows fans to click on a section to see
Counting tickets for this many fans is no easy task; but bar code scanners could make it easy. Source: http://www.rpihockey.net
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4 a photograph of the view from those seats; there are two photographs per section. This is a very helpful feature, and should definitely be maintained. However, the current chart does not allow fans to see clearly where individual seats are located within a section; for example, viewing the chart does not make it clear which end of a row has the lower-numbered seats or what letter
The current seating chart for the Houston Field House allows fans to get a good feel for which section they prefer, but there is room for improvement. Source: http://www.rpi.edu/dept/aux_serv/fieldhouse/seating.html
a given row is labeled with. Consequently, we feel it would also
be helpful to have a larger version of the chart available. This chart could be designed so that a label to the side of the chart would identify row and seat numbers as the viewer held his cursor over a seat. This would allow fans to get a feel for which seats they would like to purchase within a section in addition to which section of the arena they prefer. The more complex part of the new system for purchasing tickets is the electronic database which would store ticket information. This would be similar to the software libraries use to keep track of which titles, authors, and subjects are represented in their collections. The software for the Houston Field House would need to store certain information for each seat – most notably the name of the person who had purchased it, and possibly also the method of payment and the other seats which were purchased in the same group. This database would then be searchable by seat or by name of ticket-holder. This would allow for easy look-up of which tickets a customer should receive if they felt
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5 there was a dispute, or of which customer should receive a certain ticket if it was found to be misfiled. From a programming standpoint, such a database would be quite simple to implement. The program would match each seat number to the other information about the seat and would only require a few functions to add, remove, access, and edit this information. This could even be performed as free-lance work by an RPI Computer Science or Information Technology major; RPI students would almost certainly be willing and able to implement this system at a much lower cost than hiring an outside company would involve. The second major facet of the new system would come into play with regard to using tickets, and would involve implementing the use of barcode scanners to scan tickets for entry to games. This could be accomplished through Ticketmaster’s AccessManager system, allowing the Houston Field House to maintain their relationship with Ticketmaster. This system enables the ticket-takers to scan a barcode on each ticket as each fan enters the building, and the scanners verify that each ticket is authentic. The system also provides for constant monitoring of the attendance and also offers the opportunity of generating reports of attendance patterns, the times fans are entering the building, the number of season tickets as compared to individual game tickets, and other such factors (AccessManager). Precedents Many venues currently employ the use of features such as the Ticketmaster company, barcode scanners, and electronic seating charts. As of right now, RPI uses
Ticketmaster’s scanning system offers many benefits. Source: http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/ ticketfast.html
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6 Ticketmaster as their main ticket provider. RPI has been using Ticketmaster’s services for many years and has a very good working relationship with them. Ticketmaster has proven that they are a reliable company that can generate the tickets needed. Currently, hundreds of professional, minor, and collegiate sports teams use Ticketmaster’s services. Such collegiate hockey teams include North Dakota, University of Maine, and University of Massachusetts at Lowell; all of which have large hockey programs. Ticketmaster also provides its partners with the option to use barcode scanners to track attendance figures. RPI has shown much interest in purchasing these barcode scanners already. They are very handy and easy to operate making the ticket checking process smooth and efficient. Large professional sports teams use these scanners. If the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Eagles and Colorado Avalanche can use these scanners with their maximum capacity crowds, then RPI will definitely find them useful as well. RPI also uses a seating chart online that currently needs to be updated. Many professional and collegiate sports teams have on their website a way to find your seat and check the view as if you were looking at the game. The Boston Celtics, New Jersey Devils and many more use this feature on their website. Questions and Obstacles One factor that could provide an obstacle to a new system is the financial aspect. While price is a major consideration for a small venue such as the Houston Field House, we feel the cost of this system would be very reasonable. In 2000 Tom Stockham, executive vice president of Ticketmaster-Online CitySearch, explained that the barcode scanners would cost around $100 each (Tedeschi). For a small venue which would not need many scanners, this would result in a very reasonable price. The Houston Field
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7 House could purchase two scanners for each entrance for under $1000. There is an estimated $5000 in the budget which could be used for changes to the ticketing system; this cost would stay well under that figure. Where season tickets are concerned, the “hockey line” tradition for purchasing them is a major part of RPI hockey. Students do not want to see the end of the hockey line, therefore we find it beneficial that this new system could easily be integrated with the hockey line. Two or three computer stations would need to be set up temporarily in the Student Union where the hockey line is formed; the box office staff could then access the software to update the database as fans choose and purchase tickets. Thus, the paper diagrams could be eliminated, and in addition the line would likely move faster. This new system would therefore likely improve hockey line – quite the opposite of ending the tradition. Alternatives We find this solution to be the best choice for the RPI hockey program; the possible alternative solutions are all less practical. For example, a swipe card system for season tickets could be implemented via the Ticket Track system (Ticket Track System). This would entail each season ticket holder receiving a credit-card sized swipe card which would be swiped for entry to each game. Although this idea would be more technologically innovative and would also eliminate the problems of lost and stolen tickets, we ultimately feel it would not be feasible. The main reason for this was the cost of the equipment needed; the price seemed likely to fall beyond the Houston Field House’s budget. The Houston Field House also expressed a desire to maintain their relationship with Ticketmaster and this would not be possible with a swipe card system.
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8 In addition, this alternative brought about many additional obstacles such as the questions of how individual game tickets (non-season tickets) would be handled. These factors lead us to believe that the barcode scanning system would be a much more practical solution than swipe cards. Another alternative which we considered was the possibility of being able to use the electronic seating chart to purchase tickets. In this idea, a customer viewing the seating chart on the website would be able to click on seats to be taken to a screen to purchase those seats. As we began to consider this feature, logistical problems became apparent: for example, how would a customer click on and select more than one seat at a time? In addition, this feature is also not available through Ticketmaster, and we believe a program which allowed the Houston Field House to continue their affiliation with Ticketmaster would be beneficial. We thus decided that a more simplistic seating chart would be more feasible. Benefits This solution would engender numerous benefits for the box office staff and for the fans. The new seating chart will retain the benefits of the current chart by allowing fans to see which section they might prefer and to see what sort of view they can expect from those seats. It will also expand upon these benefits by allowing fans a more extensive opportunity to select individual rows and seats within the preferred section. By looking at this chart while ordering tickets, fans could be sure they are actually selecting the tickets they wanted, whereas with the current paper diagrams it is much harder to identify which seats are which. Once seats are selected, the information can be entered in the electronic database, and thus the program could easily print a receipt for
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9 the customer. This would enable fans to keep track of which seats they have purchased, something which would be especially useful to those who are buying tickets for a large group such as a fraternity. Replacing the current paper diagrams with the electronic database would also be beneficial for the box office staff; they would not have to wait for the diagrams to become available and would not have to manage huge sheets of paper with names handwritten on them. The staff and fans alike would enjoy the other major benefit of the system; it would practically put an end to disputes. When a customer purchased a ticket or group of tickets, the information would be entered in the database; thus, it would be fast and easy to retrieve the information and confirm that the customer was receiving all of the correct tickets. This would be especially helpful in the case of season tickets, which are picked up at a later date than when they are purchased. The barcode scanners would also introduce many benefits at the games themselves. Firstly, scanning the tickets would get fans in the door faster than manually checking the tickets. Also, as ticket-takers manually check tickets, in an effort to get fans inside the arena quickly they often merely glance at the tickets as they tear them. Consequently, it is conceivable that somebody could use a ticket for a different game to get inside. Barcode scanners would eliminate this concern as they would not accept any tickets for other games or events. They would also not accept any ticket which had already been scanned, which would remove the concern that a person could leave the game with multiple ticket stubs and then distribute the stubs to friends who could then enter the game without purchasing a ticket.
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10 The Houston Field House has recently started to count the attendance at games by counting the number of tickets torn. Currently, the only way to do this is for the staff to hand-count every ticket stub. Barcode scanners would also put an end to this; at the end of the night they would easily display the number of tickets that had been scanned, thus eliminating a great deal of tedious work for the staff. As an additional advantage, if the arena begins using barcode scanners, fans can then use Ticketmaster’s TicketFast system which allows them to purchase tickets online and print them at home
Ticketmaster’s TicketFast system allows fans to print tickets from their home computers. Source: http://www.ticketmaster.com/h/ ticketfast.html
(TicketFast). Fans have expressed interest in being able to print tickets at home, and would most likely find the opportunity extremely convenient and worthwhile.
This new program would not only put an end to this sort of unnecessarily monotonous work for the staff, it might also save money. Although with all likelihood very few, if any, people are abusing the system by using incorrect tickets or using tickets more than once, these exploitations are possible. If they occur, the Houston Field House loses money. Barcode scanners would put a stopper in this possible leak and ensure that every person in the arena was paying for their ticket as they should be. In addition to this financial benefit, the system might even spark an increase in revenue. With the multitude of benefits for the fans, it might cause an increase in ticket sales. When Stanford University implemented a new ticket system for their basketball program which reduced the amount of time fans had to wait to get into the game, the program saw an increase in
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11 attendance (Foster). If a similar result occurred at RPI, the program would make more money. RPI is a technologically savvy school with many advancements to brag about. However, the hockey ticket system is not one of them. If this new system is implemented, the school will benefit. Ticket sales will likely increase and in turn so will the revenue. With a new coaching staff and new renovations to the Houston Field House, the time is right for one more change which will benefit the program.
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12 Works Cited AccessManager. 2006. TicketMaster Client Centre. 11 December 2006 . Boston Celtics. 2006. 9 December 2006 . Conroy, Dorothy. Personal interview. 21 November 2006. Foster, Christine. “It’s All in the Cards.” Stanford Magazine. 2006. Stanford Alumni Association. 18 November 2006 . New Jersey Devils. 2006. 9 December 2006 . Pearson, Norris. Personal interview. 21 November 2006. RPI Houston Field House. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 4 December 2006 . Tedeschi, Bob. “Ticketmaster Will Permit Home Printing Of Tickets.” The New York Times. 25 January, 2000. Ticket Track System. 2002. The BeanMaster Corporation. 18 November 2006 . TicketFast. 2006. Ticketmaster. 4 December 2006 . Ticketmaster. 2006. 9 December 2006 .
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