ON FRIDAY afternoon a war took place at Scott Stadium - a war between four basic colors. In the battle for chromatic superiority, yellow reigned victorious, while red clinched second place, blue took home the bronze and green walked away dead last.
Each of nearly 4,000 avid Dave Matthew's Band fans at the stadium donned a wristband. The color of the bracelet determined their place in the pre-sale ticket lottery for DMB's April 21 concert at Scott Stadium. The lottery was meant to discourage fans from camping out for tickets. In the end, though, the procedure resulted in disgruntled fans and confusion. Better planning and more information might not have solved all the problems, but it would have been a good start.
Organizing a pre-sale ticket distribution for the largest Dave Matthews concert to hit the singer's musical hometown is no doubt a difficult task. The band gave its consent to offer this special pre-sale privilege to Charlottesville residents and University students before tickets went on sale nationwide Saturday morning. Area residents proved their appreciation and loyalty by spending several hours at the stadium, unsure as to whether they even would be guaranteed a ticket.
Ticketmaster was negligent in giving out information regarding the pre-sale. The company didn't even announce the special pre-sale until Tuesday, just three days before the scheduled distribution. Since it was open only to area residents, the early engagement was only announced in local newspapers and on local radio stations.
Ticketmaster failed to consider that in the information age, the written and spoken word travels almost at the speed of light. Though something may be announced in only a couple zip codes, it doesn't take long for people across the nation to hear the news.
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Of course, it wouldn't have mattered who found out about the pre-sale if it was reserved for Charlottesville residents. However, this simply was not the case. For patrons who purchased tickets in person, there was nothing to verify a fan's address. Out-of-town fans could roll into Charlottesville on Friday and get better seats than local fans.
Because there was virtually no information throughout the ordeal, no one knew whether they would have to offer proof of residence, or present a student ID. Ticketmaster phones went unanswered Friday until the pre-sale started. The Scott Stadium box office is not affiliated with Ticketmaster, and thus could not offer information about the lottery procedure. While advertisements announcing the pre-sale pointed fans to the band's Web site for "event info," this information did not include any mention of ticket sales. Fans were essentially left in the dark before the pre-sale.
Once ticket-seekers received wristbands and were herded into the stadium, the situation didn't get any better. Members of University Programs Council's PK German and SFX Promotions on hand to help out couldn't answer most fan questions. If Ticketmaster had not been so close-lipped, much confusion could have been avoided.
As fans started demanding answers, a man with SFX Promotions, holding a megaphone and the lottery bag, finally tried to appease the crowd. Would all the fans with yellow wristbands buy their tickets before all those with red wristbands? Yes. Could fans trying to buy tickets together stand in line together? No. If you didn't get a ticket before the pre-sale ended at 10 p.m., would you get priority ticket sales Saturday morning? No.
What the crowd wasn't told, and what the Ticketmaster employees may not have realized themselves, was that fans would have a better chance of getting tickets if they left the stadium and ordered tickets online or over the phone. The pre-sale was not a lottery in the true sense of the word. If Ticketmaster had wanted to keep the system fair, the company should have offered only one means of purchasing pre-sale tickets. The option of charging tickets online or over the phone left the lottery system null and void. A fan who went online at 6 p.m. could secure floor seats, while a fan who stood in line for four or more hours at the stadium would be left with only upper deck stadium seats.
The same fan who waited patiently in line was in for another surprise when he finally reached the ticket booth. Ticketmaster refused to accept multiple means of payment for pre-sale tickets. This meant that a fan planning to buy some of her allotted four floor or six stadium seats with a check card and the rest with cash couldn't make the transaction. It wouldn't have been a problem if fans had received such information well in advance, as opposed to at the booth.
Next time Ticketmaster decides to offer pre-sale tickets, the company should be more willing to provide information. Ticketmaster should also reexamine the fairness of their lottery system. There's nothing wrong with leaving the ants marching, just as long as the ants are organized and informed.
(Stephanie Batten is a Cavalier Daily opinion editor. She can be reached at sbatten@cavalierdaily.com.)
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