Hi!
I kept my head down about The Masters and the ticket story that Darren Rovell and Scott Friedman seem to have been on top of all week.
Then, I read a piece about personalities from Ted Gioia this morning.
Is This the Dominant Personality Type of Our Time?
33 minutes ago · 31 likes · 2 comments · Ted Gioia
That got me thinking about the Masters.
I wrote this in our ‘Talking Tickets’ Slack Channel.
On the dehumanizing effects of technology and turning our lives over to the emotionally stunted people.
I believe this is a bit of why The Masters ticketing story has been going off the rails a little bit.
The brokers and folks selling tickets have lost connection to the world around them, people.
One thing that always guided me was that I didn’t need to maximize every possible revenue point because there would be more events and I wanted people going to a lot of stuff because odds were they’d come back to me again and again.
This was born out of the nightclubs.
I wanted you to come out a few nights a week.
I also recognized that I could use emotions to give you a better experience and you’d spend more money while knowing I’d delivered: “What gin do you prefer?”
To me, it is less interesting that the Masters tickets have been a story than what the whole situation tells us about the business of tickets, the business of sports, and the incentives that have driven the whole business to get a little mad.
What do you think?
For me, The Masters has always been an event that had the potential to blow up in the secondary market’s face because it was an event managed in a retro way.
Plus, it is a bucket list event for a lot of people.
It takes place in an obscure location. (I know, I grew up in that part of Northern Georgia. My town hosts people during Masters Week now. WTF?! )
I’ll see what else I can cover here, but I would say check out these two things to get a grasp on the situation:
- Darren Rovell’s Masters’ badges hit record prices.
- Scott Friedman and Masters on Twitter (Amazing that Scott Friedman masters autopopulated in my search bar! I didn’t search for that at all…ever.)
Let me know what you think.
I’ll try and come back with some thorough analysis or information about the event.
DW
BTW, I watched the playoff with my son.
What an incredible set of shots.
I don’t even watch or play golf and I can appreciate that.