It seems that the Rolling Stones will roll into Boston Garden this June. Balcony seats are far north of $400 each; floor seats are officially priced at $600 but if you go on line you will see single seats (not even in a suite) priced up to $5,900. But don’t blame TD Garden; they are the venue, but the tour promoters fix the price.
At the April 11th breakfast meeting of Association for Corporate Growth/Boston, TD Garden President Amy Latimer attempted to share some of the background of TD Garden as a business.
Ticket prices for all events, whether the Bruins or the Celtics or the Circus or the twenty-five or so concerts that play the Garden each year, are fixed by, and paid over to, the teams or promoters. It seems that TD Garden makes its money out of a rental of the Garden, and its ownership of the food services. Aside from employees having to work very long and odd hours (most events go into the night and are typically attended by much of the staff), TD Garden sounds much like any other large business: their departments include HR, legal, sales and marketing. Indeed, Latimer advises that TD Garden is very much like any business but with a couple of exceptions:
- “We do not control our product” which is to say they receive a quixotic mix of concerts and cannot guaranty the quality of the athletic contests; and
- Much of their schedule is filled at the last minute, which requires flexibility in every part of the organization, but particularly marketing and ticket sales.
Changes for the future at TD Garden?
- They are moving toward “variable pricing” which is to say that tickets will be priced not only based on location but also on the quality of the team being played, the day of the week, etc.
- Printed tickets will be a thing of the past; admission will be by identity card with bar code, and if you provide a code to a client as your guest, you will also be able to “load” value into the card so that you can treat your guest to food and merchandise without being present.
- After an almost twenty year delay, TD Garden claims to be moving forward on the development of the open parking lot in front of the Garden, planning office space, a hotel, perhaps a grocery, and a new front door to enter the Garden (the currently used side doors, shared with commuters, were originally conceptualized as only serving the train station).
- TD Garden is working like crazy to install not only cell phone service but also WiFi capability. Among other things, that capability will drive a variety of apps including replays, food ordering for delivery to your seats, and merchandise ordering.