Select-A-Seat Event
By Marc D'Amico | September 29, 2008
Brian and Julie Maclane’s son, Carlan, not yet 10 years old, stood with a permanent smile on his face behind one of the Orlando Magic baskets, less than 10 feet from Mickael Pietrus. He and his parents were attending the annual Select-A-Seat event Sunday at Amway Arena, a day that his father and many other fans in attendance claimed “had something for everybody.”
With media day on Monday and Training Camp beginning on Tuesday, this was the kickoff to the season for many Orlando Magic fans, and more than 3,000 of them attended the event.
“This is the day fans can start dreaming about a great playoff run and dreaming about Dwight Howard dunks,” said Joe Andrade, senior director of ticket sales for the Magic. “This is just a great day for everyone. Mom and Dad can walk around the arena and look at seats they’re interested in. Johnny can shoot hoops on the Magic court. The girls can dance on the court with the dancers and the whole family can get high-fives from STUFF.”
And those weren’t the only activities fans could take part in. As fans entered the arena, tables were scattered throughout the building. If you took a walk along the main concourse, you would have found balloon art, mini-hoops to shoot on, Magic Dancer autograph tables, a 105.9 wheel-spinning giveaway game, the “STUFF For President” table, merchandising, caricature drawing, face painting and an inflated Moon Bounce for kids to jump around inside.
And that was just in the concourse! Inside the arena is where the real action took place.
As the name indicates, the Select-A-Seat event allows fans to do just that – select their seat. Every seat available in the arena had a paper taped to its back, which was one of 14 colors. Each color indicated the package type that was available for that seat.
As many fans noticed, this was a great tool available to assist them in their ticket purchases. One of those fans was Brenda Cohen from Orlando. She walked along the lower bowl of the arena for a short time before spotting the yellow paper she had been looking for in section 103, row M, seat 15.
“It’s very helpful in making a decision,” she said of the event. “Because I came here, I knew what I was buying (from the sheet of paper) and what I’ll be seeing on the court from the seat I wanted.”
Just a few minutes after she located this seat, she had been assisted by a ticket sales representative to secure her Superstar 15-game package. Upon her purchase, she was given a VIP pass to take a photo with either Rashard Lewis or Dwight Howard. Any ticket purchase of a seven-game plan or higher was awarded this pass, plus the ability to get a signature from that player. Other fans in the building could take photos with these two players but could not get signatures.
As Cohen and other fans surveyed their options around the arena, they had the ability to physically sit in different seats and take in the view of the court. As Andrade noted, this is a unique opportunity not many fans have in professional sports.
“This event enables fans to see different seats and to make a choice,” he said. “They can visualize and paint the picture. People can sit in a seat and see the view, sitting in seats on the sideline, upstairs, downstairs, behind the basket, everywhere. Sales reps aren’t really doing any work today. These seats are being bought, not being sold.”
Rather than seeing an empty court view in a 3D rendering, fans at the Select-A-Seat event can view the court with an event taking place on the court right in front of their eyes. The court was opened to the public, allowing kids and adults to shoot on the Orlando Magic hoops and take photos on the court. The dance clinic put on by the Magic Dancers also took place on the court, and in two separate sections, Orlando Magic players rotated throughout the day signing autographs.
“You benefit because I was initially shown one seat and then as I walked around during the day, watching what was taking place on the court from different angles, I looked at some other seats and I made a different decision,” said Orlando Mesa, 25, from Orlando. “You have a lot of variety to choose from.”
Mesa was also quick to note that the day wasn’t just beneficial to him in purchasing tickets, but also to introduce his family, specifically his niece and nephew, to the Magic organization.
“I brought along some family and they’ve been having a ball all day,” he said. “He (his nephew) is signing up for basketball this year. I really brought him along to get motivated and see what the pros do and how they go to work and just the environment. For him to shoot the balls on the actual court is just a great experience for him in his brain to really think about that whenever he goes out to play with his friends. It’s just great. And I also brought along my 12-year-old niece and she had a great time dancing with the dancers.”
For the adults, Select-A-Seat is a day to choose between 14 different package plans, ranging from four-game plans to full season plans. For the kids, it’s a day to make memories that will last forever.
As Carlan Maclane stood standing behind the basket, staring at Pietrus and naming off all of the other Magic players he had met that day, he was asked if he would remember this day for the rest of his life. Suddenly, his daze was broken and he looked my way with an even bigger smile on his face. On a day that definitely offered something to this young Magic fan, he replied with a simple, yet emphatic, “Yes!”
Brian and Julie Maclane’s son, Carlan, not yet 10 years old, stood with a permanent smile on his face behind one of the Orlando Magic baskets, less than 10 feet from Mickael Pietrus. He and his parents were attending the annual Select-A-Seat event Sunday at Amway Arena, a day that his father and many other fans in attendance claimed “had something for everybody.”
With media day on Monday and Training Camp beginning on Tuesday, this was the kickoff to the season for many Orlando Magic fans, and more than 3,000 of them attended the event.
“This is the day fans can start dreaming about a great playoff run and dreaming about Dwight Howard dunks,” said Joe Andrade, senior director of ticket sales for the Magic. “This is just a great day for everyone. Mom and Dad can walk around the arena and look at seats they’re interested in. Johnny can shoot hoops on the Magic court. The girls can dance on the court with the dancers and the whole family can get high-fives from STUFF.”
And those weren’t the only activities fans could take part in. As fans entered the arena, tables were scattered throughout the building. If you took a walk along the main concourse, you would have found balloon art, mini-hoops to shoot on, Magic Dancer autograph tables, a 105.9 wheel-spinning giveaway game, the “STUFF For President” table, merchandising, caricature drawing, face painting and an inflated Moon Bounce for kids to jump around inside.
And that was just in the concourse! Inside the arena is where the real action took place.
As the name indicates, the Select-A-Seat event allows fans to do just that – select their seat. Every seat available in the arena had a paper taped to its back, which was one of 14 colors. Each color indicated the package type that was available for that seat.
As many fans noticed, this was a great tool available to assist them in their ticket purchases. One of those fans was Brenda Cohen from Orlando. She walked along the lower bowl of the arena for a short time before spotting the yellow paper she had been looking for in section 103, row M, seat 15.
“It’s very helpful in making a decision,” she said of the event. “Because I came here, I knew what I was buying (from the sheet of paper) and what I’ll be seeing on the court from the seat I wanted.”
Just a few minutes after she located this seat, she had been assisted by a ticket sales representative to secure her Superstar 15-game package. Upon her purchase, she was given a VIP pass to take a photo with either Rashard Lewis or Dwight Howard. Any ticket purchase of a seven-game plan or higher was awarded this pass, plus the ability to get a signature from that player. Other fans in the building could take photos with these two players but could not get signatures.
As Cohen and other fans surveyed their options around the arena, they had the ability to physically sit in different seats and take in the view of the court. As Andrade noted, this is a unique opportunity not many fans have in professional sports.
“This event enables fans to see different seats and to make a choice,” he said. “They can visualize and paint the picture. People can sit in a seat and see the view, sitting in seats on the sideline, upstairs, downstairs, behind the basket, everywhere. Sales reps aren’t really doing any work today. These seats are being bought, not being sold.”
Rather than seeing an empty court view in a 3D rendering, fans at the Select-A-Seat event can view the court with an event taking place on the court right in front of their eyes. The court was opened to the public, allowing kids and adults to shoot on the Orlando Magic hoops and take photos on the court. The dance clinic put on by the Magic Dancers also took place on the court, and in two separate sections, Orlando Magic players rotated throughout the day signing autographs.
“You benefit because I was initially shown one seat and then as I walked around during the day, watching what was taking place on the court from different angles, I looked at some other seats and I made a different decision,” said Orlando Mesa, 25, from Orlando. “You have a lot of variety to choose from.”
Mesa was also quick to note that the day wasn’t just beneficial to him in purchasing tickets, but also to introduce his family, specifically his niece and nephew, to the Magic organization.
“I brought along some family and they’ve been having a ball all day,” he said. “He (his nephew) is signing up for basketball this year. I really brought him along to get motivated and see what the pros do and how they go to work and just the environment. For him to shoot the balls on the actual court is just a great experience for him in his brain to really think about that whenever he goes out to play with his friends. It’s just great. And I also brought along my 12-year-old niece and she had a great time dancing with the dancers.”
For the adults, Select-A-Seat is a day to choose between 14 different package plans, ranging from four-game plans to full season plans. For the kids, it’s a day to make memories that will last forever.
As Carlan Maclane stood standing behind the basket, staring at Pietrus and naming off all of the other Magic players he had met that day, he was asked if he would remember this day for the rest of his life. Suddenly, his daze was broken and he looked my way with an even bigger smile on his face. On a day that definitely offered something to this young Magic fan, he replied with a simple, yet emphatic, “Yes!”
