Ticket Sales

Lynda P. Maxwell saw the writing on the wall in 1995, when the major airlines capped the 10 percent commissions they had been paying travel agencies at $50 per airline ticket.That year, income at her Columbia travel agency, Destinations Inc., dropped by about 17 percent, she said. Her clientele was largely corporate then, and most of that business came from airline ticket sales."At that time, I made a conscious effort to sell products other than airline tickets," said Maxwell, president of the travel agency.

Fueled by fantasies of the good life, the feeding frenzy for a Big Game jackpot worth $190 million had lottery retailers from Cambridge to Cumberland averaging 45 transactions per second yesterday.That big pile of money is the single largest lottery jackpot in the United States to date and is based on ticket sales in the six states participating in the Big Game: Georgia, Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maryland.By today, when the winning numbers are drawn, Julie Tsakalas expects lines snaking out the door of her Pigtown confectionery, driven not by the aroma of Tsakalas' fresh turnovers but by the smell of money.

The explanation is so simple, few people give it a second thought: Big-league teams such as the Orioles are payingmillions more for their players, and must, therefore, charge millions more for tickets.Not so fast. Economists who study sports say the linkage between ticket prices and player salaries is one of the most misunderstood elements of the game, up there with the infield fly rule.Most fans have it backward: Increased ticket prices probably drive up salaries more than increased salaries drive up ticket prices, say experts.

Two groups of investors from the Baltimore area and one Virginia businessman are talking separately with the Spirit about buying the financially strapped professional indoor soccer team, thus preventing it from folding at the end of this month.Drew Forrester, the Spirit's general manager, met last night with one of the local groups and will meet with another tonight to go over operational and financial details. He said he and the Virginia man are scheduled to talk on Friday.Forrester would not identify the participants or talk money, though, explaining, "I've had a number of similar meetings over the last four months, so I'm trying to contain my enthusiasm.

Tickets to Orioles games cost more. Nevertheless, the team apparently is selling more of them.According to Joe Foss, the club's chief financial officer, overall ticket sales have jumped more than 10 percent. What the increased sales demonstrate, Foss said, is that "fans respect the position we took on raising prices."The bickering over baseball's new labor agreement and the subsequent delay in finalizing the interleague schedule delayed the sale of Orioles' 1997 tickets by about two months, Foss said.

If you're one of the 25,000 fans who called or wrote for ticket information after the Ravens announced their move to Baltimore, you will get a ticket application a few days before most people -- but that's it.The Ravens and Maryland Stadium Authority were inundated with queries from fans after last November's announcement. The rTC names were kept on file but those fans will receive no priority in the awarding of seats.They will, however, receive ticket applications in the mail a few days before the general public.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Joe Foss, the Orioles' vice chairman for business and finance, said yesterday that it's possible the club could sell all tickets for games at Camden Yards this season."

Their season opener is nearly a month away and their roster is yet to be filled, but the Bandits are exceeding the expectations of those responsible for bringing the American Hockey League back to Baltimore.a,4 "The phones have been ringing like crazy and there was a line here yesterday for tickets, so we have great reason to be optimistic," said Robert Teck, co-owner of the Bandits."Our season-ticket sales so far have exceeded any ticket sales in the history of Baltimore hockey and group sales are well ahead of our projections."

Excitement beat the weather at Camden Yards yesterday.With snow on the outfield and baseball season four months away, Orioles fans lined up along the B&O warehouse to buy a club single-day record 62,000 individual-game tickets as of 5:30 p.m. yesterday, the first day of ticket sales. The former record for first-day sales was 60,000 in 1993."Despite the rough weather conditions, our fans were out in droves, and it is evident that Orioles fever is high," said Joe Foss, the Orioles vice chairman of business and finance.

Blockbuster Entertainment Group might be taking a stab at challenging Ticketmaster, the ticket sales giant that has been accused of monopolizing the industry.Some Blockbuster Video stores around Philadelphia will sell tickets for the company's joint-venture project, an amphitheater in Camden, N.J., expected to open in early summer.The ticketing experiment will be closely watched in the music industry. Blockbuster has more than 3,300 video and music stores in the United States, and the venture would be spearheaded by two entertainment industry giants, Sony Music and Blockbuster's $9.6 billion parent company, Viacom.

COLLEGE PARK -- Last season, luxury seating at the University of Maryland's aging football stadium was a work in progress. Fans could look past the scaffolding and see the modernized version of Tyser Tower - a concrete, brick and glass structure that will house 64 suites - beginning to take shape on Byrd Stadium's south side. Five weeks from the home football opener, the suites and mezzanine seating are nearing completion inside and below the five-story tower, giving the 59-year-old stadium a more contemporary look.

Joseph B. Codd, who memorized the names of the Baltimore Orioles season ticket holders and their seat locations during his five decades in the club ticket office, died of pneumonia Tuesday at his Oak Crest Village retirement home in Parkville. He was 93. Born in Baltimore, he was raised above a bar his father owned at Hoffman and Ensor streets. He attended St. Paul's Parochial School and Loyola High School. After serving in the Army in Germany during World War II, he worked in real estate with his sister, Marie Codd, who had a flourishing sales and rental business in the Mount Vernon section of downtown Baltimore in the 1940s and early 1950s.

'Witch Mountain' climbs to the top at the box office Disney's Race to Witch Mountain raced to No. 1 at the weekend box office, bypassing expectations with $25 million in ticket sales. The PG-rated sci-fi flick starring Dwayne Johnson as a cab driver with a pair of alien teenagers along for the ride topped the R-rated superhero epic Watchmen, which earned $18.1 million in its second week. Ticket sales for Watchmen plummeted 67 percent from last weekend's $55.2 million debut, according to studio estimates yesterday.

Marylanders who got stiffed on Bruce Springsteen tickets by Ticketmaster are but one reason to be skeptical of a proposed merger between the behemoth of ticket sellers and the powerhouse promoter Live Nation. Justice Department lawyers who are scrutinizing this deal should recognize that competition in the marketplace now is virtually nonexistent and consumers deserve more choices - not fewer - in buying tickets to concerts and other shows. Live Nation owns more than 140 venues and has multiyear comprehensive deals covering the tours of Madonna, Jay-Z, U2, Nickelback and Shakira.

They began lining up at 3 a.m. yesterday, and a few hours later, about 100 people were waiting for Maryland Transit Administration officials to start selling MARC train tickets to Washington for the presidential inauguration, authorities said. Ticket sales at the Camden Station were brisk all day, MTA officials said, with a steady flow of patrons paying the special $25 rate to ride the MARC for the Jan. 20 event. "We didn't think people would be out there that early, so we opened up an hour earlier than expected, at 8 a.m.," MTA spokeswoman Jawauna Greene said.

Why did the Baltimore Opera declare bankruptcy? Lots of reasons, starting with the global recession, but not ending there. Certainly endowments have lost value, and certainly modern opera productions are expensive to mount and there's little room for the kind of loss in revenue - ticket sales and underwriting - that the Baltimore Opera experienced this fall, even as it prepared to stage the always-popular Aida. But there's something else going on, and it has been going on for a long time, and it starts with way too many people staying home and watching television.

The summer concert season is about to kick off. Ticket prices aren't cheap. But if the rising cost of, well, just about everything is making you rethink a real vacation, a concert could be a worthy indulgence. Over the last few years, the market for ticket sales has expanded beyond just Ticketmaster, helping to provide a wider range of prices. (If you remember back in the 1990s, the band Pearl Jam canceled a summer tour in protest of Ticketmaster's monopoly on ticket sales, which included surcharges.

FIGURE SKATING BLADES OF GLORY Welcome in the spring with a little ice. Produced by Olympic figure skater Scott Hamilton, Smucker's Stars on Ice stops at the 1st Mariner Arena today. This event stars Olympian Sasha Cohen and more than a dozen other national and world champions, including Marylander Kimmie Meissner and Evan Lysacek. A portion of the ticket sales benefits Boys & Girls Clubs of America. .................... The show is at 7 tonight. Tickets are $23-$108. The arena is at 201 W. Baltimore St. Call 410-547-7328 or go to starsonice.

As many frustrated and tired Hannah Montana fans can attest, camping out at the box office is no longer a sure way to get coveted concert tickets anymore. But then, neither is ordering online. Or joining a fan club. Or even hoping and praying for a decent auction on eBay. "It's a whole different medium out there," said Frank Remesch, general manager of the 1st Mariner Arena, where a Jan. 8 Hannah Montana concert that instantaneously sold out has left parents angry - and vocal. With all the options available for purchasing tickets - in person, online, phone, fan club, auction - the sad truth is that there's no longer any guarantee of getting an affordable ticket for in-demand shows.

Finding a moderately priced hotel room in Miami during the winter is never easy, but securing one over Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 2-5) is a totally different ballgame, regardless of availability. Last weekend, for instance, the rate for a double room at the Miami Airport Holiday Inn was $190. For the night before the Super Bowl, that room goes for $430. At the already pricey Delano, a city-view deluxe room that would have cost $775 on Jan. 13 is more than twice that amount, $1,625, on Feb. 4 (and it's booked solid)