Saw this article below on the Sports Board, and thought I'd bring it here. Does this bother anyone else. You have two bodies that rely on the Legislature for funding and other matters. And, they give the Legislators first shot at buying such a PRIME ticket to such a PRIME event? This just SMELLS bad to me. FIRST - A PERSONAL STORY == This summer, I went to the Norah Jones concert. A friend and I were the second ones in line to buy tickets five months before the event. We had to get out there 3 hours before the ticket window opened. By the time the window opened, there were more than 200 people in line and the line stretched around the corner at the Saenger Theatre. It was my first time standing in line (prior to the line opening) to buy concert tickets. The guy in front of us told us that he did this "all the time". The concert was to be held at the Saenger. There is a "PIT" section at the Saenger Theatre, and, given that I hadn't been to the Saenger in quite some time (and never had really good seats), I asked the guy whether we should try to purchase PIT seats or just go with the regular seats. He told us to get the PIT if at all possible. I was afraid that you would be looking straight up and would be VERY uncomfortable the whole concert. He told us - NOT AT ALL - and that the Pit seats were REALLY good seats which weren't "that low". When we got up to the line, he ordered first. He asked for PIT seats and was told, "THERE WILL BE NO PIT SECTION FOR THIS CONCERT, AND, THEREFORE, NO PIT TICKETS WILL BE SOLD." Based upon that, he ordered all the available tickets in the First Row. He got 7 of the 13 seats in the first row (seats 6-13). Since he was first in line, the first 5 seats had to be taken out prior to the sale. When it was my turn, I got 8 seats (the max.) in the second row. These seats wound up going anywhere from 100-400 each on EBAY despite the $50 face value. When we got to the concert, I was FULLY expecting to be in the second row. Unfortunately, we weren't. The Saenger staff had put some sort of plywood OVER the PIT section so that it was true that there was NO PIT section. However, what they did was to put 3 rows of cushioned fold up chairs OVER the PIT section so that I was really then in Row 5. And, guess who was sitting there? I didn't recognize EVERYONE, but I did recognize Mitch Landrieu, Eddie Compass, Eddie Saper and various other N.O. politicos. I also recognized a U.S. attorney or two. Basically, somehow, the political "powers that be" got themselves reserved the best seats in the house for the hottest ticket in New Orleans in quite some time. And, these seats were never made available to the public. Does this bother anyone else? Isn't this what Public Corruption laws were made for? In any event - here's the T-P story on Sugar Bowl tickets -- STATE LEGISLATORS GET SWEET TICKET DEAL Each has shot to buy 6 Sugar Bowl seats Tuesday December 09, 2003 By Robert Travis Scott Capital bureau BATON ROUGE -- As LSU fans scramble for scarce tickets to the Jan. 4 Nokia Sugar Bowl, state lawmakers can keep their cool. They'll have a much easier time getting into the college football championship game: Louisiana's 144-member Legislature will get the option to buy at least six tickets each. The Sugar Bowl sells four tickets to each lawmaker at the face value of $150 each. Plus, LSU sets aside two tickets for each lawmaker to buy at the same price, said Dan Radakovich, senior associate athletic director. This has been LSU's policy for the past several bowl games, he said. Corporate bowl sponsors will get tickets that they may provide to lawmakers for the game, which will pit LSU against the University of Oklahoma. Sen. Ken Hollis, R-Metairie, said that by Monday afternoon people were already calling him looking for tickets. So far he has spent $600 on four tickets from the Sugar Bowl and was waiting to hear from LSU about its ticket policy. Hollis said he expects to attend the game, along with his wife, a son and a son-in-law. All Sugar Bowl seats are valued at $150 except suites, which are $250 per seat. The Sugar Bowl is the only game in the Bowl Championship Series that relies on state financing, said Jeff Hundley, associate executive director of the Sugar Bowl. The state cash keeps the Sugar Bowl competitive with other bowl cities that have bigger bases of corporate sponsorship, he said. Through the budget of the Department of Economic Development, the state gave the Sugar Bowl just under $1.1 million this year, as it has for the past nine years. Hundley said he hopes lawmakers will take advantage of their tickets to invite people who can help the state generate economic development. "It's certainly a good platform for the state," Hundley said. Hundley said the Sugar Bowl does not allot tickets to U.S. House and Senate members, "but we do what we can to accommodate them." Sugar Bowl officials keep track of all tickets and that all are paid for, he said. Under a lease agreement with the Superdome, the governor controls two box suites at the Dome, Gov. Foster's chief of staff, Andy Kopplin, said, and the competition for the approximately 60 tickets for the seats in the suites will be fierce. Kopplin said that in the next few days he and Foster will go over the list of invitees and discuss how the bowl tickets will be used. Kopplin said some of the tickets probably will go to corporate executives who are considering moving their operations to Louisiana or expanding existing operations, or as part of a lobbying effort to keep them from downsizing or moving to other states. For the Final Four men's college basketball tournament at the Superdome last spring, Kopplin said the state "invited a number of site-selection" officials with corporations to pitch them on the virtues of doing business in the state. Secretary of Economic Development Don Hutchinson "has put in a request for all he can get. We are trying to use them for economic development purposes," Kopplin said of tickets. Hutchinson said his agency does not have a suite but will try to prevail upon the governor's office and companies with suites to entertain corporate executives and site-selection consultants. Kopplin said a national collegiate football championship game at the Dome, especially one featuring LSU, gives the state a chance to "show off the Superdome, the flagship university's football team and our state." Kopplin said it is possible Foster will consult with Gov.-elect Kathleen Blanco to see if she needs tickets and possibly allocate some to her. Blanco transition spokesman Bob Mann said Blanco, who is lieutenant governor until Jan. 12, does not have control of a suite but may talk to Foster about using some of his. Hundley said Monday afternoon that he had not yet heard from anyone on Blanco's team who is seeking tickets. Kopplin did not say if Foster would attend the game. "The governor doesn't like crowds," he said. . . . . . . . Staff writers Laura Maggi and Ed Anderson contributed to this story. Robert Travis Scott can be reached at [email protected] or (225) 342-4197.
They also get the primo seats at Tiger Stadium. Ever notice how there are always a bunch of empty seats, ones that would be considered the best seats in the house? These are the ones given to the legislature that are not even used by alot of them.
Ellis Hugh, that burns me to no end. I have a little brother who would die to go to ANY Tiger home game, even if it were somebody like the Citadel or Western Illinois, and sit in such good seats. And the fat cats who don't even go to half the games get free seats whenever they want. It's time we "unplugged" the Legislature from such all access perks, at least until they start doing a better job for us.
We give the big wigs premo seat in Tiger Stadium yet they cannot do anything for us. They shot down repealing the 10% seat law in Tiger Stadium faster than Mike Prices tenure at Alabama. Well what if they still were able to keep the seats but had to pay the required donations to the TAF and what not and the price for the season tickets. How many would keep their seats. The only time they go is for the big games. At the least give the unused tickets to the less fortunate or something.
fats cats, always causing trouble. you would think with a name like "fat cats", they might just chill, but man, they dont.
I think the Norah case stinks more than the Sugar Bowl. These politicians get those tickets for every Sugar Bowl - and frankly, when it isn't the NC game, the Sugar Bowl ticket is an easy ticket, the stadium is not full - the bowl depends on community and state support (not meaning money, but goodwill, etc) and it makes sense to give tickets to connected people. It just so happens this year, obviously, they don't need the help of community bigwigs.
I've been to two Sugar Bowls in the last 5 years and they were both full...which one hasn't been full?
