Restrauteur Impastato gets 1,000 Sugar Bowl tickets...

The LEAD story on the FRONT PAGE of the Times Pic today --


Restaurateur snags 1,000 tickets

Sugar Bowl director 'not happy' about it


Thursday December 18, 2003


By Josh Peter
Staff writer

While fans and former LSU football players are clamoring to get tickets to the Nokia Sugar Bowl, restaurateur Joe Impastato managed to buy more than 1,000 tickets for this year's game, former Sugar Bowl ticket manager Colleen Landry said.

Paul Hoolahan, executive director of the Sugar Bowl, which this year will see the Tigers face Oklahoma for at least a share of the national championship, said he is aware Impastato bought more than 1,000 tickets and that he is "not happy" about the situation. Hoolahan said Impastato had unauthorized access to tickets.

"They were sold to him by the ticket manager," Hoolahan said.

Landry said she left her job in October by mutual agreement with Sugar Bowl officials and that health problems contributed to her leaving. Hoolahan declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Landry's departure. But Landry, who said she held the position for 25 ½ years, said she's still unsure if selling tickets to Impastato was wrong -- or the reason Sugar Bowl officials agreed she should vacate the position.

"I'm still trying to figure that out," she said. "My job is to sell tickets."

Landry said Impastato, who owns an Italian restaurant in Metairie, Impastato's,has been buying Sugar Bowl tickets "for years."

Hoolahan declined to give the location of Impastato's tickets, saying, "It's against the Sugar Bowl policy. For security reasons, we never give out the name and location of the seats of any of our ticket holders."

When asked about having 1,000 Sugar Bowl tickets Tuesday, Impastato said, "I don't have any. You got the wrong information. I have nothing else to say. You're knocking on the wrong door."

But Wednesday, when asked if he purchased 1,000 tickets for the upcoming game, Impastato said, "I had tickets in the past. Why do you want to know?"

Late Wednesday, Landry said Destination Management Inc. acquired 9,000 tickets for this year's game as the bowl's official travel agent. She also said there were other season-ticket holders, like Impastato, who bought tickets in large quantities, but she provided no other specifics.

"I don't know why you're just picking on that one person," she said.

The Sugar Bowl held no public ticket sale this year, Hoolahan said, because all of the 72,000 tickets available were contractually obligated -- primarily to the two participating schools, each of which get 16,000 tickets. About 20,000 go to annual season-ticket holders; 5,000 went to LSU fans who bought them in advance two years ago; and 15,000 went to ABC, Nokia, other sponsors and tour operators.

Hoolahan said Impastato, who is the uncle of the St. Tammany Parish councilman by the same name, paid for his tickets between September and the end of October.

Face value for the tickets is $150, but brokers are charging several thousand dollars for the best seats and no less than $500 for upper-level seats. At those rates, 1,000 tickets would cost $150,000 to buy at face value and would have a market value of at least $500,000 and up to $1 million if the seats sold for $1,000 each.

Sandeep "Sam" Soni, a veteran ticket broker with outlets in Dallas and Atlanta, said Impastato is considered one of the top three ticket sources for sporting events in New Orleans. He said he has purchased Super Bowl tickets from Impastato and that the restaurateur sells his tickets as part of a package that typically includes hotel rooms, meals and even airfare.

State law prohibits resale of tickets above face value, but brokers can sell tickets as part of a package that includes hotel rooms, meals and other amenities.

 

No big surprise



We are talking New Orleans (south Louisiana) here

I'm proud to call it HOME.....well Baton Rouge

 

So what?

Did this man break any laws? He bought all those tickets BEFORE he knew LSU was in the big game. He is a true American capitalist. Be annoyed if you will. A lot of people are annoyed at Bill Gates for his billions. I don't understand what this story has to do with anything.

 

Re: So what?

Did he break any laws?

Well, that depends. Did he have access to tickets that were never put up for sale to the public? Did he pay off the ticket manager to get those tickets and is that why the Sugar Bowl "let her go"?

Would you feel differently if he purchased 100 tickets on a yearly basis but got 1,000 for this game as late as October?

And, given that this is the N.C. game, it wouldn't matter if LSU was going. The USC fans would have probably paid a lot more than the LSU fans - remember there's a much higher standard of living out there.

It's about unfettered access and possible bribery.

So, there is a possbility that he did break the law.

 

Louisiana politics strike agiain. I wonder why people have the perception that we run corrupt operations down here.

 

He actually has a lot more tickets than that. He also sold 4 Suites at a staggering price of $100K per, he got those for $25K a piece. That's a $300K profit just off that...WOW!!!!

 

Im in the wrong business. Buy a suite in the dome, sell it for the Bayou Classic and Sugar Bowls. When the National Title game or Super Bowl comes you could really cash in.

 

Something tells me that the IRS will be paying Mr. Impastato a little visit.

I was in an audit once and I started talking with the agent (we wound up becoming "friends" or at least "friendly colleagues"). In any event, I asked him about the "computer programmed" audits. We had been told in tax school that the IRS gets most of their audits via a computer program that "red flags" certain returns every year. The agent told me that many returns are audited on that basis, but that he got many of his audits by simply reading the newspaper. He said that there are articles EVERY DAY which can potentially lead to an audit.

Given that, and given WHERE the Impastato article was located (FRONT AND CENTER ON THE FRONT PAGE), something tells me that Mr. Impastato will be getting a little letter with the words, "Internal Revenue Service" in the return address portion of the envelope.

 

Impastato's has the best pasta in New Orleans. It's much better than Andrea's.

 

Well, we now know Mr. Impastato's handle on TigerForums... jk.