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Friday, August 1, 2008
Be a Fan and Support Your Team
Central Oklahoma, OK
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Photo(s) By: Kyle Danztler/MyActionPortraits.com
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Front Row Fans gives the maximum number of people the maximum opportunity to be a fan.
Matthew Green had the inspiration for Front Row Fans while attending a sold-out OU Big 12 Conference basketball game in 2001.
“A lot of people wanted to go to that game, but you couldn’t get tickets without being scalped,” Green said. “I was able to get tickets at the last minute and go to the game. But when I got there, I couldn’t hardly watch the game for thinking about all the people who wanted to be there and all those empty seats.”
Green continued to think about the situation. There were the fans that couldn’t get tickets, couldn’t or wouldn’t pay scalpers’ high prices, or couldn’t afford even the face value of tickets to major events. Then there were season tickets holders who inevitably have tickets—often for premium seats—that they can’t use. Finally there were the teams and event-holders who want every seat in the venue to be filled.
Green’s vision led him and his wife, Kerrie, to start a company called Front Row Fans. Based on a new model that offers more affordable tickets to fans, and benefits ticket donors and charities including American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, and the American Lung Association.Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FRF helps people get tickets and helps benefit charities at the same time.
At www.frontrowfans.com ticketholders can donate unwanted tickets to one of 25 or more charities. It is an easy way for ticketholders to support a favorite charity by donating tickets they can’t use and 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of the tickets goes directly to the charity.
Fans benefit because they have access to tickets at significantly reduced prices. While the OU face value price for an NCAA football game is about $60, FRF buyers can get a pair of tickets for that price.
More examples?
Well, the face value for an Oklahoma City RedHawks ticket is about $15. At FRF, a buyer can get four box seats at about that price.
Processing, transaction, and transfer fees cover the direct costs for selling and transferring tickets. Even with these fees, the pricing structure allows fans to save more than the annual $20 subscription fee it takes to join FRF. There is even a 30-Day free trial for fans who want to try the service for a specific game or event.
Basically, FrontRowFans provides an effective outlet for helping fans make sure that their tickets get used and enjoyed and that their team gets as much support as possible.
“For a high-demand game, we are giving the chance to go to people who might not afford to go otherwise,” Green said. “For a low-demand game, we can lower the price even more. Our buyers get the chance to be a fan. The team gets someone in the seat. The charity gets whatever price the tickets bring. Even if it is only $5 or $10. It all adds up.
For instance, one pair of OU or OSU football tickets or one pair of NBA OKC tickets sold through FRF generates enough support for Big Brothers Big Sisters to matchs a kid with a big brother or sister for a month. Ten pairs of tickets tickets at that rate cover a kid for a year.
“One of the nice synergies is teams like Oklahoma are starting to implement loyalty programs that reward fans for making sure the tickets get used,” Green said.
Green anticipates that OU football tickets will be available in August. For OU men’s and women’s basketball, the site averages about 200 available tickets per game.
“We have more than 100,000 unique visitors,” Green said. “We want to expand what we are doing with OU and work closer with OSU and other event holders in our state. Now that the Sonics NBA isare coming to Oklahoma, we see that as another excellent opportunity.”
Front Row Fans places more than 95 percent of the donated tickets.
“Our 2008-2009 goal is to raise more than $100 million thousand for scholarships, charitiesy, and not-for-profits in Oklahoma,” Green says. “The Nnext year our goal is $1 million regionally. By 2010-2011 we want to raise $10 million per year nationally.”
While Front Row Fans accepts hard tickets, most transactions are done through email at the website www.frontrowfans.com which connects to a variety of online services to transfer tickets electronically.
“The more notice we have the better,” says Green, “but our donors can use the OU Tticket Ssharing application application, or the Ticketmaster, Ticket Exchange application for OSU athletics and NBA OKC season ticket holders, up to four hours before a game.”
“I really believe we are a win, win, win for everyone,” Green says. “When we achieve our goal to raise $10 million per year, if we project about $3 million will goes to Big Brothers Big Sisters nationally., Iin five years that will be the equivalent of we’ll matching enough kids and bigs to fill the Oklahoma City Ford Center. That’s how many lives we can impact, and that’s just 30 percent of what we can accomplish.”
If you are interested in more information, or interested in donating tickets, call 1-888-7BE-A-FAN or 405-366-7600. Email tickets to DonateTickets@FrontRowFans.com or mail them to FrontRowFans.com, Attn: Ticket Donations, 710 Asp Avenue, Norman, OK 73069.
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