Looking for a little #MondayMotivation? We’re pulling out past stories that are still just as relevant today. Here’s a pearl from Jim: Be Where the People Are (And the People Are on Mobile). Back in the 20th century, when someone wanted a ticket, they visited a box office (or called a phone bank) between certain hours. People went to where the tickets were, because that was the only option. And not just for tickets, but just about everything — clothes, toys, books —...

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New Orleans. Not a difficult place to have a great week. And last week, INTIX 2017 in New Orleans more than accomplished that feat. INTIX is one of the best conferences if you're in the live entertainment business, because what's on peoples' minds there is a great bellwether for what's going on around the industry. When INTIX is excited about something, that means the industry is going to be excited about that thing. This year, I had the opportunity to introduce the...

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You might have missed my little summary of the crazy box office Broadway had over the holidays. Unbelievable numbers across a range of shows. This article has a little bit more about it. One little interesting tidbit that wasn’t in the first piece, though, was that Wicked has the ability to flex based on demand. Here’s the quote: “In the case of 'Wicked,'” recent renovations to the Gershwin Theater, where the show is playing, opened up 119 seats in the rear...

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A few amazing highlights of the Broadway box office numbers from the week of Christmas: • Wicked breaks $3 million on nine performances. That’s more than $300,000 every time that curtain goes up. Average paid ticket price was $184.50. Wow. • A play (not a musical) did $1.4 million. That was Betrayal, starring Daniel Craig. • Four other musicals broke $2 million, a number that a few years ago seemed unattainable. Those shows were: Kinky Boots, Spider-Man, Lion King and, of course,...

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Lots of literally "inside baseball" information here, but I'd call your attention to the "Most Disappointing City" items about halfway down. Chicago Cubs sell-outs have been for a long time as reliable as McDonald's restrooms when traveling abroad. But they're down this year, to the point where you can just, gasp, BUY a ticket to a game from the box office, and a downright mortal 9th in terms of sell-through percentage. Is it team performance, which has been poor?...

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