Even if you don’t watch football, there’s a good chance you saw the video of Michael Sam, who is now the first openly gay man to be drafted by a pro football team. This powerful episode was just one of the story lines that ran through the NFL Draft last week, and it reminded me how good that organization is at creating and facilitating  “Story” with a capital “S.” I’m talking to you, theater industry. You know I love you, …

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I often say that one of the wonderful things about working in live entertainment is that it’s not a matter of life and death. And while people who work in making sure venues are safe have a reasonable beef with that statement, even they would probably get what I meant. Ticketing is typically an even safer occupation. Nobody expects danger from the roll-out of a new system. Annoyed season ticket holders having to adjust to a new website perhaps, but …

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My read on adding KISS to the Dodger Stadium date of the Stadium Series is not that the NHL is trying to use KISS to sell more tickets. In fact, this game is selling out already. It’s the other way around: KISS, run by consummate self-promoter Gene Simmons, sees this as a platform to promote KISS and its various activities, including the launch of its arena football team, LA KISS. (I did mention the self-promotion thing, right?) The Winter Classic …

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This is an outstanding, detailed report on Houston’s Astrodome, which was the first domed stadium and was at one time called the “eighth wonder of the world.” It’s been unused for the last several years, and it appears that it will continue to sit empty with the cost to rehabilitate it too high to justify, given that nobody has a concept for putting it to use that would justify the expense. It sits next to the modern Reliant Stadium, which …

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I’ve said this before and time has only made it clearer that I was right: The NFL has a problem with the in-stadium experience. The ingenuity shown by the Seahawks in using undercover security who will be dressed as opposing team fans is great. But it shouldn’t be necessary. Clean up the in-stadium experience, or game attendance will slowly trend down, as it has in the three years since I first warned about this. Take a look at the Los …

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