In a roundabout way, the 2016 Rio Olympics won Tricia Brown her Venues Today 2017 Box Office Star Award. The Olympics also turned into a big win for the city of Indianapolis and Bankers Life Fieldhouse and put Tricia Brown and her ticketing team into a high profile pressure cooker.
One ripple effect of the international games was that the WNBA took a late-summer pause so its players could represent their home countries in Brazil, which meant that dates normally reserved for the Indiana Fever were available. One of those late-August dates wound up turning into the kick-off concert for rapper Kanye West’s Saint Pablo tour, which was one of the most anticipated slates of the year.
What set the Kanye date apart from other arena shows was that West’s tour featured a unique hanging stage that made the venue production and seating plot something that had never been done before. Brown said seat kills and shifts were an ever-changing circumstance right up to the day of the show because the tour crew was figuring out its production needs as it worked to prepare for the kick-off date.
That meant she had to work as a sort of air traffic controller, managing the shifting seating map as the space needs for the stage changed and letting affected customers know they might have their seats moved the day of the show.
“Kanye and his team were here for a week and a half to prepare and get the show ready, and (Kanye) was very hands on for the full production,” Brown said. “We had the ego ramp with floor barricades; VIP that was close to the stage; and everything we built changed on the fly. It was a case of, now we’re adding GA on the floor, now we’re adding a pop-up tent in the seating bowl so the band isn’t interfered with. Right up until the day of the show everything was changing with our seating.”
Brown had plenty of familiarity with the venue because of her 16 years there, which her colleagues say was key to making sure the high-stakes booking went off smoothly.
Mel Raines, senior vice president of facilities operations for Pacers Sports & Entertainment, said the venue’s entire team knew what was at stake when West’s tour opted to launch with the Midwest date instead of a more typical opening bow on one of the coasts.
“We knew from the moment we confirmed both the weeklong rehearsal dates as well as opening night of the Kayne West Saint Pablo Tour that the whole team would need to be flexible in every area but, especially, with box office operations,” Raines said. “Tricia’s knowledge of Bankers Life Fieldhouse after 15 years of working in the box office with hundreds of shows under her belt, as well as working with various artist representatives and promoters, means she is always thinking a few steps ahead. Tricia was in constant communication with the show promoter in regards to show production changes, their ticketing needs for artists and guests, and anticipating their requests on a 24/7 basis.”
Brown said customers were receptive when notified of possible seat changes, with any resulting upgrades helping to build loyalty and create an enhanced experience.
“The patrons were ecstatic because when you give them an unexpected move to the floor, they see that as an upgrade and then share news and images of that on Instagram with other fans and friends,” she said. “The big thing was that we tried to give them advance warning so we could manage expectations. That helped us roll with the punches as things changed and no one really saw it as a negative when their seats were changed.”
Brown’s cheerful nature and diligence helped keep people’s spirits up in a demanding and fluctuating situation. She said a job like hers demands attention to detail and communication so that wires don’t get crossed.
“You have to be detailed, flexible and able to communicate, because if you’re not detailed with a plan of attack for scenarios A, B and C, it will not work,” she said. “You have to let people know what’s going on and the repercussions of each change. Concert set-ups are forever pushing the envelope, and when you talk about a floating stage, you have to accept that things are going to change. The question now is, who’s going to try to top him?”
Marc Elfenbaum, production director for Live Nation North America in Indianapolis, recalled one particular show change that would have rattled other ticket office heads, but not Brown.
“The best was when we came in a day or two before the show and the front-of-house cameras, mix position and band riser had been moved off the floor into the seats,” he said. “Add to this that a tent was built over the band riser killing the view of seats that had been sold. Tricia figured out what seats had been affected by this change and just found seats to relocate everyone.”
The Saint Pablo tour was actually the second high-profile launch at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in 2016, coming roughly a month after British rockers Coldplay launched their U.S. tour there. Brown said that event was fairly traditional in terms of an arena rock show, but there were still shifting production demands up until show time.
“Whenever you’re the first one, there are some things that change, like the artists want more screens or video and you have to work with that and how it changes things,” she said. “I have friends who work in other markets that tour went to, and they asked, ‘How did you deal with this screen?’ But we didn’t have to deal with that because we were first and they hadn’t added that in yet.”
Brown said she’s been attracted to the ticketing world and the thrills of working in live events since she had a role as assistant box office manager at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Her background with the market and timing — she joined the Pacers organization not long after BankersLife Filedhouse opened in 1999 as Conseco Fieldhouse — helps her know the temperament of customers and how to serve them.
“Indianapolis is an incredibly active events market and then, adding to that, we have the National Collegiate Athletic Association headquarters here as well as several national governing bodies and the nation’s first sports commission,” said Rick Fuson, president and COO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment. “Tricia has a strong knowledge of key stakeholders in the city and good political instincts coupled with strong relationships at the other major venues in Indianapolis. Her adaptability and professionalism as well as her quick response time to promoters is a big part of what makes her excellent at what she does.”