Steve Miller Band Concert

Highmark Stadium had the pleasure of hosting its first concert this summer on June 14th. Logistically, there were a lot of things to work out being the first concert. Where to put the stage, how to separate the sections, how to control the flow of people coming into the stadium. I was stationed in the box office during this event and luckily for me we weren't too busy because most of the tickets were sold in advance. Our advanced tickets sales reached about 5,000 and the day of we had a decent amount of walk up sales. Patrons were able to buy through Ticketmaster online, walk up and also Groupon.

We had a few seating options for fans during this event. A majority of the tickets were General admission which were standing room only on the field. A VIP section, which was also standing but closer to the stage. We also had "Gold Circle" tickets which allowed patrons to be seated up front close to the stage and our grandstand was available which gave the fans seats for a cheaper price than the gold circle.

As with all outdoor events, there is always a chance of bad weather and unfortunately for us mother nature was not on our side this night. There was rain and thunderstorms scheduled for this evening and we were just hoping it would hold off. We got through the opening act, and then the sky just opening up, and I mean really opened up. The rain would have been one thing, but there was terrible lightning as well, making it unsafe for patrons to stay on the field. It took some time for our staff to talk to the tour and figure out our next plan of action, along with checking the radar to see if the show could go on.

Being that I was in the box office, I had a lot of questions from the patrons asking about refunds, if the show would be rescheduled or if it would continue that night. Finally, the venue decided it was unsafe to continue with the show. At that time we still didn't know if the show would be rescheduled or if there would be refunds, so we simply had to ask the patrons to call the stadium during office hours to find out at a later date. There were not too many complaints, I think people just wanted to get out of the bad weather.

Lucky for us, the show has been rescheduled! July 11th is the new show date and patrons are able to simply use their original tickets for the upcoming show.

Stadium View

Overview

My intern experience at Highmark Stadium started in late March. This is my first time working in a box office and I have really enjoyed it so far. Highmark Stadium is Home to the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, a USL league team.The stadium also holds other sporting events including their PDL developmental soccer team and lacrosse events. Something new I got to be apart of this summer was their concert series. It was was something new and exciting the whole team got to be apart of.

My duties as an intern for the box office include many things. My time here consists of event and office hours. Events are fun because you can deal with people on a more personal basis. Interns are either placed in the box office selling tickets through our Ticketmaster system or we are scanning patrons tickets at the gate. Dealing with Ticketmaster has been a challenge, we have the HOST system here at Highmark which is not a simple point and click system. It has taken some time but I grow more comfortable with it everyday. Weekday office duties include answering calls, selling walk up tickets, group sales and any other office work that needs to be done. Working during the day has allowed me to become more familiar with the Ticketmaster system and learning other types of sales.

I have found that the Box Office in a venue is really the hub of everything. We are responsible for sales and tickets which means a lot of people come to us for answers. I am enjoying the atmosphere so far and look forward to what I have left to learn.....which is a lot.