Deseret News | Reader comments: Stadium of Fire sells out in minutes

Reader comments
Stadium of Fire sells out in minutes

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UVU Student | 1:03 a.m. April 5, 2008

I was so lucky to get tickets! I can't wait for this event! I am a local Provo guy and have grown up with the Stadium of Fire! I am so excited! Woot! Go America's Freedom Festival!

corn pone | 5:56 a.m. April 5, 2008

what a bunch of losers turning around and selling the tickets on e-bay. some people seriously need to get a life.

Disappointed BYU Alumnus | 5:53 a.m. April 5, 2008

What this article fails to point out is that big donors, BYU faculty/family, and others well connected were given thousands of tickets before the "official sales" even began on Friday evening.

I know someone got tickets on Thursday because their cousin works at BYU, another because his aunt is a big time contributor to BYU. So this article wants the reader to think that everyone started on the same footing when it states, "Brigham Young University ticket sales sold its first ticket at 5 p.m." WRONG.

It would be an interesting article if you surveyed the BYU faculty/officials about how many tickets they were able to purchase before "official sales" began on Friday evening. I think the general public would be disappointed.

Comments continue below

dude | 6:53 a.m. April 5, 2008

you sound like you are a guy from utah county

news junkie | 7:05 a.m. April 5, 2008

How many of those tickets will end up on Craigslist or in the newspaper for those looking to make a buck? July 4th makes for an interesting situation-Stadium of Fire and the True Colors Tour at Usana Ampitheatre. The True Colors tour will be more fun than listening to the tweens screaming and watching parents go broke buying their girls overpriced junk.

Oh Please | 7:21 a.m. April 5, 2008

Miley Cyrus and Glenn Beck! Ah, Provo, can't you just feel your IQ dropping?

Grinch and Greed | 7:50 a.m. April 5, 2008

25 tickets a pop.....sounds like Scalpers had a field day. What a "Joke" the City and the Stadium of Fire have become........the city and the Stadium of Fire organizers are really promoting the right set of values........so when can I expect the first Casino to pop up in North Provo..........All those trips to watch BYU play Football and Basketball in Las Vegas seem to really be paying off for the city commissioners. It also looks like it's now a complete takeover by the California Mentality crowd of "he who has has the most bucks get all the bennies." Grinch in the city of Greed

Disappointed | 7:57 a.m. April 5, 2008

I hope this is not allowed to happen again next year. Tickets should be limited to ten per buyer. The current method encourages scalping. In most other places, you can only get six to eight tickers, but with family sizes - ten is a more realistic number for BYU.

As mush as people want to go to the show, I hope they refuse to reward the scalpers for this greedy behaviour.

Stadium Watcher | 8:22 a.m. April 5, 2008

I think that the wrist band thing is not a good Idea, because the people that have numbers up in the 600-900 do not even have a chance to get tickets, It is alot faster if you buy them online I know that they still have some left, just go to www.byu.edu see if their are any left,

Anonymous | 8:24 a.m. April 5, 2008

I was there in line and I also was two people away from getting tickets. I feel like getting a wrist band was of no advantage because they sold the tickets on line at the same time. There should have been a head start for tickets sales with wrist bands.

Daniel Pugmire | 8:23 a.m. April 5, 2008

We think we might have tickets, but if not, we are going to be spending most of our time at Colonial Days in downtown Provo. Last year we didn't even watch the fireworks, but spent the time learning about the colonial life and what our forefathers did to settle this great country.

Much more fun that fighting the crowds and the smoke, and it's free to the public.

way to go byu | 8:43 a.m. April 5, 2008

Nice of BYU to encourge scalping by allowing people to buy 25 tickets at a time.

Questions | 8:37 a.m. April 5, 2008

Whose coming from Montana?

Will there be overflow seating at the conference Center? The Marriatt Center? The HFAC DeJong?

Overly Greedy | 8:53 a.m. April 5, 2008

I think that it was great that some could afford to get up to 25 tickets but I also feel that they should have limited tickets to ten per person with those having the wristbands being the first in line. Since I don't like crowds this is not something that I would even attend. If I have a daughter or grandchild who wanted to go I would have gotten a ticket for her and one or both parents.Those who bought the tickets just to sell on Ebay for more then what you bought them for - shame on you. That is being greedy and dishonest.

Anonymous | 9:06 a.m. April 5, 2008

The 25 ticket limit was a gift to E-bayers, many of which will make obscene money from pre-teens who want to see their star. So, like a bunch of other hopeful parents, I sat on the computer for over an hour before learning no tickets were available--only to find out they actually sold in 10 minutes. As for the comment that the sellout couldn't be predicted they would have just had to look at recent history. How can someone be so dumb about their own business? I am extremely disappointed at the Stadium of Fire folks who made it impossible for regular people to get a ticket by allowing people to buy 25 to sell on E-bay. Talk about creating some ill-will. No more Stadium of Fire for me.

Jk | 9:52 a.m. April 5, 2008

I'm dissapointed they let everyone get twenty five tickets. I got online at 3 pm for the sale at 5 pm. Just as I was about to get tickets both of my computers crashed.(Due to BYU)
If feel sorry for the many dissapointed children out there. most of which cannot afford a scalped ticket.
I hope those that horded the tickets, feel bad, but I don't think they will.

J.J | 9:48 a.m. April 5, 2008

So... Hannah Montana is more important and beloved than remembering our freedom? Tsk Tsk what is this country coming to?

BYU employee | 9:55 a.m. April 5, 2008

To Alumnus: BYU employees did NOT get early access to tickets, we had to wait like everyone else. I wasn't able to get any. I'm sure big donors will get tickets, but they give millions of dollars to the university. I think we can give them a $35 ticket in exchange for their generosity.

Anonymous | 9:57 a.m. April 5, 2008

stadium of flamers. If you cant get a ticket to this you should buy your kids tickets for the vans warped tour, its a fraction of the cost and you get a massive amount of artist (like 50 bands). And Sprint has a "Daddy and Mommy Daycare" so parents can sit in an air conditioned tent on a lay z boy and watch a movie while the kids play.

Online Sales Faliure | 10:56 a.m. April 5, 2008

Hmm, there is no mention of the online ticket sales failure here. BYU was ill prepared for the demand for tickets online as well. The web site processing the orders was very slow and I had a confirmed hold for only 5 tickets (no scalping planned here).

I went through the complete process, entering valid address and payment information. Each screen along the process kept telling me I was purchasing the same 5 tickets I started with. When clicked on the button on final page to commit my life savings of $200 for the 5 tickets, the next screen simply read "Unable to confirm order, try again?" Of course by this time, all tickets were sold out.

I noticed there was a count down timer during the complete online process that started at about 5 minutes. The last time it was displayed it said 27 seconds were remaining. Did I run out of time?

I'm still waiting to find out what happened to my order. Did they charge my credit card or not? If not, what happened to the tickets they were holding for me?

Seriously? | 11:08 a.m. April 5, 2008

Honestly, all this arguing about the daughter of a washed up one-hit-wonder country "star"? You all need to get a life and stop spending so much time whining about pointless stuff.

Clueless in Provo | 11:05 a.m. April 5, 2008

To quote the article:
"Folks were throwing down between $875 and $3,125 on the average envelope ï¿½ a figure ticket sales personnel didn't expect.
They originally thought buyers would purchase six to nine tickets at a time according to average purchase data from the past three years, but when the clock struck 5, their calculations crashed ï¿½ hard.
"Suddenly, everyone was buying 25 tickets at a time," Pelo said. "There's no way we could have predicted that.""

Are these people that out of touch? Do they live under a rock? Talk about being totally clueless! "No way we could haave predicted that" has to go down as one of the most ridiculous statements in a very long time. Wake up people!! EVERYBODY (except you) SAW THIS COMING!!

Eliza | 11:20 a.m. April 5, 2008

I think that is soooooooooooo stupid that people get tickets 4 or 5 hours before the ticket sales were selling

Anna | 11:22 a.m. April 5, 2008

The tickets are out because Miley is so famous. Teens, kids,and even parents love her to much. I love her so much I also love Glen Beck. I hope they get more tickets but people got tickets hours before five o clock.

Online Advantage | 11:23 a.m. April 5, 2008

Jk, you said "I got online at 3 pm for the sale at 5 pm. Just as I was about to get tickets both of my computers crashed.(Due to BYU)"

If you were in the online system BEFORE 5pm, you were automatically kicked out at 5pm when they turned on purchasing for these tickets. There is no such thing as lining up early for online tickets and you discovered that after waiting two hours. Next time, wait until the minute the tickets go on sale before going into the ticketing system.

veedub | 11:34 a.m. April 5, 2008

I'm all for free enterprise, but allowing so many tickets to be sold to one person, doesn't seem like fair play. Indeed, many of these were obviously purchased by greedy folks looking to make a windfall scalping them (isn't that illegal?)

The officials ought to look seriously at limiting the number of tickets sold to one individual to 10 or so.

T | 11:41 a.m. April 5, 2008

I Had absolutly no problem buying tickets you all obviously have the internet so its your own fault for not thinking ahead. Other than you JK that sucks your computer crashed.

Miley's IPO | 11:55 a.m. April 5, 2008

I don't hear people complaining when a company sells stock and then the stock rockets up because of high demand. If no one wanted to go to the concert there would be no market for the tickets. Obviously there is huge demand for this concsrt.
I've heard that many in line did not even get tickets and that some in line went home to buy online and got skunked.

Calm Down | 12:08 p.m. April 5, 2008

It's just the Stadium of Fire, not a ticket to the Celestial Kingdom. Just calm down a bit people, if you didn't get tickets tough, if you did then congrats, if you are reselling on eBay I pity your value system but hope it works out for you.

Free Enterprise? | 12:28 p.m. April 5, 2008

veedub,

Do you have the same contempt for people who bought houses hoping to sell them for a profit? Everybody is for free enterprise as long as it's the other guy that pays.

Disturbed | 12:54 p.m. April 5, 2008

How surprising that BYU did not limit the sale to a more friendly number considering demand. It seems we would know better by now. Our apologies to all who are disappointed for our lack of forethought. Hopefully, we will yet learn how to improve our services from this experience.

Richard | 1:23 p.m. April 5, 2008

Those who blame byu don't know what they are talking about. The Provo City is in charge and rent from BYU.

You've got to be kidding... | 1:39 p.m. April 5, 2008

"Suddenly, everyone was buying 25 tickets at a time," Pelo said. "There's no way we could have predicted that."

What kind of clueless wonders do they have running the show here? Did they not research the scalping activity before deciding the ticket limit? How many of those online tickets were actually sold to people who are going to use them? If you want the answer, go to eBay and check out who the sellers are: it's all the big-time scalpers who sell nothing else but tickets. They have scores of well-coached "piece-workers" who deluge the online ticket office and get paid a bounty for every ticket they grab with a premium for the high-demand seats.

As someone else noted, all of us knew instantly what would happen when we saw the 25-ticket limit, and they can't figure it out? Pulleeeezze!!!

Anonymous | 1:40 p.m. April 5, 2008

I was one of the first people to get a wristband on tuesday morning, so I was disappointed that the line was not first come first serve because it landed me a good 4oo something back from the "lucky number" at about 4:50 they come out and told everyone about 50 people infront of me to go home. I was able to speed back and get on the computer in time, but I felt bad for the people around me who did not leave so readily and lived farther away. I was sad that BYU had not just given out the number of wristbands they had saved tickets for, it would have made things much better. I doubt they will ever get a preformer this hyped again (unless it is David Archuleta) but next time I hope they do a better job.

Thanks so much! | 1:43 p.m. April 5, 2008

I'm so looking forward to this concert! This no doubt will be the best Stadium of Fire with Glenn Beck, Blue Man Group, and Hannah.

I was lucky enough to get tickets through my grandfather. He's a general authority and was able to get tickets for me and a bunch of my cousins.

Thanks BYU (and grandpa)!

blah blah | 2:30 p.m. April 5, 2008

Freedom Festival was incharge of selling the tickets and I bought 24. Sorry to upset all those that think these will go to eBay but all tickets are going to family members. I am glad we could get 25 at a time. You could only get up to 25 on one shot if you had a wristband. Online you could only get eight at a time up to 25 per email name. Honestly people, get a grip. Why do some of you have to complain just to complain? If you did not get tickets, I hate to inform you, but it is not the end of the world. Saturday has come and will go and so will Independance Day and the stadium of fire.

Got 8 Tickets | 2:32 p.m. April 5, 2008

I could take my family, but I ill probably keep only two and sell the rest at $600.00 each. I love it!!

Milas | 2:46 p.m. April 5, 2008

What a bunch of whiners!!! I had three friends get in line for a wristband and two more getting on line. We hit the jackpot with one person in line and got the 25 tickets for the group. That's how these types of things go is that you have to be aware and be strategic!!! So now I get to take my little girl just like I took her in November to the Energy Solutions concert. Funny thing is that we had the time of our lives and I don't regret it all. I decided a long time ago to live life to its fullest and leave nothing on the table. A friend of mine lost his teenage daughter to a freak accident nearly a month ago and said he never regretted doing a lot of things with his daughter even though some activities were pretty indulgent. That's me baby; my little girl and I are going to do everything while she is young and we won't leave anything on the table!!!

Ernie Floyd McCootus Woo | 2:59 p.m. April 5, 2008

Some dope said "what a bunch of losers turning around and selling the tickets on e-bay. some people seriously need to get a life."

What a bunch of losers buying the tickets on e-bay. some people seriously need to get a life.

And to the whiner complaining about the connected having access to tickets: Get connected, it pays.

Vegas Ed | 3:30 p.m. April 5, 2008

Free market. Hot singer and speaker. Should have been limited to 10 tickets per transaction.
The only true crazy people are the ones willing to pay the scalpers. If no one buys at the scalper prices, the price will come down. Here in Vegas you couldn't give the tickets to her concert in January. So many scalpers, not enough buyers. They had to dump the tickets for way UNDER face value. Someone called us, and gave us tickets, because to the glut of online sellers. If no one pays the high prices, the prices will drop like the U of U's basketball teams national rankings.

SJ Bobkins | 4:45 p.m. April 5, 2008

While I'm not going to add my tinny contribution to making another young girl a screwed up late teen, ala the Olsen twins, Britany Spears, Lindsay Lohan, etc, etc., etc a 1000 others, by attending the concert or buying records. I have to wonder what BYU is thinking in not regulating ticket sales. Any knucklehead knows about scalpers and E-bay rip-offs, and most promoters limit sales to 4 a person to prevent a few greedy folks from taking all the tickets, not to see the show, but to make a huge profit.
At one time it was normal to see a few diehard fans in tents, with sleeping bags first in line to get tickets to see their favorite performer, along with a bunch of homeless men. The homeless men were working for a scalper, in return for a bottle of whiskey, and 10 bucks, they would wait in line for hours, and buy a few hundred tickets. The scalper would basically control sales to the concert or event, by having a group of men stay in line.
It's sad that the BYU folks are so naive, not to know what to expect. As a result most are locked out.

Phred | 4:56 p.m. April 5, 2008

No one likes waiting in line for a public event. For those who make the effort to arrive early I believe they have earned a place because of their patience and extra effort. Consequently I tend to become mildly irritated when I see some who send two in advance who proceed to "save seats" for 20 who only arrive at the last moment while some who stood in line are excluded. In rare circumstances like a handicap that does not allow one to stand in line it would be acceptable. But in most cases, like allowing a group to "butt in line", it's not particularly courteous behavior!

If scalping is seen as such an egregious offense, it shouldn't be too difficult to make tickets non-transferable. Require a name for each ticket at the time of sale and ID at the gate. Parents ID might have to suffice for those too young to have ID. A pain? Yes. Worthwhile? Probably in this case.

Anonymous | 5:29 p.m. April 5, 2008

The 25 tickets didn't even come close to covering me and my "extended" family. At that rate, I'll have to leave wife # 5, 4, and 3 home with the 50 kids!

Anonymous | 5:39 p.m. April 5, 2008

Seat saving nazis just took a whole new level here in Utah County.

InSANE | 6:32 p.m. April 5, 2008

I had the same problem as the other person who said they were online at 5 pm, ordered and were given 4 seats, but by the time you could process your order/payment, it had timed out, and you had to try again. It was a very frustrating hour, trying to get the system to take the payment before the 5 minutes was up, which never happened.
We won't buy from scalpers, I hope those that are trying to make a huge profit from this get stuck with the tickets they will never be able to use.

Free Market | 6:55 p.m. April 5, 2008

I don't think there should have been a limit at all. One of the greatest freedoms we have is a free market. You are all advocating socialism. The biggest mistake the freedom festival made was charging to little. They should have set prices high enough that the scalpers couldn't make money and people would have only bought what they were going to use.

Scalping | 6:52 p.m. April 5, 2008

This is America people. It's called the free enterprise system. Scalping and E-bay are not illegal. What should be illegal is Hannah Montana. I had to take my daughters to her show at the Delta Center. Thank goodness this show sold out so quickly so I didn't have to go again.

Thankyou Stadium of Fire | 8:26 p.m. April 5, 2008

I was one of the blessed ones in line with a right-numbered wristband. I actually only needed 5 tickets, but with a 25-ticket limit and a ready after-market, fletch!! I bought all 25 that I was righteously entitled to in this gloriously free country. I'll now be blessed with a $5,000 windfall after I flip my extras on e-bay. See, great things do happen when you live an honest life!

Impossible | 10:25 p.m. April 5, 2008

No way this thing sold out in 10 minutes. The time stamp on my receipt is 5:20, and they are pretty decent seats.

Anonymous | 12:20 a.m. April 6, 2008

Won't Hannah Montana fans be disappointed when she sings a couple of songs and they spend the rest of the hot miserable night watching citizens be sworn in and other ridiculous stuff before thousands of pounds of fireworks. Don't plan on being entertained by the entertainment that you pay for because it doesn't happen in Lavell's house, that's why we no longer go, no more wasting money on favored entertainment that does last more than 15 minutes!!!

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