MSU upgrading system for tickets to games, shows

Missouri State University is upgrading the way it sells and tracks tickets for athletic games, theater and music performances, touring shows and arena events.

Patrick Ransdell, director of athletics, said a new internet-based system will streamline the ticket-buying experience.

“The software will look different. It is web-based. There will be a development function to it; they’ll be able to track their donations better,” he said. “They’ll be able to track all their previous ticketing history. It is just a more robust system that will allow both the user and our side of things to be more efficient, more modern.”

Ransdell said the system currently in use was originally designed to sell tickets for minor league baseball, not the range of events offered by the university.

“It is not the most robust system for concerts, for the fine arts, for even college football,” he said.

The MSU Board of Governors voted Feb. 20 to enter into an agreement, for up to seven years, with the California-based Paciolan LLC. The company touts its integrated system for ticketing, fundraising, marketing, analytics and data security.

“It will take time for everyone to get used to it, but it should allow for a much better, more smooth process for receiving and even transferring tickets digitally,” Ransdell said. “Many other venues have already gone down this road, whether Paciolan or Ticketmaster. This one will allow us to move into the current generation.”

Matt Morris, vice president for administration and finance, said three proposals were evaluated, and Paciolan emerged as the choice.

“They have the strongest technical performance, the most integrated set of solutions for long-term ticketing, marketing development and revenue management,” Morris said. “In addition, Paciolan has provided the lowest per-ticket fee and the most cost-effective solution for the university’s event patrons.”

Morris said the per-ticket fee is $1 for patrons.

The contract with Paciolan is estimated to cost $1.41 million over the seven-year period. Morris said the amount will be “derived from the fees collected from patrons through a portion of the purchase price of those individual tickets.”

Michael Wills, director of procurement for MSU, said 4% of ticket sales will also go to the company. The new system launches June 1.

Asked if the new system is expected to increase ticket sales, Ransdell said it may because the university will have more details about ticket sales and trends.

“From a sales perspective, it’s going to really increase our data, so we can hopefully capitalize on that,” he said.