Football: It’s a ticket frenzy – Interview with Matt Casbon 12/14/12

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 14, 2012

It’s somewhat akin to looking at a report card, or even unwrapping a wax pack of baseball trading cards.

It can be argued it’s a lot like Christmas, too. But that is certain to come every year.

Bowl games are not, which is why excitement has been on the rise at the Cajundome box office since Ragin’ Cajun fans earlier this week started lining up there to secure their tickets and claim their seats for UL’s Dec. 22 New Orleans Bowl game at the Superdome against East Carolina."The most-fun part is watching the people pick up their tickets," UL ticket manager Matt Casbon said. "They want to open them up, they want to know where they are. They’re calling their dads, their sisters, their friends — you know, ‘Where are you?’"

All, of course, want the best seat in the house.Some are thrilled when they learn where theirs are. Others are not so lucky.

But most are just happy to have them in hand, which in itself is no small task for a former Cajun baseball player now charged with overseeing spectator seating for the university’s sports programs.Casbon, 28, is in his first year as ticket master.

And just what has life been like the last few weeks for the man responsible for ensuring that more than 20,000 Cajuns fans are placed, their tickets are made available and — in as many cases as humanly possible — they leave with a smile on their face?Hectic, to say the least."We kind of jokingly kicked the idea around when (Casbon) was hired by the Cajundome, ‘Well, if we go to a bowl game this year, you’ll get your baptism by fire,’" said John Dugas, UL’s associate athletic director.Casbon credits the team around him — a crew of around a dozen or so, including at least four folks distributing tickets at the Cajundome box office, at least three working the call-center phone, two others processing orders, one Cajundome box office manager and an assistant manager — for keeping down the flames.

"Starting (Nov. 19), on the first day we started taking orders," Casbon said, "it has been consistent every day."

"In the beginning, we were getting so many orders we really couldn’t even count (them) in one day. So we were measuring it in inches, and the stacks were six inches, eight inches, of just order forms — until we could finally count the numbers."

Things really got crazy Nov. 26, two days after UL’s invite to a second-straight New Orleans Bowl was officially extended following a win over South Alabama."Those first few days, after we got that sixth win and we started taking the orders, and then when they made the official announcement (Nov. 24)," he said, "the amount of traffic we had at the (Cajun)dome the next day I mean, the stacks were just incredible.

"Everybody sat back and was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got to get these tickets from the bowl, we’ve got to start moving these.’"In about a five-day period late last week and through last weekend, almost 13,000 ticket-holders were seated in both priority and first-come, first-served fashion.

Order forms had been placed in piles — one for Ragin’ Cajun Athletic Foundation donors who got first priority, one for season-ticket holders, one for students and one for other buyers.The 12,000-plus seat RCAF pile was further subdivided into those wanting priority selection for their allotted number of tickets, and those willing to waive priority so larger groups could be accommodated together.For countless days, Casbon spent 14 or 15 hours in the office and more at home as he and staff first seated buyers — typically 100 or so at a time — and later personally called them to know when tickets would be available for pick-up. E-mail notification is a possibility in future years, but this year personal phone calls were deemed the best form of communication available.

"He’ll send me a text every night a little after midnight (about) how many more seats he’s actually placed, how many people have picked up," Dugas said. "And then he tells me how level of productivity drops off a little bit from 10 p.m. to midnight, because of his 18-hour days.

"But "» someone like Matt, who is just so dedicated to what he does, and loves this university — he doesn’t look at it like, ‘I’ve got all this extra work to do.’ He really looks at, ‘How can I do the best thing for the university?’ He’s doing a phenomenal job."

And it’s an ongoing process, as UL will continue accepting ticket orders through the end of business Monday.

"It’s long hours," Casbon said, "but it’s something you want — not only for your football program, but for the university and the ticket office. You don’t want to be sitting at home this time of year. You want to be dealing with bowl games and dealing with bowl tickets."As a ticket office, you just get excited. This is what we do "» and this just gives us another opportunity to service our fans."

The result is expected to be a crowd that when all are counted — including sales through East Carolina, through TicketMaster and through distribution by the bowl itself — could break the game-record 42,841 that watched UL beat San Diego State 32-30 in 2011.UL announced Thursday that its own sales count had topped 20,000, besting last year’s total by 1,100-plus.

Because the Cajuns have sold so many tickets on their side of the Superdome, in fact, the New Orleans Bowl is for the first time selling tickets in its upper terrace — a level that last year seated only spectators who received local giveaways."I think we’ve got a real good shot to surpass (the 42,841 from) last year," said Casbon, who played first base for the Cajuns in 2006 and 2007 after transferring from LSU-Eunice.

An Acadiana High graduate, Casbon graduated from UL with a bachelor’s degree in sports management and followed that with an MBA from UL.His father, Myles Casbon, lettered in football for the Cajuns from 1968-71, and played defensive end for them in their last postseason game, the 1970 Grantland Rice Bowl.

And while Matt didn’t exactly grow up dreaming of being a ticket manager, he does see the position as a stepping stone toward his eventual goal of working as an athletic director.Doing what he does now at a school were he played and studied, two of his brothers graduated, his wife graduated and multiple members of her Judice family graduated as well makes the experience that much more gratifying.

"To be able to work side-by-side with this university," he said, "I really couldn’t ask for more."Not even a free ticket.

He can get one of those, after all, whenever he wants.

"It’s just a great position to be in," Casbon said."Whether I was UL ticket manager or not, I was going to those games anyway," he added. "So this just is an added bonus for me."