The Future of Ticketing – Bobbie Walker, San Diego State University

This transcript has been transcribed by Riverside.fm, no edits (please excuse any errors)

Sean Callanan (00:01.666) Very happy to welcome Bobbie Walker. He's the Associate Athletic Director of Ticket Operations at San Diego State University, also known as SDSU. Bobby, welcome to the podcast.

Bobbie Walker (00:13.094) Thanks for having me.

Sean Callanan (00:15.17) Really appreciate it. I always start my podcasts and my conversations in Toronto people, find people sports biz origin story. What about yourself? How did you get your start in the world of sports?

Bobbie Walker (00:25.766) Yeah, a long, long time ago. So actually got started. Originally, I wanted to get into sports in sports medicine. So went to the University of Utah, was going to go to med school to be a sports doc and decided I didn't want to continue that route. Working in a hospital, wanted to be more on the business side. And from there, found the master's program.

at the University of San Francisco, moved out there to get my Master's in Sports Management and Marketing back in 1998. And as I was starting, my Master's program was living in Sacramento. And at the time, the Kings were starting back in the day, back in the early 90s, is when sports teams started opening up Inside Sales.

So telemarketing departments, brand new concept of these inside sales departments that teams were starting. And I went there to see about it, like an internship, hey, I'm getting my master's. And they said, hey, we're starting this inside sales department. We were literally in a banquet room at the Sacramento King Stadium Arco Arena at the time, just smiling and dialing.

Sean Callanan (01:24.302) Okay. Yep.

Bobbie Walker (01:51.826) making phone calls and trying to sell King's tickets. And what happened is, is the guy that started, that was managing the department was getting his real estate license. And once he got that, he bailed on us. And I basically stepped up and said, hey, I'll pitch in and take care of these guys until you guys find a replacement. And like a month later, they said, hey, you're crushing it. You want, you want the job. So.

Moved up the ladder there, spent five years with the Sacramento Kings from 1999, when the Maloof spot the team back then, until the end of 2004. Moved to, back to Utah to kind of raise the family with my wife and kids and, and started working at that time. The owner of the Utah Jazz purchased the minor league baseball team, is the AAA affiliate.

Sean Callanan (02:49.773) Okay.

Bobbie Walker (02:50.61) of the Angels. And they said, Hey, do you want to help kind of run ticketing for this minor league, AAA baseball team? Did that for three seasons, and then was promoted to Director of Sales for the Utah Jazz. Did, did that from 2007 to 2014?

Sean Callanan (03:15.584) And so, mean, so for all these roles, I mean, jumping in that ticket sales, was it just something that you found just hit your skill set perfectly? Because like you said, the, the inside sales was, was new, but it's obviously, a lot of people on the podcast have said, that's how I started. I started on inside sales, started to understand the business and then they like, they moved to different areas. Did you just find this, that, that, that ticket sales and managing ticket sales teams was something that

Bobbie Walker (03:18.018) huh.

Sean Callanan (03:42.814) one you're exceptionally good at, but also something that you were always been able to move the needle on.

Bobbie Walker (03:48.978) Yeah, yeah, I never went into it thinking I would be in sales. But it is a great place to start because there's so many positions in sales. Teams are always looking, a lot of people getting into sports, they're thinking, Well, I want to do marketing or something cool and they don't think about like, I want to sit there and do the daily grind of sales. But it is a great way to get into an organization. And in minor league sports,

I was doing everything from being a mascot to to selling sponsorships to running a box office you kind of get to do a little bit of everything to kind of find your niche and I really succeeded in sales, especially management More than than the sales side of it managing sales people managing different personalities and getting them to to be successful really really

was something I enjoyed. eventually I went after seven years as director of sales, was promoted to vice president of ticketing and overseeing more of the operations side. And the owners of the jazz own the Delta Center, many names. So we ran from an operation standpoint, I oversaw like all of the concerts, Disney on Ice,

Sean Callanan (05:00.823) Okay.

Bobbie Walker (05:15.73) The Utah Jazz the Salt Lake B's so it was running the the ticket operations side for What was called Larry H Miller Sports and Entertainment at the time? And then

Sean Callanan (05:28.46) And so with that, mean, ticket sales, obviously, you you've just quickly skim past a 20 year career in, multiple places, ticketing has that, there would have been times like when you're at the Kings and they had, Vlade Divac and Chris Weber, and they were a hot ticket in town and, the Jazz at certain times would have had teams that were, the hot ticket in town, but then also you'd have those teams that were real struggle and real slog. How do you…

Bobbie Walker (05:35.174) Yep.

Sean Callanan (05:56.556) I guess smooth that out for your sales team and really sell the experience, but also take advantage when the product on the floor is really ramping up the demand.

Bobbie Walker (06:06.832) Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. It is. Yeah, I've went through my career. I've been with the Kings, where we were sold out and we had, 10,000 people on a waiting list at the time. And to years where, we couldn't give away tickets. And to be able to adapt and to adjust is a huge part of the sports business, the ebbs and flows of the sports team. And when

your phone's ringing off the hook for people to buy tickets, and then where you go to a year or two where no one will answer your call. So you've got to be able to adapt, there's different concepts and ideas. when, when I was with the, with the Jazz and we had some down years, we were focused on the visiting team. Come out and check out the, the Lakers are in town. You have to, to kind of sell, the, the visiting team, or adjust and focus more on groups where it's less about like the, what's going on on the court or on the field. It's the same thing in minor league sports. In baseball, people go to the games and they leave the game and they don't even know who won or lost. It's not about, the record. It's about the experience and being able to kind of focus on that. So yeah, great question. It's just

You got to be able to adapt and know that it's not always going to be this way. If you're at the highs of highs, you got to prepare for the years that you're going to be in the lows and, and vice versa.

Sean Callanan (07:46.83) Andy, and as your effectively your playbook getting thicker and thicker every year to go, oh yeah, this worked in 2008 when we were on a tear and this is what we did or this is what we did in a down year where we did the, like you said, the bundling of here's the premium team that we know is our ticket, but we're going to put them with two other games to get them, to fill the venues and those low periods. Are you still sort of going back into your playbook and saying,

Well, this worked in 2006, so this worked in 2014. We could run it back.

Bobbie Walker (08:18.064) Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the concepts still work to this day. It's just how we deliver it. A lot of things has went through technology. You're no longer doing group tickets where you're printing out stacks of tickets and going out in the community like we used to do 20 years ago, which is a benefit. We have the tools and the technology to be able to do the same concepts, but kind of in a more streamlined

Technological way that is more effective and efficient so it's it's definitely you have to go back in your into your Experience of how you handled those things and and and apply them, know as as you go through your career

Sean Callanan (09:06.35) And then, and then as you read that ticketing operation level across the Miller sports group and you did have multiple sports properties, but then like you said, uh, concerts, um, other entertainment pieces was, was that again, a bit of a new learning experience to go, I know how to sell a basketball product. know how to sell a minor league baseball product and how that is different, but then, completely new audiences, completely new demographics.

And in some instances, a completely different ticket sales cycle for those concerts. Was that something that, one, you had to learn, but then also train your teams to be able to have that mental switch of selling a Utah jazz ticket to selling a country music star concert is a completely different proposition.

Bobbie Walker (09:51.484)

Yeah, absolutely. in it, as we adapted to that really where, where it became kind of a crossovers with groups, because when you're working with a company that's bringing out like, their employees for, for a jazz game, they also have employees that maybe have kids that want to go to Disney on ice. And it's, you're going back to the same groups in the same companies that you're like, Hey, you did a 200.

Sean Callanan (10:04.46) Okay.

Bobbie Walker (10:23.346) 200 person group for a jazz game for your for your Christmas party What about going out to your employees and seeing if they want to come out to Disney on ice? We're doing a Feldbrunn So there's a lot of crossover and it and it actually makes you as a salesperson To be able to offer to your groups in your companies more than just one product You can say hey, I've got baseball in the summer. I got basketball in the fall in the winter. I sprinkle in the Globetrotters and Disney on Ice and monster truck shows. And you can give kind of a full package of sports entertainment to the groups that you work with and the season ticket holders, the sponsors, all of those. So it makes you an even better resource for your, your group leaders.

When you have, more than just one product to offer and that's helped me in the sense of I made the transition during the pandemic to San Diego State and so I spent a bulk 20 plus years in the NBA in the professional side and going over and making that transition to the collegiate sports where we have six ticketed sports so we've got

Bobbie Walker (11:42.224) Not only football, but we've got men's and women's basketball. We've got volleyball, baseball, softball. So it's a year round. We're selling, we've got six baseball games this weekend and we have a basketball game on Tuesday. So it's like that, that ability to, be a year round kind of selling cycle and, and entertainment opportunities is, is kind of correlated.

when I move to the collegiate side of things here at San Diego State.

Sean Callanan (12:16.576) Absolutely, I to get to the issue. But I think one of the things I sort of take it away and it's been a big discussion point at conferences like seat that we both both attend and, and the conversations but like all of those things you're talking about only happen if you secure the data and the data is, is verified and you can start having those conversations if you sort of look back to your, early years and someone probably printed things on a dot matrix printer, just landed them on your desk and you were just literally crossing off, crossing off numbers as you call them. How has the, I guess the data position and the data and the information at your fingertips is that from a ticketing and a sales point of view changed over the last 25 years.

Bobbie Walker (13:02.704) Yeah, I mean, that's probably the one thing that has has helped me go from a an inside sales rep to to to a vice president of a professional organization is I embrace technology and change. I don't like the stagnant. That's why I like sports entertainment. Every day I come to work. I'm doing something different than what I did yesterday.

And that's what I think drives a lot of us in this is if you don't like change, this, this business is going to drive you crazy. And so technology was a big piece of that. I felt like I've always been at the forefront of technology and ticketing. That's why I attend, the conferences, like seat conferences, so I can be at the forefront of what's, what's coming up next, And throughout my career, you're right. Like when I started in Inside Sales,

Sean Callanan (13:35.757) Yeah

Bobbie Walker (13:57.126) We literally what we were calling from was is you would go to a sales table and they'd have a card and you'd fill out to enter to win and you'd put your information and then the cards would go into this box and they would send a box up to us and you'd literally grab this and you'd call the person and The guy sitting next to you would grab one. Well as most people do they fill out five of these to increase their chance so

this person grabs a card with the same information and calls and says, Hey, I got somebody on the other line, and it's the guy next to me calling.That's, and when we sold stuff, it was literally a printed sheet of paper that said, These are the locations available, and you put a little pin on there. So that's what we were dealing with, and, and printing tickets and mailing tickets and all of the costs associated to that.

But I think one of the biggest challenges we all went through is when everything started going digital and how you handle the pushback that we all received from our season ticket holders of, know, I'm not going digital. I want hard printed tickets in. And, it took a lot of us years to finally get that that adoption. And we're still dealing with it today, as most of us have a handful of clients.

this, in, in collegiate sports, we have a lot of older donors that are like, I don't even have a smartphone. And so we've got to adapt to that as well. But yeah, technology and the digital age. But I think the biggest piece of what that does is what you said, the data. Like back then, we didn't, we didn't know who was showing up, who was using the tickets, who was doing anything with them. And now we're just, we have

Sean Callanan (15:28.077) Yeah.

Bobbie Walker (15:50.478) all of this data, because everything is digital. And the teams and the staff that are actually using that data are the ones that are benefiting. And, and, sometimes it's data overload. It's like we have so much data, we don't know what to do with it, and how to, how to maximize, revenue based on the data points that we do have.

Sean Callanan (16:16.504) That was going to be my point. think there was, there was a, a crescendo of people talking about big data or data. I mean, I'm happy to speak American here, and not knowing what that, what big data was and, and how, and that overwhelm of, know, we've gone from, very few points of data coming in, and they might be on, unduplicated paper cards that aren't getting scanned in and aren't getting G D duped to

Sean Callanan (16:46.508) Yeah, we now know where they're scanning in what concessions they're going to when they're leaving, how long they're staying a whole bunch of things. And then it's like, there's a bit of a, which what's the doubt? What are the data points that are important to us now? So how do you deal with some of that data? You that data overwhelm now that you're sort of gone from, a leaky faucet where you're getting a little bit of data every now and again, this is really valuable and you're analyzing this tiny cup of data to we're now at the fire hose and it's just coming at you so fast. How are you handling that? Both as an opportunity but also a challenge to decide, hey, what should I focus on?

Bobbie Walker (17:25.382) Yeah, yeah, think the biggest piece is working with all the other departments that play a role in the data that we receive. You talk about concessions and parking, it's not just you can't work in the silo of I'm ticketing and I have this ticketing data. You really need to think outside the box in the sense that we have all these data points and what can we do for me, it's personalization.

Being able to send a personalized message to a to a client because we know that they They come to the game early they scan in through this gate They go to this concession stand and order a beer and a hot dog and now I can send that person a Little thank you that says hey on us. Here's a beer and a hot dog But you send a beer and a hot dog To a client that nothing about and they don't drink beer and they don't they they're a vegetarian

And that, that falls on like, OK, this person has no idea who I am and what. And so to be able to take the data, work with the different departments that are involved and be able to personalize the experience, because all the people coming through our building are having different experiences. Some are coming as a group with their company. Some are coming with their, their child for the first sporting event that they'll ever have. And how do you personalize those experiences in using that data is, think, what the key is. And I don't think enough of us use the data in that way to be able to personalize that experience that fans, all of us, are trying to, expect and demand nowadays.

Sean Callanan (19:17.495) So you said there at SDSU, you've got multiple sports. I'm lucky enough to be many years ago to go to a SDSU Mountain West Tournament game and it was one of the best games I've seen. I'll date myself, Danny Granger was playing for the San Diego State University at that point, but it was still one of the top 10 basketball games I've ever seen. And just from an atmosphere was that that game was in Las Vegas. But one of the things that you've been lucky enough to be involved in

which is always a challenge, but also a really big opportunity from a ticketing point of view is when you're opening a new stadium. Do you want to tell us about Snapdragon Stadium and why it was such an attraction for you in the role?

Bobbie Walker (20:01.712) Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So yeah, during the pandemic, that's when I transitioned over from the Utah Jazz. The Millers had sold the team to Ryan Smith at the time. sports were not happening. But what was happening here in San Diego is they had tore down Qualcomm Stadium and were building a new stadium, which is now Snapdragon Stadium, on the same site as Qualcomm.

Smaller, you qualcomm was huge football stadium chargers were gone We didn't need a 80,000 seat stadium for for what we were trying to accomplish. So it's they were building a more kind of 32 to 35,000 seat stadium perfect for soccer which was all part of the the the overall picture we've had the San Diego Wave

And now this year, actually starting March 1st, will be our first SDFC Major League Soccer game is happening. And so we've got two Major League Soccer tenants with the Wave and San Diego FC playing here. But one of the things that that drawed me to this position here in San Diego was opening this brand new stadium. When I was with the Jazz, we did a

pretty huge, I think is about $130 million renovation, and to be VP of operations at that time and all the, the things that go into that, where your manifest is changing and you're, you're, you're getting rid of seats to put in premium and all of those things is, it's a challenge. And, and I love a challenge. And I thought, opening a brand new football stadium would be a challenge, something that I haven't done in my career.

Bobbie Walker (21:57.106) And I wanted to be a part of and so I came out here in in early 2021 The stadium was opening up with the first football game in September of 2022. So Everyone was getting back from work at home and we were starting to come back together and get ready to open this brand new stadium and it was just interesting to to be able to

be involved in that, in the, at least from the ticketing side where, as seats are being put in, going through and, and walking the stadium and counting the seats to make sure like the manifest match, so I'm not selling a seat that's not going to exist in a building, which is, is always a challenge. And it's like, wait!

Sean Callanan (22:38.627) Yeah it does happen. mean, I know when the, when the SCG opened of the new stand and we were assisting the team from a social operations point of view, cause it was the first, first time everyone's coming for the, for the, for the test match day one, Australia, England, a massive test. And somehow one, one, one row just got mislabeled. There was no row E in this stand and like, so there's 30 people that were like literally tweeting like where the hell is row E? And it was just like mislabeled.

And so, know, when DF and it's like, what, what happened there? So we had the operations of, well, we've got to run, move these people. So they have a good experience, but it was just literally, we're opening a new stand and someone skipped a letter and you, it's not something you, know, the ticketing person's not like thinking they're going, what would happen? And it was just literally, cause maybe like you just said there, someone did walk the stadium and check every check every row and check every seat.

Bobbie Walker (23:38.258) Yep. And we did multiple times. And we found those things. We found, like, we had mislabeled the, the row or the seats where it went, were supposed to go left to right, 1 to 20, and it went the other way around. And so you got to go in and fix it all to make sure that everything matches. so the details that go into pulling that off and to make sure that the 35,000 seats on your manifest match the 35,000

thousand seats that actually got put into the stadium and to be able to to pull that off was was Something I wanted to be a part of in in in in take on that challenge And it it all worked out. We're in year three Here at the stadium. Like I said, we're we're starting with Major League Soccer starting finally

here on March 1st, so excited for that. We did a little test run last weekend with that to make sure that all of the things, scanners and seats and we had to add different pitch boxes and kind of made some changes to the stadium to accommodate the Major League Soccer team and make sure that all of those changes were successful. So, excited to have that rollout here.

in about a week or so. So it should be good.

Sean Callanan (25:05.934) Well true well well we will keep an eye out for it when we do publish this episode look forward to seeing it You bet obviously you spent a long time in the world of professional sports and now you're in in the college landscape We've obviously seen a lot of professional sports chasing that younger demographic for that and that next generation of sports fan But you're lucky enough now to see that sports fan daily in the SDSU student body and the fans that follow SDSU

have you noticed changes or different behaviors that are in the college student body and the college sports fan in one, what they want from a sports entertainment offer and how they consume it a little bit differently?

Bobbie Walker (25:50.704) Yeah, I think the biggest difference that I noticed in that transition is for one the donation piece. it's like every ticket has a donation piece to the purchase which didn't exist in professional sports so to speak. And that comes from a lot of alumni want to support the school and the student athletes and so they want to make donations to their

alma mater. And part of that is through purchasing season tickets, knowing that out of the $2,000 I spend for men's basketball season tickets, 1,000 of that is a donation to the student athletes. And they, so there's that support piece that they support the university. And so

It's not necessarily like in professional sports, you're following like a particular athlete on the team and you're a big fan of LeBron. So you follow wherever LeBron is, in the, in the league. Here, it's like, the players come and go, the students come and go. And, and, and it's more, I'm going to support the university. And so that was probably the biggest kind of change going from professional to, to collegiate.

know, trying to capitalize on the alumni and the donors of the university to help kind of support the sports aspect.

Sean Callanan (27:23.31) And I guess you've got to mean that that future fan flow is effectively the student student body, someone who, know, they might not play a sport, but I'll go, they'll they'll spend, four quality years at SDSU. They'll they'll be part of student life. They'll be full. And then like you said, they're they're SDSU fan for life, whether they're returning back to their hometown or staying in San Diego, they'll, they'll be a fan. it sort of allows you to continually grow that

fan base and sort of that data position of what does your alumni look like, for the future.

Bobbie Walker (27:57.168) Yeah, absolutely. And it was definitely took some getting used to the the different nuances between the the two and how you for one sell the product and then what what our fans are are actually looking for is they want to be a part of SDSU and the culture and in the and that's a little bit different than than what I was used to.

Sean Callanan (28:22.414) So one of the things we have been discussing on the seat steering committee, I'm sure Josh, a common friend, and obviously you work with Josh Barney at the Utah Jazz, who's now running seat. One of the topics that you raised, and I'm no doubt it will be a panel discussion or at least a discussion in the hallways at seat, the future of ticketing. What does that mean to you?

Bobbie Walker (28:31.036) Mm-hmm.

Bobbie Walker (28:45.212) Yeah, I mean, right now it seems like over the last few years, the whole digital transformation has become, the thing. And now we're coming to kind of the end of like, now most teams are a hundred percent digital. And so it's like, okay, what's the next thing? We all got through those tough years of that transition with our guests to go digital. What's the next step? one of the things I've been looking at and I try to look…

at what is it gonna look like in five years? And for me, it's looking at what Disney is doing with facial recognition and AI. AI is a big tech thing, and how is that gonna change the ticketing in the sports and entertainment experience? So I'm curious to see how that kind of plays out. But Disney, obviously being here in Southern California,

with Disneyland up the road and now you have these season ticket holders that, they recognize when they walk in that they're a season ticket holder and just through facial recognition and they don't have to then sign into their app and find their tickets. But then how does that, like we talked earlier, how does that kind of venture out from just ticketing concessions? Can now know when that person comes up to the concession stand that they're a season ticket holder through facial recognition.

And now they get their 20 % discount because I'm a season ticket holder. At the team store, I get certain discounts. How is that going to evolve? I'm already using facial recognition on my, my app so I can get into my banking account. I don't have to put in a code anymore. I have facial recognition. So it's not just in sports. There's facial recognition is,

Sean Callanan (30:14.893) Yep.

Bobbie Walker (30:38.192) Gonna be out there in all aspects to open up your app, to work on your phone, to going into a venue to see a concert. And it's kind of scary when you think about like, who's following me? How do they know where I'm at and what I'm doing? And I'm now at this concession stand and they know, hey, Bobby, you're a season ticket holder. But it's also back to my original point of personalization. You can now use that AI facial recognition to provide a personalized experience to that individual.

Sean Callanan (31:14.456) I think the real important thing is where it's being used elsewhere. like I think where sport has stumbled in the past where it's tried to be on the, on the bleeding edge of some of the new tech. whereas it doesn't need to be, it just needs to be an adopter of tech that is being used elsewhere. And the fact that, people are jumping the jumping the queue at airlines with clear check and pre TSA and, and clear and those kinds of things. And that's like, my face will get me past the line or

Sean Callanan (31:43.086) I was just in San Francisco recently and it's like, Oh, you want to go into the Amex experience, pull out your card, tap your card and you get in before the other people. And so that behavior, and like I said, Disney is the, at the top level of what that fan experience, how do you make the customer experience amazing? So they're getting used to it in other places. And when, know, we're not that far, and then you have the Amazon just walk out experience that people are doing on a regular basis.

it's not just, once every day and again, when I go to a stadium and it feels a bit weird and you're, you're like the John Travolta meme, trying to figure out where you're meant to pay. As more of that becomes the norm, then it makes sense for it to become part of the norm in, the world of sports. And so one, then it just becomes a better utility and a better way to get, get around the stadium. And then the, yeah, the AI piece.

Sean Callanan (32:37.73) The piece that I'm really passionate about because again, we talked about all that data and knowing what, that's where, we don't start to have the capacity to, we've got 30,000, a hundred thousand people in our database. How do we, how do we give them personalized offers? And that's sort of that, how do we get AI that AI layer in there that says, Bobby does go to the game. He does the first stop is to go and get two beers and a hot dog.

the piece that I'm

Well, now we know that what's the offer to him or it could just be that surprise and delight that the bartender goes, here you go, Bobby, one of them's on us. And it's like, wow. And again, it's that piece that I think is going to be super exciting to play in that space. But then also just important is in the same way we had that onboarding issues, and the piece that I'm might be the only thing we can thank COVID for is it helped us get through to digital ticketing.

But like even the people that still want the hard ticket and still are struggling with that, like how do we build an experience that does get those people to this space? I don't have a smartphone. I don't understand this. don't want the stadium tracking everywhere I go. Like how do we educate those people, help them realize it makes for a better experience?

Sean Callanan (34:01.966) Because again, those people weren't pressing a button on their phone 10 years ago and hopping in a stranger's car. That's taken years and years of people going, it's okay. So it's a very exciting time. I mean, ticketing and the data-area ticketing is the hub for that.

Bobbie Walker (34:18.182) Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, in a lot of venues, they're, they're now cashless and, and people adjusting to that. And you brought up the Amazon Just Walkout. We just converted multiple stands here to that, that go live with our first Major League Soccer game on March 1. So they, we just made that transition. It's been a 2-year

the piece that I'm

Transition working with them to get that out, but that will be rolling out in our stadium here in the next 10 days So that will be interesting to see how people adapt to to that technology in the stadium as well but yeah, it's it sometimes can be overwhelming and it feels like you just rip the band-aid off in just you're trying to make baby steps, but also the

things are changing so quickly, and you want to be on that, that kind of cutting edge of what's next to, to improve that experience. And for us, one of the things with being with a university is there's all this data outside of ticketing and sports entertainment that we have from donors that are spending millions of dollars on campus and people going to the bookstore and buying merchandise but have never attended a sporting event.

And how do we get that data and connect it all together and say, Here's somebody who spends money on, at the team store or makes a donation to, to Women's Foundation that could be a perfect women's basketball season ticket holder, and so taking data outside of our little ticketing world and combining it into a big

data warehouse with it, like we use a FinaQuest, to be able to put all of that data to help push out more information instead of just a lot of the times we work with the data we have and not connect it to, by the way, this person in your database, you might want to know that they also made a donation of $20,000 last year. Whoa, crap, that would have been nice to know And so how do you take that data? And other data points out there and to kind of be better informed.

Sean Callanan (36:45.598) Absolutely. mean, you they're the ideal opportunity to, not even to sell to, but just to say, have you ever been to a women's basketball game? We'd love to invite you, we really appreciate your donation. And then it just opens up a whole new world of SDSU that they can want want to consume. They're most likely, yes, I want to become a CZD holder. I did not realize I could also donate here. It must be exciting to sort of be in that space and sort of starting to connect.

those dots and like I said get that data warehouse working like for you and starting to present those opportunities for you. Bobby I really do appreciate the time you've taken today I'm looking forward to catching up with you in Nashville for SEAT. I want to get to the Sportsgeek Closing Five. Do you remember the first sports event you ever attended?

Bobbie Walker (37:37.554) Yes, so I grew up in the Bay Area grew up in Napa Napa, California and When I was seven years old, so this was dating me here. It was 1980 I was I was seven years old and I went to a Oakland A's at the Oakland Coliseum game and it was the first first or second year of Ricky Henderson And the

Sean Callanan (37:50.221) Okay.

Sean Callanan (38:02.029) Yep.

Bobbie Walker (38:04.21) 100 stolen bases a year and all of that. And that was my first sporting event was going to the Oakland Coliseum in 1980. And I remember Ricky Henderson kind of just stood out. He was the new, new guy on the team. Yes. Yeah, so that, that was, that, that stuck with me for forever.

Sean Callanan (38:16.192) Absolute Oakland legend.

Sean Callanan (38:23.886) Terrific. And you would have been a lot of different sports events in your time. Do you have a favourite food or a go-to food or a favourite food memory at a sports event?

Bobbie Walker (38:35.154) Yeah, I would say when I think of sporting events for some reason outside of like, your hot dog and beer, it's like chicken tenders and fries. You always can find a chicken tender and fry basket. my favorite one, and it's just a memory when I go to San Francisco Giants games at Oracle, you can smell the garlic fries, like as soon as you get in, there's the Gilroy garlic fry stand, like every 50 feet.

Sean Callanan (38:44.236) Okay.

Sean Callanan (38:56.556) Yeah.

Bobbie Walker (39:03.058) And you and so go there you can get the garlic fries and the chicken tenders and it's like You got to wash your hands ten times before you can get the garlic fry smell out of your skin

Sean Callanan (39:16.558) Absolutely. I was actually chatting to a friend in San Francisco. I was doing surveys of fans that were saying, Hey, we want healthier food options at sports, which, know, we're saying we've seen different things, but she said, they're saying that in the surveys, but that's not what's happening in the stadium. People are still getting the garlic fries. They're still getting the tenders. They're still getting the nacho cheese helmets. And so it's like, yeah, you've always, you've always got to one follow the data, but also

Bobbie Walker (39:32.722) Yeah.

Sean Callanan (39:43.16) you don't let the data deceive you in some instances, people might say I want to be healthy, but that's when you go to a stadium, that's not what you're doing. Part of the ex part of your experience. What's the what's the first app you open in the morning?

Bobbie Walker (39:49.42) Exactly.

Bobbie Walker (39:57.554) I would say it's called, I think it's Think or Swim. It's my trading and investment app. Like I just get up in the morning, see how my investments are doing. I know I'm not supposed to look every day, but it's probably the first thing I look at is my Think or Swim trades and investments.

Sean Callanan (40:05.144) Okay. That's exactly, I mean, it's the same as, you you shouldn't be getting on the scale every day, but it's like, hey, it doesn't change them. It's a nice way for you to check in. Is there someone that you follow that the podcast listeners should give a follow to and why?

Bobbie Walker (40:36.69) Somebody I've been, I followed for years and it really comes from the business and management and leadership. Simon Sinek, just, it's management, leadership, motivation, wrote a book, a couple of books that start with Y. You you really, it talks about like, it's, you need to know, for a company, you need to know why you do what you do.

Sean Callanan (40:47.384) Yes.

Bobbie Walker (41:05.562) You can't just say, We sell tickets. Why do you sell tickets? and so I just, like all of his podcasts and, and TED Talks and those sort of things. So check him out. It's just, it's got some good stuff just about just being a good leader and a good manager and a,those sort of things. So I enjoy him.

Sean Callanan (41:26.35) I think the same with why also is applicable, like you said earlier in getting into the world of sports. There is a lot of people go, I want to get into sports. I love sports and I'm a fan. It's like, that's not really a why. Like, once, it might be a reason you start, it might be a reason I think it's exciting, but it's like, you're not on the court all the time. You're not, but like, once you, like you did sort of found your why in, the ticket sales and the mechanizations around it and all the different ways to go about it. You're like, it just makes it easier.

Sean Callanan (41:55.756) jump out of bed in the morning and say, Hey, he's one I want to tackle. Cause if you don't have that, it's just, it just becomes, you just become Joe punch clock. And it can be just as frustrating as it is. And, know, with it, like you said, with all the changing changes in sports, the resilience you require needs that strong. Why

Bobbie Walker (42:14.128) Yep, absolutely.

Sean Callanan (42:16.066) And then lastly, and you can answer this personally and then maybe what's the platforms that are actually helping you move the needle from a ticketing point of view, but what social media platform is your MVP?

Bobbie Walker (42:29.138) I'm on TikTok. TikTok sucks me in. It's like, when I get home from work, if I just sit there and I'm like, I'm going to check out TikTok. I don't post things and all of that, but I get on there. Then the next thing, it's like two hours later and I'm like, what happened? I got sucked into something. so TikTok is the one thing that sucks me in. And I guess it just takes me out of thinking about

Sean Callanan (42:46.594) Yeah.

Bobbie Walker (42:57.274) my day to day and what I gotta do tomorrow and gives me a chance to kind of just see what's going out there. And my For You page, sometimes I get into different things that I'm looking at. Travel, I love to cook. So sometimes my For You page, I'm always getting recipes and different people putting out different things. I'm like, ooh, that looks good. I'm gonna save that and try that this weekend. So yeah, TikTok would probably be my go-to.

Sean Callanan (43:23.758) Terrific. I'm also one that falls down the TikTok cooking rabbit hole. If you haven't checked out the tasteless baker, he's an Aussie baker. You've got to be obviously ready for some fruity language, but he's very, very funny and pretty much just keeps teaching people how to better cook more and different types of bread.

Bobbie Walker (43:43.1) Yeah

Sean Callanan (43:52.982) So, yeah, I watch it just as much for the entertainment as the recipes. But yeah, well worth checking out.

Bobbie Walker (44:01.008) Yeah, I'll have to check that out. Love it.

Sean Callanan (44:03.68) It doesn't matter. You don't need to check it out now. The fact that you've heard it, your phone's heard it. We've both spoken about it. It will be in your for you feed later tonight. That's the amazing thing.

Bobbie Walker (44:07.505)

Exactly. Yep, for sure.

Sean Callanan (44:15.618) So Bobby, I really appreciate you taking the time other than catching up with you at Seed in Nashville. What's the best way for people who have listened to this podcast to reach out and say thank you and connect with you.

Bobbie Walker (44:27.164) Yeah, obviously LinkedIn is always a good way. But yeah, love to chat with people. I'm a big proponent of mentors, had mentors my whole career. Love to help people get into the career and bounce questions off of people. That's why I love Seat and just the networking and being able to talk to people about.

what we do and best practices and helping each other out. Like that's what we're here for. if you have a challenge, know, some of us have been through that challenge and may be able to help work through that.

Sean Callanan (45:11.296) Absolutely couldn't have said it better myself Bobbie. Thank you very much for taking the time and I'll catch you soon

Bobbie Walker (45:16.166) Sounds good. Thanks, Sean.