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Jeff Kline Is The Man
Behind The Ticket Booth

KIMBERLY LIFTON STAFF WRITER

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Jeff Kline of Ticketmaster.

J

eff Kline always
dreamed of entering
Democratic politics.
First he planned to
attend law school, and
someday he would run for
public office.
He entered law school but
quit after a week, opting
instead for a chance to
thrive in the business
world. He went to work at a
Denver advertising agency.
Shortly after he began his
career, Mr. Kline — at the
time 23 — was reading the
job ads in a local newspa-
per. He answered a blind ad
that brought him to Detroit.
Now, at 30, Mr. Kline is
the youngest person ever to
hold the position of vice
president and general man-
ager of the 300-person
Ticketmaster operation in
Detroit.
"Tickets are my life," says
Mr. Kline, who has worked
for Ticketmaster for 7 1\2
years (five years based in

Detroit). He spends half his
time in Michigan and the
other half in Denver, where
he supervises Colorado
operations for Ticketmaster.
As general manager, Mr.
Kline oversees operations
for 120 area outlets where
tickets are sold for such
events as sports, concerts,
dog shows and theater per-
formances.
Someone who can get a
ticket for just about any
show, Mr. Kline receives
between two and 52 calls
each day for personal ticket
requests.
"If a girl asks me for tick-
ets on a first date, she
doesn't get a second," he
jests.
Ticketmaster is the
largest business of its kind
in Detroit. But it is not the
only one. Teleseat, Select
Tickets and Prologue are a
few smaller competitors.
The biggest problem in
the ticket business, Mr.

Kline says, is not competi-
tors. Those calling them-
selves ticket brokers and
scalpers pose the biggest
threat to the business.
Though it is legal to
broker tickets, Mr. Kline
says such practices
often prevent fans from
obtaining good tickets
to shows. And, he
adds, "artists hate
ticket brokers. They
can feel it on stage
when the real fans
are not in the front
rows."
To combat these
practices, Ticket-
master, which con-
tracts with most of
the area theaters
and arenas, has
launched a relatively new
system for major shows.
Anyone who wishes to
purchase tickets to these
shows must go to a
Ticketmaster outlet and
pick up a coded wristband.
This reserves up to 12 tick-
ets when the show is avail-
able.
"With this system, each
person with a wristband is
guaranteed a place in line.
There is no need to camp
out overnight," Mr. Kline
says, adding it prevents
scalpers from buying up all
of the good tickets.
"Scalpers hate this system
because they can't tell from
the wristband when they
will be able to get their tick-
ets.
"This is the easiest and
most fair method of selling
tickets," Mr. Kline says.
Mr. Kline works around
the clock, and he hasn't
taken a vacation since he
started the job. When he
needs to relax, he curls up
on his couch and watches
comedies on television. Or
he heads out to a local corn-
edy club.

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