Mosaic Place Has New Ticketing Provider After Ticket Rocket Ouster
Despite it being a great unknown, due to provincial restrictions to limit the potential spread of COVID - 19, as to when events can once again be held Council decided to sign a long term agreement for a new ticketing agent for Mosaic Place and beyond.
The beyond being Mosaic Place also bought the franchise for the ticketing agent for the entire province and could benefit if other venues and communities sign on.
At their regular meeting on September 8th, Council voted 6 - 1 in favour of signing a contract with Paciolan to provide the service.
Mosaic Place has been in search of a new ticketing agent service since May 29, 2020 when the City legally ended their association with Ticket Rocket.
The Victoria based office of Ticket Rocket, which previously provided services to Mosaic Place, is now part of a receivership for the Dunedin, New Zealand headquartered firm. A receivership which not only effected ticket purchasers in Moose Jaw - ultimately forcing Council to decide to provide $200,000 worth of gift cards to those who cannot receive a refund - but world-wide.
Under terms of the seven year agreement, with an option to renew for an additional three years, Paciolan will supply the City with the necessary software and support services for the City to supply ticketing services for events held at Mosaic Place and for other third parties, such as the Moose Jaw Warriors, as agreed upon under the terms of the Agreement.
Paciolan will additionally create and maintain a website (eVenue) for the purposes of ticketing transactions.
The agreement with Pacolian buys the franchise for Saskatchewan meaning that ticketing services will be offered to other communities and venues in the Saskatchewan and Mosaic Place will receive a fee for each ticket sold.
That fee and the fees Paciolan will charge the City remains confidential - as allowed under Saskatchewan privacy legislation as its release could be determental to Pacolian’s business.
The deal with Pacolian also means that the City will have to purchase the equipment to run the ticketing service at Mosaic Place.
The agreement also states all ticket monies collected by Paciolan must be remitted weekly unlike the Ticket Rocket agreement where all funds were suppose to be kept in a separate trust account and then remitted seven days after the event to Mosaic Place.
Council’s Discussion
In explaining the rationale behind the decision to go with Paciolan city manager Jim Puffalt said the rates offered by the US based firm were seen as the best recieved from the six firms which responded to the Request For Proposal (RFP). The two bidders who best met Mosaic Place’s needs were Paciolan and industry giant TicketMaster.
An RFP is where qualified firms are invited to submit bids which often include much more than an item but also a servicing agreement ensuring the item or service purchased operates in a pre-determined fashion.
“The rates they (Paciolan) provided were very opportune for us moving forward,” Puffalt said. “They have a very robust web-site and Internet portal for selling tickets.”
Puffalt explained that not only did the City purchase a ticketing service for Mosaic Place but additionally they have purchased the franchise to receive a per ticket fee for any other venue or organization Pacolian can sign up province-wide to join the service.
“With this comes the franchise that we will be able to go out and talk to other companies and facilities and talk about a ticketing company we can work with and set up a commission with them,” he said.
Puffalt said right now they are looking at the potential of signing up Western Hockey League (WHL) and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) teams and earn a fee for every ticket they sell to their events.
In his repsonse to a hypothetical question by Councillor Brian Swanson if the Kindersly Clippers were to sign up that every ticket they sold for one of their games through the system for their games Puffalt resonded that was correct.
The continued COVID - 19 and the continued prohibition of large scale events weighed heavily in questions from Councillor Scott McMann.
“Do we have any options when the contract might start? With the COVID issue if and when this goes away can this start when there is the potential to sell tickets?” Councillor McMann asked. “If it is two years from now we have got a minimum in there and it doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“I know we need a new ticketing provider but we really don’t need one to sell tickets to the public (right now due to COVID - 19 restrictions)”
City of Moose Jaw legal counsel Raelynn Mechelse said that the agreement had to be signed now due to the length of time - eight to 12 weeks to set up - it takes to set the service up.
If any event were to be announced the time it would take to have a new ticketing provider to be up and running would mean Mosaic Place would be two months behind if the ticketing provider started to operate once events were announced, Mechelse said.
The main tenant at Mosaic Place, the Moose Jaw Warriors, are presently looking at starting their 2020 - 2021 season on December 4th.
“Although it is not the ideal situation we do need a ticketing provider before we do need a ticketing provider.”
The annual guarantee Mosaic Place must pay to Paciolan was a cause of concern for Councillor McMann.
“It just seems a bit odd to be entering into a contract with a minimum requirement for ticket sales when we can’t sell anything,” he said.
Despite the announcement the Warriors will be commencing their season on December 4th Councillor McMann asked if there would be any fans at the games.
"That no one is sure of yet. We are not exactly sure with that and I think there is some flexibility with them (Paciolan) about when the contract would start,” Puffalt responded. “There is some ground work to be done to allow the Warriors to sell season tickets.”
Councillor Dawn Luhning asked why the contract was for seven years. She based her question on the recent experience the City had with their former ticketing provider, Ticket Rocket.
Mechelse said longer terms were industry standard when it came to ticketing providers.
“When we did put out the initial RFP we were seeking a ten year term and bidders did come under that pretense,” she said.
Councillor Brian Swanson wanted to know why the contract was between the City and Paciolan and not between Spectra Management (the firm contracted to operate and manage Mosaic Place) and was told under the agreement with Spectra all long term contracts must be signed by the City.
Additonally Spectra did not participate in the RFP process because they have an already established relationship with Paciolan. The RFP was ran out of the City’s legal department with a three member selection committee consisting of Puffalt, communications manager Craig Heminway and Derik Cronan manager of the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre assisting in the selection.
Councillor Swanson was against the guarantee to secure Paciolan as Mosaic Place’s ticketing provider.
“I am totally opposed to having a guarantee. It makes no sense to me to have a guarantee,” Councillor Swanson said.
Mechelse said that Paciolan was not the only RFP participant seeking a guarantee.
“Some had a guaranteed minimum some did not…it was more common than not.”
“We had a conversation with Paciolan and they have the guarantee so as to have competitive pricing…if they were to forego the guaranteed minimum they would have higher pricing,” she said.
Puffalt said that the proceeds from the Warriors season ticket sales covered the guarantee.
Councillor Swanson also questioned the City purchasing used equipment as part of the deal.
“To purchase the equipment made the price higher and we negotiate and we are purchasing used equipment…I don’t think we have ever purchased used equipment before,” he said.
Mechelse said the equipment the City is purchasing may not be listed as new but it had never been used before.
“This was equipment that was shipped to a facility but it was never unboxed…we are guaranteed it is good equipment at a reduced rate…we felt it was a good value,” she said.
It needs to be noted in a past Budget discussion Councillor Swanson did argue the City could save money by purchasing a good used truck instead of a new one to serve as the City’s welding truck.
Puffalt said the deal potentially allowed Mosaic Place to earn additional income from the franchise agreement which would mean a lower City subsidy to Mosaic Place.
“It is a revenue opportunity and we should look at every opportunity for revenue we can generate.”
In a 6 - 1 vote with Councillor Swanson opposed Council agreed to sign the deal with Paciolan.
SEE RELATED - Mosaic Place Financials On The Agenda For Monday Night