David Gravenkemper '93 -- January 2013 Luncheon

David Gravenkemper '93 and Jack Rhodes '60

After sampling a few corporate jobs, David left his parents speechless as he headed to Tacoma to sell tickets for the mighty Tacoma Rainiers.  He opted to pursue his passion for sports.

From this modest starting point, David has progressed through positions with the Anaheim Angels, the Seattle Mariners, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Seattle Sonics, and now the Univ. of Washington Athletics Department.

In his 7 years with Husky Athletics, he's developed a full-time sales staff, contracted with Ticketmaster to manage and track ticket sales, and developed sophisticated systems for analyzing and pricing tickets.

Apart from the primary efforts of the department to grow the number of season ticket holders for UW's many sports, David also talked about the newest trend of variable pricing for single game ticket sales.  He explained how the San Francisco Giants pioneered the practice a few years ago.  It's similar to pricing for airline tickets -- the prices can vary with supply/demand, pace of sales, popularity of teams......or lack of popularity.

Doug Leland '72, Todd Vecchio '88, and David Gravenkemper '93

Soon, when a big name team plays the Huskies at Hec Ed, the tickets will cost more than a game with a lesser name team.  The Univ. of Washington has contracted with Digoness of Indianapolis to receive pricing recommendations from their Sports & Entertainment Analytical Ticketing System (SEATS).  The system evaluates "team performance, league position, opponent, scheduling, and other econometric and behavioral factors."

The Huskies are the second NCAA Division 1 school and the first PAC 12 school to implement SEATS for its athletic programs. Several times a week, David and two other members of management at the Athletics Department meet to review the pricing recommendations and to adjust the pricing for the tickets.

David has also proved to be a good problem-solver for brothers who need assistance with ticketing challenges.  If you need the help of our in-house expert, contact David at Ticket Sales for the UW Athletics Department.  

Some of the 70's era attending: Mark Tsutakawa '75, Ray Paxton '73, John Flower '73, and Tom Napa '74