Announcing The Next USSM Event
Update: And we’re sold out. I’m sorry to anyone who was not able to get tickets – we’ll look for a bigger venue for future events. Also, there are always people who buy tickets and can’t make it, so we’ll do a thread the week before the event to match up people who can’t go with those who want to.
We’ve done enough of these now where I think you guys have a pretty good idea of what they are. So, here are the details.
When: Saturday, January 9th, 1-5 pm
Where: Seattle Central Library, Microsoft Auditorium
What: Q&A with local bloggers and members of the Mariners front office.
How much: $10
We have 275 seats available in the auditorium, but I’m sure this is going to sell out, so you probably want to buy your tickets sooner than later. And, this time around, I’ve decided to make life easier on everyone and get out of the registration process, so I’m outsourcing the ticketing/payment to Brown Paper Tickets. You can purchase your tickets to the event from BPT, and they will mail you a ticket that gets you access to the Q&A.
This event was a smashing success last year, and I think this one will be even better. I’m flying out for it, for one, but more importantly, it’s on Jack Zduriencik’s calendar as well. We are not promising that any specific member of the front office will be there, as something could always come up that would require their attention, but we’re hopeful that Jack will be able to join his crew for the meeting. We’ll plan a 15 minute standing ovation into the schedule.
Logistical stuff: The library will provide a $5 parking rate for anyone who wants to park in their garage that day. Also, because the library will be open during the event, if you plan to arrive early, just enjoy the library itself and do not gather outside the auditorium waiting to get in – they don’t have room to accommodate a big line of people waiting for the doors to open.
Water will be provided, but no food. Eat before you come.
Questions can be left in the comments below.
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100 Responses to “Announcing The Next USSM Event”
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Bah, stupid having to wait for a paycheck tomorrow! Was really hoping to make this one, too…
Ah well, maybe next time… Have fun, all!
Sigh. Just missed. This is the first USSM event I’ll have ever missed from not having tickets (though we missed the last one at the library because I had pneumonia).
Wow. Too bad we couldn’t hold the event in the stadium. It would be crazy cold but it wouldn’t have sold out.
Carson,
any chance you want to share your other ticket with me?
😀
376 and 377. Did I get the last two?
Dave, for the next event, you might want to start calling the QWEST Field Event Center or Key Arena.
Regarding “having it at Safeco”…
They do have social events there. My 20th High School reunion was there a few years ago, for example, on the 200 level. I bet they can hold more that 275 people. Probably costs WAY more than $10 a person, though. We’d probably have to buy the $8 beers, etc.
Who knows if it’s possible, but it doesn’t hurt to ask the M’s about it. It could work out for them as a Marketing event, i.e. selling 16 game plans or something like that to a bunch of M’s fanatics. I am sure the audience would be in a good mood from the event, and might be interested in tickets or merchandise. Just a thought.
I have a really good relationship with the M’s event staff, thanks to how well the August event went. We’ll do another summer event at Safeco this year, and we should be able to let as many people in as possible.
He’s just like Nostradamus!
I just dropped by their office and picked up a ticket about twenty minutes ago…number 379, I believe.
I know the Bell Harbor conference center has a couple rooms that hold 500+ theatre style. No idea what the rates are though. One wouldn’t imagine that a Saturday afternoon in January would be peak season though.
Can’t believe I didn’t check USS Mariner often enough to get in on tickets this year. No Dave twitter announcing it makes me a sad panda.
Sorry for the double post…slow server…
Given the response, though, I do wonder if the venue can be switched — with the tickets still being valid?
Next event, Key arena.
I’m looking forward to the next event. Can’t believe this sold out in 3+ hours. Let us know if any additional tickets go on sale.
Is there any possibility of releasing some standing room only tickets?
It would probably be a fire code violation, so unlike the Sounders, I doubt we can expand capacity to meet the demand. As mentioned in the update, though, some of the tickets that are currently spoken for may free up, and we’ll try to facilitate matching people up with those.
The day after my birthday. Cool! I just switched my shipping to print at home (I ordered them an hour ago or so) after seeing the request; I only did will call because that was “recommended” on the order page.
I can’t believe that the gatherings are getting so large that 200+ tickets sold out that quickly.
I snoozed. I losed. But I will conduct, in absentia, a 15-minute standing ovation for Jack from 1-1:15 p.m. three weeks from Saturday. Feel free to join me in spirit.
Wait.. fore? You’re not by chance fore from EFNet #mariners are you?
Oh no! I just ow saw the event posted, and it’s sold out?!
I will humbly beg the powers that be to try to switch this to a bigger venue. I don’t want 1,000 people at this thing, but it is sad to have so many of us left out.
“He’s just like Nostradamus!”
Yeah, except without all that depressing end of the world as we know it stuff.
Obviously you weren’t here for the Bedard trade. 😉
Re: SRO seating — the library’s webpage mentions that the auditorium has “overflow seating” of 150 on top of the 275 fixed seats, so it seems like you might be able to squeeze in a few more.
The overflow seating is not available when the library is open, unfortunately.
bummer, I was hoping I could get to it when I got home from work
This has live webcast written all over it.
Wow. Amazed that it sold out that fast. Oh well, maybe someone will have an extra.
Argh! I was out at a doctor’s appointment, had no idea this would be announced so soon. Totally harshed it’s sold out. 🙁
Guess I’ll keep an eye out for if someone changes their minds….
Nope. It’s against the rules (which include on not quoting what is said and no taking notes). The though is that it’s hard to get honest/candid comments when having them shared (probably out of context) is a threat.
Wow! Just got home from work, checked in…TOO LATE! Did a broker buy a block of tickets? Cause I would pay a premium to attend, although it would torque me that someone was turning a profit on the USSM teams’ outstanding efforts, connections, and dedication.
Hope to catch a ticket somehow. Gotta let my friends who follow A’s, Angels and BoSox blogs know that the best baseball blog can sell 275 tickets in, what, two hours? Congrats, and I hope that some money is made to help compensate you guys.
Not allowable…But how about a live puppet re-creation of questions and answers? I know a prop maker who could make puppet versions of Jack and Dave….
Carson,
I wouldn’t have asked you if we didn’t know eachother.
The no quotes, no notes stuff makes this really frustrating. So a select few get all this info, but oh no, no one else is allowed in on it.
Put me on record for contributing my $10 towards Seattle’s budget problems in return for closing the downtown library on January 9.
*deep breath*
The only way these events can happen and have the guests be even remotely candid is for them to be entirely off the record.
The alternative is to have events that will be no more interesting than a random press conference.
If you want to feel like we’re trying to exclude people, we can’t stop you; but that isn’t the intent at all.
Drat! This thing sold out FAST this year. Last year took a week or so before selling out, no? Bad sign for me (won’t get to go again), but great sign for the M’s!
Geez, I run errands for a few hours and come back to see this thing sold out before I even saw the announcement! This is the first of these I will miss for a reason other than a conflict (and I think only the second, ever). Bummer.
Jeff (and Dave and Derek)-
I apologize for my expression, but it is frustrating. Let me explain a little deeper, and speak from my recollections after at least one event like this that I missed in the past.
It is one thing when there is an off-the-record discussion with professional media who the speaker can pretty well trust to honor the request for silence. But this group of 275 people will contain plenty of people who will spread the details to their buddies (can you tell that I don’t have any such friends who will be at this one?). I particularly recall a USSM thread in the wake of such an event with Bavasi that had plenty of maddening, vague references to what went on. A couple posters were unabashedly smug about being in The In Crowd.
I have a hard time believing that any Mariners official would really trust such a group with something he really didn’t want out there. Yes, he might be more candid, but not to any degree that would be hurt by publishing a followup report that doesn’t go into great detail.
Maybe others who’ve been on the outside (like fans who don’t live in the Seattle area) can say how they find it.
All this said, I admit that I am no media expert, but I plan to ask some such pros that I know about this when I see them.
I do appreciate all that you guys do to make USSM and this site great. And I’d rather have this than no event at all. /whiney complaining
Can these at least be announced in the evening in the future so that people without computer access at their jobs have a chance? Thanks.
G-Man, I don’t want to speak for Derek or Dave or Jeff (or anyone), but with all due respect, please understand that whatever your “media pro” friends tell you about whether comments said in a forum such as this can reasonably be expected to be kept “off the record” is really irrelevant.
The ground rules for these events are that attendees not share what they heard, at least not in a public forum like the internet, because if we did not (and do not) respect that request, we simply will not be given access to team officials, or if we are, they will not share much of interest that you haven’t already read somewhere in a newspaper or online somewhere. It really has nothing to do with “the In Crowd” or any desire to keep information from anybody. Trust me, I will be as much on the outs as you are (unfortunately), and want to hear what is said as much as you do, but understand why I can’t expect a transcript or even a detailed summary. I hope you do, too.
Eh, these are mostly Dave’s show. He’s the one who really knows what will and won’t fly.
We’d love it if everyone could be there who wants to, and to provide full webcast and a detailed transcript for everyone who has to miss it.
But we’re getting a staggering amount of access to the Mariners front office guys, and them asking us to abide by a few rules isn’t at all unreasonable, whether you think their reasons for asking are “valid” or not.
As someone who has been to about half of these, I never really felt excluded over the ones I missed. Bummed that i missed them sure, but it’s not like attendees got free lifetime season tickets or something… It’s a fun time, not a special club.
I think that, if approved by the Mariners, the event should definitely be live-video-streamed via one of the free services out there like UStream.TV. It is very easy to do and it does not take any bandwidth from ussmariner.com.
Here’s how this thread has gone so far:
Someone: “You guys should webcast this.”
USSM: “We can’t webcast this.”
Someone else: “Hey, I’ve got a great idea, you should webcast this!”
USSM: “…”
“You know what, you should webcast this!”
“We’re not allowed to webcast it”
“But you know, it would be easy, and cheap…”
“It’s a political/legal issue, not a financial or technical one”
“But I can help you with the technical issues…”
And yet it was maddening and vague, not satisfying and specific. So by your own testimony, and despite your assertions, the prohibitions actually worked.
What the M’s are doing makes alot of sense. Say Blengino says something at the event to the effect of “Wins are not important.” People here know and understand what he means by that. But, if the MSM got a hold of the webcast of him saying this, they’ll try and use it to make the M’s look stupid. “THE M’S DON’T CARE ABOUT WINNING! Here’s video to prove it!” Whereas, they can’t really do that by saying “So an So from the internet said Blengino said wins are not important.”
What with all the publicity USSM has received this year (all the shoutouts on all the sports news outlets driving traffic to this site and Twitter), combined with all the excitement over Jack-as-rock-star, the quick sellout for the event was inevitable. Demand is certainly much higher than last year.
Yeah, but Jeff, can we webcast this? 🙂
I’m as much on the outside for this as well (and actually, haven’t been able to make one yet as a late comer to the glory of this blog), but agree with the sentiments stated: I can honestly say as a journalist (and a sports journalist for four years), the amount and quality of information you get from sources “off the record” is (usually…an important caveat) much more substantial that you’d get in print. It’s why journalists don’t go “off the record” with people much these days…it can be frustrating to hear all these great things and not be able to shout it from the mountain. However, at the same time, it’s that kind of mutual respect that builds trust between the parties, so that when something big does go down, you are likely to get that info first. Hopefully, this is the kind of relationship being built between this amazingly accessible front office (I’d love to hear if anyone else in MLB is this open and available…I’d doubt it) and these amazing volunteers that have helped us all get excited about our team again.
So, for the record, yes, it sucks we can’t all go and rent out Safeco and get 25,000 of us there. At the same time, I’ll gladly sit one out to ensure these events carry on in the future. It sucks to not be there, but I’d rather have the chance of making it in the future than no event at all.
Wow, a buddy saw the post and we immediately agreed he’d buy tix for us… Only today I find out we were (apparently) minutes too late.
Add my hat to the ring for any “unused” tix, or in support of a larger venue…
Back-up, Back-up plan: Will trade PS3 games for seats!
Brian