``This really speaks to the excitement this team - everybody - has created in Atlanta and throughout the state,'' Blank, the Falcons' second-year owner, wrote in an e-mail Monday to club employees and media outlets.
Last August, two months after Blank slashed prices on 23,000 season tickets, the NFL said the Falcons were the first existing franchise to realize a 97 percent increase from one year to the next. Now, with a waiting list in excess of 15,000, the team has reached a point at which only 1,000 seats will be available for each of Atlanta's eight regular-season and two preseason home games.
Single-game tickets, priced at $34, $44 and $56 for all 10 games, will go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.
``We wanted to give as many fans as we could a chance to see the team play,'' said executive vice president of marketing and sales Dick Sullivan. ``The demand has exceeded our supply, which, for us, is a good problem to have.''
Sullivan began taking orders for 2003 season tickets in December. By April, with the team realizing a 97 percent renewal rate on last year's season-ticket sales total of 48,000, the Falcons decided to cut off sales at 61,000. Another 10,000 seats are reserved for group sales and luxury boxes.
Atlanta hasn't sold out of season tickets since 1981, the year after winning its first division title and going 12-4 before losing a heartbreaking playoff game to the Dallas Cowboys.
The 2003 Falcons will try to become the first team in franchise history to manage consecutive winning seasons. With Pro Bowl selections going to quarterback Michael Vick and linebacker Keith Brooking, Atlanta last season went 9-6-1 and won a wildcard game at Green Bay to become the first visiting team ever to leave Lambeau Field with a playoff victory.
Sullivan began to witness the transformation of the Falcons' business plan in June 2002 as Blank added 18,000 parking spaces and introduced the $100 upper-level season ticket. The $10-a-game seat was the team's cheapest since 1976.
He and Blank never realized their dream of seeing the 71,228-seat Georgia Dome filled to capacity, but many of their goals were met:
All of the Falcons' games were televised in metropolitan Atlanta, an unthinkable achievement for a franchise that hosted only two sellouts from the 1999 season opener through the final home game of 2001;
Creating a legitimate tailgating experience outside the Dome and providing pre-game entertainment at the Birds Nest, a grassy area between the stadium and Philips Arena, created more goodwill;
The Falcons won four of their last five home games to secure only the second winning record at the Dome since 1995 and help the team advance to the NFC playoffs for the first time in four years.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/7/176465