With nothing left to sell, Miami Heat season ticket sales staffers lose jobs

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With the signing of LeBron James and Chris Bosh and the re-signing of Dwyane Wade, you’d think business would be booming for the Miami Heat’s season ticket sales staff.

And it was. Even back when the free agency moves were pure speculation, season ticket sales staffers were cold-calling potential customers, taking deposits and adding names to a waiting list that now exceeds 6,000 names.

But now there is nothing left to sell. The team said in a statement Friday its season-ticket inventory has been ‘exhausted.’

As a result, the statement said, ‘we no longer require a season ticket sales team to sell tickets.’’
About 30 ticket sales employees were told Friday morning they were losing their jobs, and some were being moved to other positions. ‘They let us go because there was really nothing left to do anymore,’’ a fired staffer told the Miami Herald.
The team’s statement added that if any season tickets become available, they will be handled through the Heat’s season ticket deposit program.
There is kind of a silver lining for the newly unemployed sales people. Because they earned a base salary and commission, there were some pretty sizable checks made during the sales rush, according to a source cited in the Orlando Sentinel.
The source also said some staffers might be hired back to oversee season ticket holder accounts.
-- Chuck Schilken