Hockey ticket sales official stresses networking, hard work

Todd Pollock studied sports sponsorships and sales at Baylor.

But his professors never taught him to sell tickets for a team that doesn’t officially exist.

But that’s Pollock’s job these days, overseeing the season ticket deposit sales for a prospective Las Vegas National Hockey League team owned by Bill Foley, a title insurance businessman. Foley launched the ticket campaign in February to show NHL officials that Las Vegas is ready for big-league hockey. The NHL Board of Governors could vote on awarding a franchise to Foley in September, with a possible start for the 2017-18 season.

“We might be a good case study for a sports marketing or sales class one day,” said Pollock, 31, ticket sales director for Hockey Vision Las Vegas, which is working to have an NHL team in the $375 million arena being built behind New York-New York.

Pollock landed the job through his network. Pollock’s old boss at the NHL Los Angeles Kings, Kelly Cheeseman, now chief operating officer at Anschutz Entertainment Group, partnering on the Las Vegas arena project, told Pollock that Foley and Foley’s partners, the Maloof brothers of Las Vegas, were looking for a ticket sales manager.

Now Foley overlooks a staff of six in Foley’s Fidelity National Financial office in Las Vegas.

“Networking and working hard for someone go a long way,” Pollock said.

He added the ticket and suite sales staff would grow to 16 to 20 once an NHL team is in place.

Pollock grew up in Maine about 60 miles north of Boston, and was lured to Baylor for its warm weather and sports business program.

An internship at Baylor led to an internship with the NHL Kings, which eventually hired Pollock for ticket sales before he worked for the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers and IMG.

Question: What are the most asked questions about the campaign?

Answer: The first question has always been how the initiative is going, i.e., how many tickets have you sold? What will the team name be? Those sorts of questions come up on virtually every call and/or conversation. Many locals have asked how they can help our efforts, whether it be through direct employment, volunteer efforts, or related. It’s definitely been an educational process for sure, and that’s a two-way street in that aspect.

Question: Las Vegas has so many high-profile sports events, yet this market is still looking for its first major-league team. What are your insights about this sports market so far?

Answer: Las Vegas is starved for a professional sports team. People love sports here, but are tired of supporting other teams and not having one of their own in this market. Because they have to pay special attention to other markets, they are extremely intelligent and knowledgeable about sports much more than one might expect. People that aren’t that familiar with hockey but love sports and love (Las Vegas) are really excited to have a team here.

Question: What was the biggest challenge with this ticket deposit campaign given that there is no official team yet and the arena is still a year away from opening?

Answer: Human nature. When people read and hear about our initiative without the guarantee of a team, it’s hard to persuade them to give us money for something that isn’t in existence. People tend to forget what a challenge that is. “I’ll buy tickets when we have a team” is unlike any objection any sports franchise — or prospective franchise — has had to face.

However, people here have really responded and understand that if that mentality prevails, we won’t get a team.

Question: What would be your dream sports business job?

Answer: I would love to run the entire business of a sports franchise. Aside from ticket sales and suites, which I’m overseeing, there is so much more to the business — marketing, public relations, sponsorship, community relations, etc. etc. — in my next life, I’d probably come back and aspire to be the general manager of the Red Sox — along with a few million men and women in New England.