The Arena at Harbor Yard”™s box office is no longer just a lowly, unnamed box office.
It is now the Click It or Ticket Box Office following an agreement with the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
“Our goal is simple, to save lives and reduce injuries by educating drivers and passengers to always buckle up, every time and every ride,” said Joseph Cristalli Jr., principal safety program coordinator for the DOT.
The 10,000 seat, sports and entertainment venue in Bridgeport has joined the state”™s Click It or Ticket initiative to promote seat belt laws and reduce highway fatalities.
“Our initial discussions were about the naming rights of just our will-call window,” said Glenn Conticello, director of sales and marketing at the arena. “But after some thought, I suggested renaming the entire box office. Now, any time the Click It or Ticket Box Office is mentioned in radio, TV or the newspaper ads, the message to wear your seat belt is delivered.”
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The arena is managed by Stamford-based Centerplate, a venue hospitality company.
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“It”™s been something that we have had out to the market place for a while, but we just recently started to look at the box office and smaller elements of the arena,” said Lynn Carlotto, general manager of the arena. “Certainly the closeness of the highway and the number of people we touch each year it makes a lot of sense.”
Carlotto would not disclose the financial transaction of the naming rights.
Conticello said new backlit signs, displaying the official Click It or Ticket logo, were installed above the box office windows prior to the sold out performance of the “American Idols Live Tour 2009” show. She said in addition, messages reminding patrons to Click It or Ticket were added to the outdoor marquee and in arena message boards.
“With the large amount of guests that visit the arena each year, plus those that drive by on a daily basis, this will afford us the opportunity to reach a lot of people with our message,” said Cristalli.
The Arena at Harbor Yard remains the home to Fairfield University men”™s and women”™s basketball and the American Hockey League”™s Bridgeport Sound Tigers hockey team. The venue also hosts conferences and trade and consumer fairs.
