Ticketmaster Scores a Coup Over Ticketron

Fast-growing Ticketmaster of Los Angeles said Monday that it has lured New York’s landmark Madison Square Garden away from Ticketron, the latest evidence of a rapid expansion that Ticketmaster contends has boosted it past its New York-based rival to be the nation’s largest computerized ticketing service.

But Ticketron disputes that its upstart competitor’s 12-year rise from obscurity has been that successful: Ticketron remains the biggest ticket-selling agency in the country, the Control Data subsidiary said.

Ticketmaster will become the exclusive ticketing service for all events at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 1, capping its push to surpass Ticketron, Chairman Frederic Rosen said. “It gives us in New York basically all the major indoor buildings,” he said.

Ticketmaster’s outlet and telephone sales reached a record $300 million in 1987. Ticketmaster’s share of those sales came to about $43.5 million last year from entertainment and sporting events, Rosen said. Rosen said he believes that Ticketron took in about $36 million. Privately held Ticketmaster does not disclose earnings, but “we’re profitable,” Rosen said.

“Obviously we’re gratified by the response we’ve had in the marketplace, and obviously the bigger we get the greater the burden to continue to operate the same way as we started,” the transplanted New York lawyer said. “I guess if you said I’m not going to make it any easier for them, it would be true.”

‘Hard to Identify’

Ticketron does not reveal financial results, but a spokesman said Rosen’s estimates are low and that Ticketmaster sales nationwide have not caught up with Ticketron.

“If they’re talking about the country as a whole, we’re No. 1,” said Robert Gorra, Ticketron senior vice president and general manager. “If they’re talking about their geography versus our geography, I don’t know.”

What’s more, Gorra said, “What is Ticketmaster? . . . It’s hard to identify what they are. It’s not an apple-to-apple comparison.”

Gorra noted that Ticketmaster’s outlets in several cities are franchises, while all Ticketron outlets are company owned.

Rosen said Ticketmaster has been averaging growth of 40% per year. Five years ago, when Rosen took over as chief executive, Ticketmaster recorded sales of $1 million to $1.5 million, he said.