O.C. Ticket Seller Scores Home-Run Mets Deal

Following the lead of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets have signed a deal with a budding Orange County company to sell the team’s tickets through electronic kiosks in grocery stores and shopping malls.

The three-year contract represents a strategic victory for ETM Entertainment Network Inc., a small Costa Mesa company trying to establish itself in the ticketing business, though the financial impact may be modest.

On Tuesday, Ticketmaster Group, which dominates the nation’s ticketing industry, said its online sales are booming, with nearly 400,000 tickets--or $16.7 million--sold for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. The company said nearly a quarter of those sales represent new business to Ticketmaster.

ETM is best known for handling ticket sales for the Dodgers, the USC football and basketball home games, and rock group Pearl Jam’s 1995 concert tour.

ETM “has worked for the Dodgers. So it makes sense that it can work for us,” said Bill Ianniciello, vice president of ticket sales and services for the Mets.

ETM officials declined to comment on the deal’s financial details.

Analysts say sports contracts usually aren’t as lucrative as entertainment deals, where service charges can be much higher. But the Mets deal could help the Orange County company establish credibility--and a physical presence--in the New York market.

Industry sources say ETM is in discussions with the Shubert Theatre in New York. The company hopes to sign a deal to sell tickets to the venue’s musical and entertainment events, as well as to traveling shows.

ETM officials confirmed only that it is in talks with a “prominent New York theater.”

But industry sources question whether ETM, which sells a fraction of the tickets sold by Ticketmaster, can grow by relying only on sales from its kiosks. Ticketmaster officials say phone transactions account for nearly 50% of the company’s overall ticket sales.

Its deal with the Mets, signed last week, does not include advance phone sales or the estimated 13,000 season tickets the ball club sells itself. But it does cover advance in-person ticket sales and those on game day, Mets officials said.

ETM landed the Dodgers deal last year, luring the team away from Ticketmaster after 14 years. Starting with only seven machines on opening day, the company has since installed about 80 kiosks throughout Southern California.