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How to Boost Revenue with Smarter Ticketing and Concessions Management
For most athletic departments, game day revenue depends on two pillars: ticketing and concessions. But when these systems are clunky, outdated, or disconnected, schools leave money on the table. Fans get stuck in long lines, volunteers struggle with confusing setups, and administrators are left piecing together fragmented reports.
The good news? With smarter tools and processes, Athletic Directors (ADs) can maximize both ticket sales and concessions revenue—without adding extra stress to game day.
Here are the four key processes and practices for boosting your ticketing and concessions revenue:
1: Simplify Setup
The first step to boosting revenue is making your system easy to run. If staff and volunteers are juggling tablets, readers, and cash drawers, it’s only a matter of time before something breaks down. Every delay at the gate or concession stand is a lost sale.
Today’s integrated systems replace multiple devices with a single, reliable reader. Everything you need fits neatly into one bag, ready to go at any venue.
At Woodward-Granger, Activities Director Shaylena Bell saw this firsthand. “This is all I need to make our event happen,” she explained. “It’s so much more compact, and I have yet to have one disconnect from the internet.”
2: Travel Light
Many ADs oversee events in multiple facilities—sometimes even across different towns. That often means duplicate setups, extra equipment, and more headaches.
Smarter systems allow you to pack light and move easily between venues. A compact bag with a single reader and cash solution ensures consistency, reliability, and faster setup, no matter where the game is played.
For busy seasons like baseball and softball, this mobility can save hours of prep work and reduce the stress of managing staff across multiple sites.
3: Track Everything in One Place
Revenue growth isn’t just about selling more—it’s about knowing what’s selling. Hand-counting inventory across concession stands is inefficient and often inaccurate.
Modern platforms let you track inventory and sales in real time. Whether it’s how many hot dogs remain, which drinks sell fastest, or total revenue processed through card readers, ADs gain instant insights. This eliminates guesswork, reduces waste, and makes future planning smarter.
Woodward-Granger’s adoption of live inventory tools made it possible to see everything “with just one snapshot on a computer screen,” Bell noted. That transparency helped the district simplify management and increase efficiency.
4: Unified Reporting = Higher Revenue
One of the hidden challenges in game day operations is reconciling multiple systems. Cash and card sales often get logged separately, with reports scattered across platforms. Cash bags lying around are a huge liability, and require much more effort to reconcile at the day's end.
An integrated ticketing and concessions solution brings everything together in one dashboard. That unified view allows ADs to identify trends, track total event revenue, and make data-driven decisions that grow future sales.
Final Thoughts
Smarter ticketing and concessions management isn’t just about technology. It’s really about creating a better experience for fans, staff, and administrators alike. When systems are simple to set up, easy to move between venues, and transparent in tracking both sales and inventory, revenue and community satisfaction naturally follows.
As Shaylena Bell’s experience at Woodward-Granger shows, even small changes in how you manage concessions and ticketing can lead to big improvements in efficiency and profitability. For Athletic Directors, that means less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on what matters most: supporting athletes and building community.
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