This is the second in a five-part Star series on how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives and livelihoods of Tucsonans with ties to the world of sports.
How do you sell tickets for sporting events that could be postponed or canceled? How do you convey calm to customers during a time fraught with anxiety and uncertainty?
Those are some of the challenges Chris Celona and his team face on a daily basis during the coronavirus pandemic. Celona is the University of Arizona’s associate athletic director for ticket sales and customer relationship management. He’s the guy behind your ticket guy.
Celona, 32, came to the UA in June 2017. This spring has presented obstacles no one could have foreseen. But in Celona’s line of work, it’s never about him.
“The biggest thing for us,” he said, “is how are we going to continue to serve our fans and operate for our fans like it’s business as usual?”
Celona and his 14-person ticket team didn’t have much time to prepare a long-range plan. They had to act quickly to meet customers’ needs because the pandemic hit during one of the busiest times of the year for the athletic department.
Sports leagues began to shut down on March 11, which just so happened to be the first — and, as it turned out, only — day of the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas. If fans bought tickets to the tournament through the UA, Celona’s department had to get them refunds (which they did, less than 12 hours after the games officially were called off).
Arizona’s baseball and softball teams were about to begin conference play. Instead, their seasons were canceled. Those ticket holders received credits for future UA sporting events, or refunds upon request. Ticket holders also have the option of donating a portion of their credit to the athletic program to offset future expenses — specifically, helping to pay for seniors who take advantage of extended eligibility next spring. (Fans who pursue that option still would have to pay for tickets in 2021.)
Additionally, Celona’s team had to be ready to sell tickets for the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament if Arizona had been designated as a host, which seemed likely. Selection Monday was slated for March 16. Instead, that became the date by which the UA ticket office was up and running remotely. With help from the campus IT department, every member of the ticket sales team relocated from McKale Center to their homes in less than a week.
“Besides being closed at the window,” Celona said, “there was no disruption.”
The key to handling a situation that remains fluid is to remain flexible, Celona said. As he noted — without exaggeration — “things were changing by the hour” in mid-March. By the end of the month, the UA had put a plan in place that extended the renewal deadline for 2020 football and 2020-21 men’s basketball season tickets by a month, from May 1 to June 1. The school also is offering a pair of new payment-plan options with due dates of Aug. 1 (football) and Sept. 1 (basketball).
Celona and his team are proceeding as if the football season will start on time, even though that’s hardly a sure thing. Arizona is scheduled to open the season at home against Hawaii on Aug. 29.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that you just open the gates to the stadium and the event just happens,” Celona said. “There’s a lot of planning that’s going on right now. We need to operate like it’s going to happen.”
And if the situation changes?
“When new information is available,” Celona said, “it’s communicating that out in a timely fashion.”
Celona and his team are well aware that money is tight for many at the moment. They can’t use the same sales approach this April as last April. But if a positive has emerged from the crisis, it’s that the sales reps are getting to know their customers that much better.
“It’s important for us to know how they’re doing,” Celona said. “We’re building relationships.”
Celona’s connection to collegiate athletics originated with his aunt, Elaine Sortino, who won 1,185 games as the softball coach at UMass from 1980-2013. A native of Yonkers, New York, Celona would attend UMass, where he majored in sport management and served as the manager of the women’s basketball team. (Celona played ball at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains.) UMass also is where he met his wife, Michelle, who played for Sortino.
Celona wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his degree. After graduating, he got an internship in the UMass ticket office.
“I didn’t really know too much about ticketing at the time,” Celona said. “I fell in love with it.”
The ticket office at UMass 10 years ago wasn’t nearly as large as Arizona’s. Celona remembers those days fondly: “It was like two of us taking on the world.”
Celona got a job in ticket operations and customer service at Cal in 2011 and worked in Berkeley for six years. He relished his time there but conceded that the Bay Area doesn’t have the same college-town vibe as Amherst, Massachusetts, or Tucson. It didn’t take him long to appreciate the passion of UA fans.
“This town bleeds red and blue,” Celona said.
He and his family live on the northwest side. Chris and Michelle have a 21-month-old son, Aiden, who makes working from home a challenge. Fortunately for the Celonas, Michelle is a bona fide expert; she’s been working remotely for years. Michelle is the CRM (customer relationship management) analyst for the Golden State Warriors. She has worked for the NBA club since 2013.
“She’s the pro,” her husband said. “She’s much smarter than I am.”
Chris said Michelle has been extremely supportive since he began working from home. She has dispensed invaluable advice, including the importance of maintaining a daily routine, even in a time of constant change.
But as well as Chris Celona and his team have adjusted to their new normal, he can’t wait for the return of the old normal.
“I’m looking forward to football season, basketball season, getting back into McKale,” Celona said.
He isn’t the only one.
