The Ravens don't have any problems selling tickets.
In 2004, the NFL club declared it was sold out of personal seat licenses, which fans buy as a sort of initiation fee before purchasing season tickets, which range from $67 to $365 per game. Fans own the licenses, which they can sell in the open market.
The team's season-ticket renewal rate "has been over 99 percent every year for at least a decade," said Baker Koppelman, vice president for ticket sales and operations.
So what does Koppelman do all day?
The short answer is that, with 25,000 account holders, there is plenty to keep him busy.
Are all of the 71,000 seats at the stadium accounted for through personal seat licenses?
No. In 2004, we went to a wait list for PSLs. We stopped at a certain point because we wanted to maintain single-game tickets. We sell about 5,000 tickets to individual buyers. We do a sale right before the season starts. We also sell hospitality tents.
Stuff will become available. The visiting team might return some of their tickets.
What do you do during the offseason?
We sell and distribute 90 to 95 percent of our tickets before we ever play football. Tickets go out in July. There is a lot going on during the offseason with the renewal process.
Did you hear from ticket holders when the video surfaced of Ray Rice knocking out his then-fiancee, and did anybody cancel?
We got both sides of it. It was a very polarizing issue. Some said you should cut him and some said you shouldn't cut him. We certainly understand it was an emotional issue for people.
We've had some people saying they were going to cancel. We will find that out next year.
They either don't renew or they sell their seats to somebody else. We would never know why they did that.
You're from Baltimore (and attended St. Paul's School) and have worked for your hometown team since the Ravens arrived in 1996. That seems rare in the transient NFL.
I know all my counterparts from the league and I see people having to move around for better opportunities. I know how lucky I am to be able to do what I want to do in my hometown.
I've had Orioles season tickets since 1980. I have a lot of friends buy them from me. As a kid, baseball was all I cared about growing up.
Your wife, Reba, is the Ravens director of finance. Are you always talking shop?
It's relatively easy to draw the line between personal and professional. We don't see each other a lot. I am at the stadium. If I'm at Owings Mills, we will usually have lunch together.
We met here, obviously. I proposed to her on her 30th birthday in 2005. We were playing the [Indianapolis] Colts the next day. I was supposed to travel with the team, but I didn't go, and she didn't know I stayed back. And then I proposed. We got married at St. Paul's School. We had the reception at [the Ravens'] Under Armour Performance Center.
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Baker Koppelman
Title: Baltimore Ravens vice president for ticket sales and operations
Age: 47
Residence: Owings Mills
Education: Guilford College, bachelor's degree, sports management/economics.
Birthplace: Towson
Family: Wife, Reba
Hobbies: Golf and music