Central Park still on??

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com...rticleid=59346

cant access the full article. Can anybody else??

I know this is supposed to be a free concert and I'd like to attend. I believe Kathleen posted a while back that you still need a ticket to get in. Since I don't live in NYC, how would I go about getting a ticket once they become available? I definitely want to go, I just don't want to be turned away when I get there. Any advice?

BofA to be lead sponsor of Bon Jovi concert in Central Park

Do Bank of America, Bon Jovi and baseball share anything more than being spelled with the same initial consonant?

We’ll find out soon, because “Bank,” as the increasingly ubiquitous brand is known around the industry, has purchased lead sponsorship to Bon Jovi’s July 12 concert in Central Park for $1.2 million. The concert is being packaged by MLB as part of the festivities surrounding the July 15 MLB All-Star Game in New York.

Distribution of thousands of tickets to the free show will be used to attract new customers, induce more activity from existing account holders, and generally build traffic at BofA’s more than 350 New York City locations. The sponsorship complements BofA’s MLB league deal and 10 MLB team sponsorships, along with more than 50 minor league clubs and Little League Baseball.

Bon Jovi has more of a football association, since the group played in Times Square for the NFL’s season-opening celebration in 2002 and Jon Bon Jovi himself is part owner of the AFL Philadelphia Soul. However, Bon Jovi did some promos last season for TBS, touting the network’s postseason MLB offerings, with a song from what then was the band’s latest release.

While Octagon is BofA’s sports marketing agency of record, sources tell us this particular deal was made directly by MLB and Ray Bednar, BofA’s senior vice president and global sponsorship executive. That leaves Octagon to activate the deal.

We’re also told MLB sponsors Pepsi and Taco Bell will have smaller parts in promoting the concert.


Bon Jovi’s July 12 concert is part
of the festivities around the MLB
All-Star Game in New York.

For once I have to say I miss the days when all you had to do for a free show was get there camp out and voila you were in. It's going to be alot more of a hassle to see this show if you aren't a local or if you aren't holding tickets to the All Star game it seems.

So wait, how the hell is this working?

That, sir, is still a very good question. I have, however, located a friend in NYC who banks at Bank of America just in case I need a local connection.

IF I had to guess, B of A will be giving out theirs to people that open accounts in NYC or are big time customers there and Taco Bell and Pepsi will either use theirs witha promo thing in cities that have a major league baseball team as a tie in to Allstar weekend or hand them off to company bigwigs to use.

I'm not sure how the FC would distribute tix like this since they aren't for sale, I guess they could offer them to the folks that bought FC tickets to MSG, but beyond that other than putting them online first come first serve I don't know what they would do.

That sucks as far as I'm concerned. I banked with B of A in college in California. They were HORRIBLE to you if you were a Berkeley student. When they bought out my local branch bank here in Jersey a few years ago I instantly closed my account.

So I have NO connection at all.

This show is gonna be WAY more trouble than it's worth.

Kathleen, do I forsee some of the more entreprenurial sp? New Yorkers finding a way to make a buck or two by suddenly having these free tix for sale? Be careful folks, I suspect there will be a big influx of fake tix to this event roaming around soon.