Kansas Athletics Names Chiefs' Hopkins Director of Ticket Operations
Jan. 7, 2011
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Kansas Athletics has named Doug Hopkins, who has served as director of ticket operations for the National Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs since 1994, as Director of Ticket Operations. He will start at KU after the Chiefs complete their season.
Hopkins has been responsible for financial and overall management of the Chiefs’ ticket department. He has been accountable for day-to-day reconciliation of ticket receipts between the ticket office and the finance department.
Hopkins has worked in ticket operations since 1978, when he was named assistant director – and later director – of ticket operations for Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners. His first responsibility was as vault manager and internal auditor for the Mariners’ ticket office. He also oversaw ticket reconciliation for all distribution channels.
He also served as ticket manager for the Kingdome, which was home of the Mariners and the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks. The Kingdome also hosted other major events, e.g., NCAA Basketball Tournament, concerts and National Basketball Association games.
In Kansas City, he has coordinated activities with the Chiefs’ ticketing provider (Ticketmaster), keeping the ticket operation current with computer applications. He has served as a liaison with the NFL office and other member clubs regarding ticket-related concerns for regular-season and post-season competition.
He has also been responsible for the allocation, distribution and financial reconciliation for all home games and Chiefs’ allocation for road games and special events, e.g., the Super Bowl. He has developed long-range capital plans for the Chiefs’ recent ticket office renovation, and has directed ticket operations for all events, e.g., concerts and soccer matches, held at Arrowhead Stadium.
Prior to his time with the Chiefs, Hopkins served as Vice President of Ticketing for World Cup USA 1994. He was responsible for all ticket operations for this highly successful international event. The 1994 World Cup set all-time Cup attendance records, selling 3.5 million tickets, with receipts of some $300 million.
He served as director of ticketing for the 1990 Goodwill Games, which, aside from the Olympics, was the largest major international multi-sport event in the world.
“Doug has a vast amount of experience managing ticket operations at a very high level,” said Sean Lester, interim athletics director at KU. “He has a reputation for integrity, responsibility and excellence in administration. We could not have chosen a better person to ensure that Kansas Athletics’ ticket office becomes a model for ticket operations around the country.”
