Pandesic, the Intel-SAP "double play that manages ticket sales" on the MLB Giants' official Web site and "built the backbone for the team's vaunted online ticket resale system -- is closing up shop after three unprofitable years," according to Jim Gardner of the S.F. BUSINESS TIMES. Now the Giants, MLB's "most tech-minded franchise," is "scouting for someone else" to handle operations. The team's CIO Bill Schlough said, "We're not really concerned about it through the end of the season, even into the World Series. We're not to the point of shutting down anything." Pandesic has given the team "a timeline for shutting down operations," but Schlough "refused to discuss it." Besides the Web site and the Double Play Ticket Window, Pandesic also provided the system for the Giants Rewards frequent-fan discount program and the system that "digests data from the team's electronic turnstiles" (S.F. BUSINESS TIMES, 8/21). IS RE-SALE SIGN OF THINGS TO COME? SI's "Scorecard" reports on the Giants' Double Play Ticket Window, which allows season ticket holders to post tickets they are not using for sale on the team's Web site. The team has taken in an estimated $150,000 since the program began June 9, "selling tickets they'd already sold once." The projected income over a full season is $400,000 and that could hit $1M "as the program grows." But SI notes, "Replicating such success elsewhere may be hard, however. Reselling tickets above face value is illegal in 12 states" (SI, 8/28 issue).
