August 14, 2008
StubHub Annexes Nissan Pavilion for Richmond
We love to pick apart our ranking in the multitude of lists on which our fair city appears. A new one came out today: StubHub, the online ticket marketplace, has compiled a list of the 20 "Most Rockin'" cities in America for 2008, based on summer ticket sales. Out of 90 cities in the ticket sellers' database, D.C. came in 18th. Not too bad, we suppose, and all the cities that came in ahead of us are pretty major markets. With the exception, perhaps, of Richmond, of which the story has this to say:
Richmond, Virginia took the biggest leap in this year's rankings moving up from number 17 in 2007 to number 9 in 2008. The live concert ticket market in the area was bolstered by performances from Jimmy Buffett, Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Jonas Brothers and Dave Matthews Band -- the majority of which took place at Nissan Pavilion. Many fans from surrounding areas traveled to Richmond to see these bands since they did not schedule performances in Washington, D.C.
Now, we admit that we've had our gripes about Nissan Pavilion in the past. And while it might be tempting to wash our hands of the venue and let our neighbors to the south lay claim, the fact is that Bristow is 100 miles from Richmond, and only 40 miles from D.C. It's our venue to complain about, not Richmond's. And while we'd be perfectly happy to say that the Dave Matthews Band or the Jonas Brothers didn't schedule D.C. dates, that's just not true. And aside from all that, StubHub's error in elementary geography has cost us major Rockin' Points, and that just will not stand.
Luckily, this isn't actually a CNN story, but rather a StubHub press release that CNN has reprinted. And really, the methodology here is clearly suspect at its very core. A world in which the amount of tickets sold for concerts by Kenny Chesney and Jimmy Buffett determines how hard a city "rocks" is not a world we'd want to live in. But for the sake of argument, consider this our attempt at setting the record straight. We rock harder than Richmond. Case closed.
Photo by Flickr user angela n., used via a Creative Commons license.
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
Wholehearted agreement here. Richmond rocks not.
[ report this ]
I dunno... Richmond can have the Nissan Pavillion if they want it.
[ report this ]
i can has geography lesson?
[ report this ]
It's sort of like saying that the Woodstock festival happened in NYC.
[ report this ]
Richmond's gained some really great music venues lately such as The National and Toad's Place. I saw The Horrorpops and Dropkick Murphys down at Toad's Place about a year ago (since they surreptitiously skipped DC) and it was one of the best run music venues I've ever seen. 9:30 Club can learn a lot from them.
[ report this ]
We appreciate the interest in our Top 20 Rockin Cities release. Venues across the country don’t always fit neatly within the city limits of a particular metro area and are normally attributed to the next closest metro area in StubHub’s database. Nissan Pavilion is a unique case where it’s not clearly a DC suburb but is in reality fairly far from Richmond, Va. In all honesty it likely is a venue that needs to be redefined in our catalog and attributed to the DC metro area for better geographical accuracy. The rankings would certainly reflect differently with Nissan Pavilion attributed to D.C., likely putting it into the top ten overall. That said, it currently resides in the Richmond region in the database and contributed to their ranking on our list. There are those in-betweeners that can be misappropriated on occasion and StubHub is working to map all venues to their truest regional affiliation. For more information on the venues we attribute to each region for purposes of our rankings you can see them below.
Best,
Vanessa Daniele
Corporate Communications, StubHub
Richmond Area Venues:
Alltell Pavilion at the Siegel Center Tickets
Cameron Hall Tickets
Carrington Pavilion
Cassell Coliseum
Charlottesville Pavilion Tickets
Chrysler Hall
Classic Amphitheatre
Constant Convocation Center
Dedmon Center Tickets
Ferguson Center for the Arts Concert Hall
Hampton Coliseum
Harrison Opera House
Jaxx Nightclub Tickets
John Paul Jones Arena
Landmark Theater
Lane Stadium
Martinsville Speedway
Nissan Pavilion
Ntelos Pavilion Harbor Center
Paramount Theater (Charlottesville)
Richmond Coliseum
Richmond International Raceway
Robins Center Tickets
Scope
Scott Stadium
The National Tickets
The Norva
Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater
Vines Center Tickets
Virginia Motorsports Park Tickets
Williams Stadium Tickets
Wolf Trap Filene Center
Washington DC Metro Venues:
9:30 Club
Bender Arena
Birchmere Music Hall
Black Cat
D.A.R. Constitution Hall
FedExField
Fitzgerald Tennis Center
Grand Chapiteau at the Plateau at National Harbor Tickets
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House
Kettler Capitals Iceplex Tickets
Lisner Auditorium
Nationals Park Tickets
Patriot Center
RFK Stadium
Sixth and I Synagogue Tickets
Verizon Center
Warner Theatre (Washington D.C.)
[ report this ]
i fail to see how wolf trap is remotely close to richmond. i guess they think anything outside the beltway is a richmond suburb?
[ report this ]
maybe this will help them on their future rankings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington-Arlington-Alexandria,_DC-VA-MD-WV_MSA
[ report this ]
An article about a stub hub press release? Really? Wow.
As stub hub commented on it, I guess congratulations are in order. They tried to spin a web of lies but are foiled as DCist speaks truth to power. We can all sleep better now.
[ report this ]
Wait a minute. Wolf Trap? Richmond? That's an even bigger faux pas in my opinion. I may be willing to give Nissan to Richmond, but certainly not Wolf Trap.
[ report this ]
Nissan deserves to be in richmond, but it is definately not. And wait, stub hub has a dcist account? THIS IS MADNESS!!!
[ report this ]
Um, as much as I hate to admit it, Jaxx Nightclub is about a half mile down the street from my house. In Springfield. You know, that happy little place where 95, 395, and 495 all meet? It's DC, not Richmond. But, good to know you can get your Molly Hatchet ticks on stub hub!
As for Nissan, I drive by it everyday on the way to and from work (reverse commute woohoo!). I'm sure the poor outer DC suburbanites I pass would like to get a little credit for their miserable commute down I66.
The Wolf Trap thing is simply silly. From their site:
How about updating the DB and doing a recount?
[ report this ]
StubHub account = BAN. Same for the LiveNation if they ever try to shovel out a pile similar to what Vanessa offered.
[ report this ]
While I appreciate that they commented directly to the post... no. Wolf Trap in Richmond... Give us back our Rocking Points!
I feel like I just lost a Guitar Hero... hurm, miserable orange pinky button...
There have been a good number of bands that have moved over to Baltimore for more rockitude, however. They're our true Rock Competition, not Richmond. Richmond is a red herring, tho they do gain Honorary Rock Points for being the hometown of GWAR.
[ report this ]
Bye bye Nissan, F Stub Hub and all ticket scalpers...save for the individuals who re-sell their tickets at face...and the way I see it saying Nissan or FedEx Field or the Cap Center (may she RIP) is a DC venue is the same as someone saying "I live in DC" when they actually live in Jerkmantown (Germantown).
[ report this ]
Wolf Trap is closer to Baltimore than it is to Richmond. Does StubHub not have any employees in this area of the country?
[ report this ]
Did they just assign every venue in Virginia to Richmond? Because there are a few venues in that list that are in Charlottesville. Last I checked, Charlottesville was definitely not Richmond.
By that rationale, do they include the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in the NYC rankings?
[ report this ]
I hope this Vanessa chick is reading the comments. I if can take Metrorail from the center of downtown DC to a nearby suburb for a shuttle bus that gets me right to Wolf Trap's gate, I'm pretty sure that qualifies as being in DC. Can anyone in Richmond take public transit to Wolf Trap, a mere 114 miles from them?
What a bunch of morons.
[ report this ]
"saying Nissan or FedEx Field or the Cap Center (may she RIP) is a DC venue is the same as someone saying "I live in DC" when they actually live in Jerkmantown (Germantown)."
Depends on who they're talking to, as it's all part of the DC metro region. I grew up in Worthington, Ohio, a northern suburb of Columbus. When I'm visiting family in Ohio, I say I'm from Worthington. When I talk to people out here, I say I'm from Columbus. It's semantics.
Now, if you're really trying to pass off Germantown as DC, that's a whole other story. It's SO much harder to find a good hooker in Germantown.
[ report this ]
"What a bunch of morons."
No kidding. There's really no question that both Nissan and Wolf Trap are in the DC area. Yeah, Nissan's kinda far out there, and yeah the venue sucks, and yeah the acts that come there suck...but it's *DC'S* far-out sucky venue, not Richmond's.
[ report this ]
Richmond's got VA Beach too. Which is fine, since Charlottesville and VA Beach probably aren't big enough to be considered on their own. But by that logic, DC and Baltimore should really be combined since they are much closer together and Baltimore evidently doesn't merit its own spot in the ranking. Merriweather's not on the DC list - I assume it's considered a Baltimore venue.
I may live in the burbs and risk the ire of true District citizens by claiming DC, but I'll be damned if anyone's going to accuse me of living anywhere near Richmond. Them's fightin' words.
[ report this ]
The VA beach metro area is bigger than Richmond. If anything VA beach should absorb Richmond's venues.