Couple lines up trips for Steelers, Pirates, Penguins fans

Sunday, September 16, 2007
By Sally Kalson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Steelers fans wave their Terrible Towels at Heinz Field before a game against the Baltimore Ravens.

As die-hard Pittsburgh sports fans, Anne and Damian Williams have traveled to many away games, always researching things in advance. They'd buy their tickets, book a room at the team hotel, scout the best transportation to and from the game, search out the restaurant choices and game-related activities.

"We always looked for someone to make the arrangements for us, but there was no one," said Mrs. Williams. "It seemed like a good business to start, doing for other people what we did for ourselves."

For more informationTo arrange a trip with Sports Vacations, visit http://www.sportsvacations.com/ or call 412-381-5553 or toll free 1-877-381-5553. The next Steelers trip is scheduled for Sept. 30 in Glendale, Ariz., where the team will play the Arizona Cardinals.

That was five years ago. Today the couple's company, Sports Vacations, assembles flexible packages for Steelers, Pirates and Penguins fans in town and across the country. They also do trips to college bowl games and the Final Four, and ticketing for many other sporting events.

"Tickets are a small part of what we do," Mrs. Williams said from her Mount Washington office. "We try to create an experience that fans couldn't create on their own."

"Beyond the game" football packages include a rally the day before the game with ex-Pittsburghers living in the host city, breakfast with Tunch Ilkin on game day and tailgating with other die-hard fans. Some packages include golf with Mel Blount and autograph/photo sessions with Jerome Bettis, Levon Kirkland or Greg Lloyd.

The company locates the host cities' black-and-gold boosters by teaming up with Steelers out-of-town fan clubs and bars, and also with SteelCityMafia.com, whose mission is to unite Steelers fans from around the world online.

The company gets its football tickets from a network of brokers. It resells them at cost plus a handling fee and promises prices 10 percent to 15 percent lower than StubHub, the biggest secondary ticket market. Treating the tickets as a loss leader helps attract clients; the company's profit comes from other parts of the package.

The menu of offerings has expanded each year, Mrs. Williams said.
Sports Vacations handles home games, too, usually for out-of-town visitors. But most of the Steelers vacations focus on away games.

"It's easier to get tickets, and away games seem to have a greater appeal," Mrs. Williams said. "People like to go on the road into enemy territory. There's something fun about that."

She figures their away game clients are split 50-50 between Pittsburghers and others. So far this season, the company has sold packages to 200 customers.

They can book trips as late as the week of the game, she said, but most people make plans further in advance.

Clients can ride company-sponsored buses from Pittsburgh to the Cincinnati game on Oct. 28 and the Baltimore game on Dec. 30. For the other games, the company will book flights if the customers so choose.

The cost depends on the game, Mrs. Williams said. For Cleveland, the starting price is $339 per person for the bus, one night at the team hotel, the fan rally, upper-level end-zone seats, breakfast with Mr. Ilkin and rides to and from the game.

Last year, Sports Vacations booked 500 clients on trips to college bowl games and the Final Four, the Super Bowl and baseball's All-Star game.
Jen Hwang, a special education teacher in Orange County, Calif., wanted to take her dad to the Final Four at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. She found Sports Vacations on the Internet and calls the resulting trip "the perfect vacation, with me doing very little work other than getting there.

"Annie walked me through every step, answered all my questions and hand-delivered my tickets at the hotel just as she said she'd do."

Mrs. Williams also provided eighth-row tickets to see an Atlanta Braves baseball game and an Atlanta Hawks basketball game.

"It was the best customer service I have ever had," said Ms. Hwang.
Sports Vacations also took 95 people this year to the Pirates series at Yankee Stadium.

"They're going to tear it down so people wanted to see it one more time," Mrs. Williams said.

When those clients returned, they attended a home game at PNC Park against the Texas Rangers.

"We arranged for everyone to have an opportunity to do something on the field," she said. "They went down for batting practice, changed the bases between innings, threw the first pitch or went into the broadcast booth."

Chris Snyder of Shaler and his family were among that group. Son Noah, 7, got to change the bases.

"He was pretty excited," Mr. Snyder said. "It's a little different doing something on the field in the middle of a game with all the crowds and the players watching you.

"We were extremely pleased with the whole experience," he said. "We were at the same New York hotel as the team, and they told us when the players were coming out each morning. That allowed us to talk to them, get autographs and pictures that you don't usually get a chance to get. The cost was very reasonable."

Mrs. Williams said the company is planning a couple of trips to other ballparks next year, and some of the Penguins' away games this year.

The business is a full-time job for Mrs. Williams, 31, who hails from North Dakota. Her husband, 32 and a native of New Castle, spends about 75 percent of his time on Sports Vacation. The rest he devotes to his unpaid position as pastor of Steel City Church, a nontraditional congregation he founded with his wife. The group meets at 6 p.m. in Connections Cafe at Bates and Semple streets in South Oakland. The couple have two children, ages 9 and 7.

"My husband is a die-hard sports fan," Mrs. Williams said. "We have season tickets to everything, so I have grown to love the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins."

First published on September 16, 2007 at 12:00 am
Sally Kalson can be reached at skalson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1610.