Official denies reports saying Elvis-ticket sales mishandled
by James Szymanski
The Evansville Press
September 27, 1976

Reports that tickets sales for the Elvis Presley concert at Roberts Stadium Oct. 24 may have been mishandled were denied today by A.J. Stofleth, stadium manager.

Mrs.. Frances Smith of 3503 Kathleen said today that she was the first person in line when the windows opened at 8 a.m. Saturday.

"When we got to the window, they told us that the first 11 rows were already gone and that the best seats we could have were in the 12th row," she said.

Mrs. Smith said she started waiting outside the stadium at 3 p.m. Friday and was in line 17 hours before the windows opened. She said the clerk at the window offered no explanation for why she couldn't buy eight tickets at her choice.

"There were no tickets sold or reserved before we started selling them at the windows," Stofleth said today. He added that "those people could have had from row seats on the side if they had wanted them. I'll give you $100 for every seat we sold before the windows opened."

Mrs. Smith wound up taking seats in the 12th row.

Several persons telephoned the Evansville Press over the weekend complaining that they were not able to buy choice seats for the show even though they were near the front of the line. Stofleth also said he had received a number of similar calls from angry fans.

Those who did camp out at the stadium left a mess behind that stadium employees had to clean up yesterday.

"It was ridiculous," Stofleth said "They left a lot of trash and paper around." He said nearly 11,000 tickets have been sold for the show and windows will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to sell remaining tickets. The only seats that remain are roll-out bleachers for $10.25.

The largest block of seats sold were to an Elvis Presley fan club from Canada which bought 250 tickets, Stofleth said.

The concert has generated great interest throughout the Midwest with groups from as far away as Chicago and St. Louis planning to attend.