Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivan Marin.
Ivan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I went to ST. Thomas University to study Sports Administration. While still in school, I started my sports career with the Florida Marlins in March of 1994 as a part-time ticket seller for 1994 season. Once the baseball strike occurred, I was offered an internship for the 1995 Super Bowl. I became the ticket office intern for the 1995 baseball season and I also worked as an intern for the Florida Panthers when they went to the Stanley Cup. I was one of the Orkin guys who would pick up the rats off the ice. After the 1995 baseball season, I was hired full-time and I worked my way up to becoming the Ticket Manager for the Florida Marlins, Miami Dolphins, and Pro Player Stadium. We were in charge of all ticket operations for both teams and the stadium. For 3 years, I wrote down everything I didn’t enjoy about my job. I always thought that someone would pay not to worry about the same at their events (knowing that these services were crucial to the often maligned area of ticket operations). After working two Super Bowls, World Series, Stanley Cup and numerous Concerts at the stadium I decided to start my own business with Danny Katz who at the time was the Director of Ticket Operations at the Stadium. So, in June of 2000, we got incorporated and started Complete Ticket Solutions (CTS) and I left the stadium in December of 2000.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
After I left the Stadium in December of 2000, three of us started working out of Danny’s house in the beginning with our first client the University of Miami – Ticket Office. We helped them sell tickets at the Orange Bowl. After 3 weeks of starting CTS, we were able to secure the contract for the NFL Experience, a ticketed event at the Super Bowl in Tampa. We had to come up with 15 employees to pull off the staffing at the NFL Experience. We had to come up with the staff and how to house them within 3 weeks of the Super Bowl. We could not find hotels in Tampa with the short notice so we rented 3 houses in Orlando and would drive the staff every morning to pull it off. Three months later, we had our first office in Davie (300 square feet), we later moved to a 1,600 square foot office in Dania Beach and our staff grew to 6 full-timers. We are now in a 2,500 square foot office with 15 full-timers and over 90 part-timers. We were lucky to land the NFL Experience ( and the next 4). The Nasdaq 100 Open Tennis Tournament in Key Biscayne, and the Miami International Film Festival so we had to come up with a lot of part-timers to handle all the events.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Complete Ticket Solutions story. Tell us more about the business.
Complete Ticket Solutions is a full-service box office management company including: white label online sales, call center, event day staffing, mobile technology, and scanning. We can also provide you with custom event day tickets and a variety of custom Tyvek wristbands. We are proud to be the ticketing partner for some of Florida’s largest events including SunFest, the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Valspar Championship, Lauderdale Air Show, Miami FC and more! Contact us so you can learn how CTS will make sure you, your staff and patrons never worry about ticketing again. Ticketing Simplified! You get a custom ticketing website to promote your event, manage ticket sales, launch social media efforts including the ability to sell through Facebook and more! our needs drive everything we do. Choose as few or as many services as you need. Some customers want our expert management,Others want a trustworthy and easy-to-use online ticketing solution for their customers. We want you to have the best event possible and that means having a smooth, user-friendly ticketing experience.
Our customer service and hands-on approach are what sets us apart. We travel to the events and run the ticket operations for you. We are not a third party vendor, we treat every event like it’s our own event. We really do care
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I truly believe you create your own luck with the combination of hard work, determination, and capitalizing on the opportunity that is front of you. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. The most important thing in business and in Life is to be prepared when the opportunity presents itself.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5201 Anglers Ave
Suite #107
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312 - Website: www.completeticketsolutions.com
- Phone: 954-889-0875
- Email: ivan@completeticketsolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/completeticketsolutions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CompleteTicketSolutions/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctsboxoffice
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