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Utah's Michael Schetzel Keeping An Eye On Red Sox

October 16, 2008 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
Utah Blaze News Release


SALT LAKE CITY - As a life-long Boston Red Sox fan, Michael Schetzel couldn't have been happier to see the Sox make their historic run in 2004, and he had the best seat in the house at Fenway Park: He was the Director of Ticket Sales and Services for team the from 1999-2005.

"I grew up in Massachusetts. I grew up a die-hard Red Sox fan," said Schetzel, who is in his second year as the Director of Ticket Sales and Client Services for the Utah Blaze.

"The only reason I got into sports was to maybe work for the Boston Red Sox one day, and maybe be there if they ever won a World Series and that worked out."

Schetzel, who celebrated with the team on the field after it beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4, now sports the same World Series ring the players do.

Winning the World Series ended Boston's 86-year drought, and put to rest the "Curse of the Bambino", which was ascribed to Boston after selling Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees after winning the 1918 World Series, and they hadn't won another World Series until 2004.

Shortly after the Sox won the World Series, Schetzel and his family moved out west. He admits being a Red Sox fan is different now.

"For me it has totally changed from knowing all the ins and outs from behind the scenes. Also, the change from not winning for so many years and then winning it twice in the next four years, it's been a little bit of a change as fan. It doesn't seem like life or death anymore," he said.

Schetzel and his family moved to California and he worked for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) as the Director of National Group Ticket Sales.

He said his family missed living in an area with four seasons, and an opportunity opened up to be the Chief Operating Officer for the Utah Grizzlies, so he accepted it and moved his family to Utah.

He is no stranger to Utah, however.

He graduated from BYU and worked for the Utah Summer Games in Cedar City in 1997.

Scheztel left the Grizzlies after the 2006-07 season and took the job as the Director of Ticket Sales and Client Services for the Blaze.

Joining the AFL is another area in which he is comfortable.

"I worked in the Arena Football League 10 years ago (for two years) as a director of sales and marketing," he said.

Schetzel worked for a team owned by Madison Square Garden in New York before the team was moved to Hartford, Connecticut.

Now Schetzel, who also worked the Atlanta Olympic Games from 1994-1996, is using his experience in working with the Blaze.

"I know the sales process - the ebbs and flows over the year. Knowing when it has to ramp up and you have to get pushing to keeping things organized, so you can hit your goals," he said.

Schetzel believes the Blaze has something unique to offer compared to other professional sports.

"Access," he said, "access not only to the players, but to the front office. It's that excitement up close and personal, and the affordability. You're able to get so much more out of your experience out of a game. Even more so than at a Major League Baseball or NBA game. You can get autographs from the players. You can be right up close."



Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from October 16, 2008


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