These are the best of times and the worst of times for the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Sioux Falls' new event center has been open less than a year and has already played host to a number of concerts that have played to at, or near, capacity crowds. The venue has been recognized as one of the top four new concert facilities in the world, and ticket sales for events like Def Leppard, Styx, and Tesla, are exceeding sales numbers from all other North American cities. Plus, expected big selling shows from Ed Sheeran and Kenny Chesney are coming soon.

But with every one of those big shows comes a potential problem:  more demand than supply. With every announcement of a new concert coming to the facility, there's an increased frustration among some ticket buyers that attempting to get seats in the new events center is an exercise in futility.

Terry Torkildson - General Manager, SMG Sioux Falls
Photo by Jeff Harkness/Townsquare Media
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For the second time since the facility opened, Denny Sanford Premier Center officials have openly addressed some of those ticketing concerns.  Thursday, SMG General Manager Terry Torkildson, the man in charge of the building, attempted to shed further light on some of the issues that seem to be plaguing some ticket buyers.

One of the first  issues Torkildson spoke to was the 12,000 seat capacity of the building, a number some have complained is too small:

Other common areas of concern among ticket buyers have been the amount of seats available during a show's pre-sale, how many pre-sales are offered, and why the more popular shows aren't adding additional dates to accommodate demand.  Torkildson says those issues are dictated to the facility by the promoter of the specific event:

Once tickets do go on sale to the general public, a number of Sioux Falls shows have been selling out very quickly.  That's good news for the artist, promoter, and the venue, but bad news for everyone left without seats to the show. Torkildson says it all comes down to supply and demand:

Another issue facing ticket buyers is the rise in popularity of secondary ticket sellers, or ticket scalpers. They've gone high tech, trying to buy up big blocks of seats during online sales. Ticketmaster and other online ticket sellers are trying to keep the issue of these computer 'bots' to a minimum, but no solution has proven to be 100% effective.

The other aspect of the market are brokers who advertise tickets to events, before the seats have even gone on sale.  Torkildson says this speculative selling is creating the illusion that large numbers of tickets are available, which is not always the case:

Torkildson says currently there are no South Dakota laws or Sioux Falls ordinances that ban secondary ticket sales.

So what are some ways to increase your chances of getting tickets to see you favorite act when they come to Sioux Falls?  Torkildson has a few suggestions:

Other ticket buying tips from Ticketmaster:

  • Use only one browser and don't hit 'refresh' more than every 2-3 seconds.  This will keep you from being tagged as a potential automated system and getting locked out.
  • Try multiple devices (computer, tablet, smart phone) to make your purchase
  • Keep trying.  Some ticket requests initially get declined online, but become available after a few minutes
  • Arrive early and buy tickets in person at the box office
  • Check back right before the show.  Sometimes additional tickets are released at the last minute

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