Why selling tickets is more important than ticket holders showing up

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Photo credit © Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Rick and John discuss the hot debate on social media yesterday regarding the number of tickets sold at Mercedes-Benz Stadium versus the number of people who actually show up.

An AJC article, released on Monday, detailed the number of people who actually attended games last season (Atlanta Falcons, SEC Championship game, Atlanta United, etc) was lower than the number originally reported.

#Falcons’ actual attendance for their final two home games was a reflection of fan dissatisfaction with a 7-9 season. For the Falcons’ home finale, 15,614 tickets went unused -- about 22 percent of all tickets. Turnstile vs Tickets Distributed. https://t.co/dlJFiZSyqb

— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) February 25, 2019

"Every, single sporting event lists 'tickets sold," John Michaels said. "If I'm the people who run the event and that ticket is sold, that's all I care about because I've made my money."

Rick Kamla agrees, and compares it to ordering food and throwing it away. A restaurant doesn't care about what you do with the food once you've paid for it.

"Maybe there needs to be two numbers that are reported, the number of tickets sold and the number of butts in the seats," Kamla said. "How is it embarrassing for Mercedes-Benz Stadium that 8,000 people eat their tickets for the SEC Championship game? I don't think it's an embarrassing look at all."

Click below to hear Rick and John detail why empty seats only matter when the seats aren't sold.