My Biz: Swinging for the fences trying to fill Veterans Memorial Stadium

Andrea Brommelkamp occupies one of the most visible positions at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

But you won't see her in a baseball uniform.

Brommelkamp is director of ticketing and group sales for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, overseeing ticketing and group sales efforts.

'Basically, if you are with a group in a private area of the park, you deal with me,” she said, noting the park offers 12 suites and 12 different group outing areas during each game, such as the Pavilion, the Mezzanine, or Party Plaza.

Brommelkamp has worked for the Kernels for 12 seasons. She started as an intern in 2003 while attending the University of Iowa. That experience, in radio broadcasting, led her to realize she wanted to work 'behind the scenes,” in baseball, she said.

Her current role keeps her busy handling all aspects of ticketing, including making calls to promote group ticket sales. Brommelkamp also manages two interns and the box office staff.

'And I'm tracking everything throughout the season to make sure that we are hitting our budget and sales goals,” she said, noting that, so far, this year has been particularly busy and successful.

'This year alone we have had 455 groups, not including suites. That's a record for us,” she said. 'But I'd also love to see us set some general attendance records at the stadium, too.”

Last October, the Kernels took over management of the Waterloo Bucks, a collegiate summer baseball team. Brommelkamp now oversees ticket sales for the Bucks as well.

'While working with the Bucks has added additional stress, it has allowed me the opportunity to build some ticket packages which has helped keep me challenged,” she said. 'I really want to grow that business up there so it can look like it does here at the Kernels games.”

Brommelkamp said she often works long hours.

'There are 31 home games for the Kernels and 20 games for the Bucks. I am at more than half of those,” she said, adding that the three Kernels management team members take turns making sure one of them is at each game. 'The hours we work can be very difficult. It takes a special person to work in baseball because while it's super fun, we can put in 14 or 16 hour days on a game day, start to finish.”

'And weather is a huge stressor in our lives,” she added. 'But we always have a fallback plan. When you are managing an outdoor facility, you have to.”

Once winter rolls around, Brommelkamp said most people assume she gets to take it easy.

'A lot of people ask what we do in the winter,” she said with a laugh. 'Winter and fall are actually pivotally important for us because most of our sales work is happening from September until March. Once you get into the season it's all the little things that you are taking care of, so I focus less on booking events during that time. What we do in the off-season sets us up for success during the season.”

And like the players on the field looking for a win, Brommelkamp said she, too, hopes for a winning experience with guests.

'We want groups to have the best possible experience. We strive for excellence,” she said. 'And at the end of the night when a group leader comes up to me and says thanks for all your help, that's the end result we are looking for. It makes all our work worth it.”

AT A GLANCE

' Name: Andrea Brommelkamp

' Title: Director of Ticketing and Group Sales

' Company: Cedar Rapids Kernels

' Address: 950 Rockford Rd. SW, Cedar Rapids

' Phone: (319) 363-3887

' Website: http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t492