To call Robert Tuchman a sports fan would be an understatement. Tuchman, executive vice president of the Premiere Corporate Division of Premiere Global Sports, is such a big fan, in fact, that earlier this year he wrote the book The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live: An Insider’s Guide to Creating the Sports Experience of a Lifetime, and he is bringing that knowledge to his speaking engagement at Ticket Summit 2009 Vegas, scheduled for July 15-17. The book was published by Bellabooks, Inc.

TicketNews asked Tuchman some questions about the book and his thoughts on sports, including whether he had any favorite events when he was starting to research it. “It was more about the overall event experience and which events really were the most enjoyable to attend from the average fans perspective,” he said. “Not so much about the sports I really like or there would have been a list full of football, basketball, and baseball games. I’m definitely not an avid golfer but I love The Masters and that hit number one on the list.

In addition to The Masters, the book also lists other “must-see” events, such as the Super Bowl, horse racing at Saratoga, Wimbledon, the MLB All-Star Game, the Beanpot hockey tournament in Boston, the men’s ACC basketball tournament, and a host of other events.

Tuchman said he is planning a sequel that will look specifically at the 100 best rivalries in sports, but as for the events he lists in his current book, he wouldn’t drop any, but he would like to include a few more.

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“I missed [mentioning the] Kentucky vs. Louisville basketball game, and the Oregon vs. Oregon State football game. I’m sure there are others, but I am getting those on the list in the reprint. All the ones I have in there deserve to be on the list…at least in my opinion,” he said.


As for the cost of going to all the events, Tuchman said he can only guess. The book lists many of the primary ticketing sources for the various events, but it also serves as a promotional tool for his company and GoTickets.com, which specializes in sports tickets on the secondary market.

“I would hate to see that price tag. I bet if you looked at it you can go to all of these events for under $100,000, it’s more the time you would need to spend doing it. The interesting thing is aside from some of the bigger events on the list, like the Super Bowl and World Cup, many of the events on the list are actually free,” Tuchman said. “The New York City marathon, Tour de France, and Ironman are just a few examples. You would definitely get a lot of rewards back from your frequent flyer program on air travel! That would be the biggest cost.”