As temperatures begin to cool and leaves begin to turn, millions of travelers are expected to take to the road in pursuit of fall foliage in the Northeast, and when they do, TicketCity and TripCart.com will be there to provide recommendations for natural sites of interest, as well as live events they won’t want to miss along the way such as baseball, football and Broadway.

TicketCity partnered earlier this year with TripCart, the most comprehensive online Road Trip Planner and travel reference site.  Together, they have taken the guesswork out of planning exciting things to do while chasing fall’s ever-changing colors. Booking weekends full of sports and entertainment through the sites’ revolutionary combinations of enticing content and robust, interactive technology has made the information gathering process a breeze.  Not to mention TicketCity’s reputation for outstanding customer service, abundant seating options and guaranteed reliable transactions.

This fall, TripCart, TicketCity, and good ol’ Mother Nature herself present foliage fanatics and sports enthusiasts a weekend of colorful indulgence in the Northeast’s favorite cities.  And fall foliage tours aren’t limited to small towns in Vermont or the Rocky Mountains anymore and aren’t exclusively about the trees and leaves.

Highlights of TripCart’s unique Urban Fall Foliage Guide include information on hundreds of scenic spots and routes, including:

• Lunch among leaves and life at Massachusetts’ Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
• Drive through cranberry country just south of Boston along State Road 105, along twinkling ponds and red-gold forests.
• Combine rich fall foliage with rich American history at Philadelphia’s Valley Forge National Historic Park.
• Take a break from city hubbub and hike through tranquil, colorful Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
• Hop on Metro-North for a moving view of Hudson Valley Fall Foliage or grab the subway to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for a nap under the color-changing trees and then a stroll through trendy Park Slope. 

For those travelers looking to supplement their nature exploration with spectacular live sports or entertainment events, TicketCity offers no shortage of ideas to choose from:

• Catch the U2 360 concert tour at Gillette Stadium in Boston on September 20, 2009.
• See Dave Matthews Band in concert at Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ on September 19-20.
• Celebrate the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame benefit event at Madison Square Garden on October 30, 2009.
• Support the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox with tickets for events as they head into postseason baseball.
• Enjoy NFL action with the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and New York Jets tickets throughout the entire NFL season.
• Kickoff the NBA season with tickets to the New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks or Boston Celtics.
• Explore Broadway and all of its offering including tickets to shows such as The Lion King at Minskoff Theatre, and Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre.

Travelers are encouraged to mix and match nature with culture to create an itinerary that captures the best of fall foliage, entertainment, and fun. For more information on TripCart, or to begin planning your next excursion within the United States, visit www.tripcart.com. For details on the hottest sports or entertainment tickets, visit www.ticketcity.com.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic are going to square off in the 2009 NBA Finals starting on Thursday, June 4th at the Staples Center.  The NBA Finals format is a 2-3-2 series, which means the first two games will be played at Staples Center in Los Angeles.  Then the middle 3 games will shift to Orlando to be played in Amway Arena.  Then the final two games will be played back in Los Angeles, if no one has already won.  The series is a best of 7, so whoever wins 4 games first will be the 2009 NBA Champions.

2009 NBA Finals schedule:
Game 1- June 4, Magic at Lakers
Game 2- June 7, Magic at Lakers
Game 3- June 9, Lakers at Magic
Game 4 – June 11, Lakers at Magic
Game 5- TBD, Lakers at Magic
Game 6 - TBD, Magic at Lakers
Game 7- TBD, Magic at Lakers
* Games 5, 6 & 7 will only be played if necessary.

The Orlando Magic finished the 2009 NBA regular season with a 59-23 record and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.  Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers won 65 games in 2009 (lost 17) and edged past the Denver Nuggets to win the Western Conference Finals.  To buy 2009 NBA Finals ticketsvisit the TicketCity website or call 1.800.880.8886.

After last nights 2 point loss to the Magic in overtime, the Cavaliers will have to step it up at home on Thursday to come back from there 1/3 losing streak. 

What better time then now to get your tickets for the game 5of this series.   Since the Cavs have the advantage of playing at home this game, they will surely play their hardest to make it to game 6 and you can get your tickets to that game as well! 

Call one of our sales staff at 1-800-SOLD OUT or visit TicketCity.com to get you game 5 and game 6tickets TODAY!  And for all you Cavs fans and hopefuls, we have game 7 tickets available too!  Get them today!

With the Cavs heading into Round 3 undefeated, the Magic will have their hands full!  During the first 2 rounds, Magic came out on top, but they did have 5 losses!  Now eventhough that doesn’t seem like very many, it will be hard for them to stop the winning power of the Cavs this season! 

With the first game of Round 3 starting tonight at 8:30 EST and airing on TNT, we will finally see if there is a team that can stand up to the Cavaliers!  And if you think it’s too late to see this game live, you couldn’t be more wrong!  Get tickets to any game of this series by visiting Ticketcity.com or by calling 1-800-SOLD OUT Today!!!

The NBA Classic game featuring the San Antonio Spurs vs the Oklahoma City Thunder will be played at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas this October.  Since the closest thing Austin has to a professional team is the Longhorns (which I’m not complaining about), lets show the Spurs and Thunder that we have love for more than just college sports.  We  can scream and cheer with the professionals!  Plus, if you can’t make the drive to San Antonio or Oklahoma City, this is a great opportunity for you and your family to see an intense NBA game!  Don’t miss your chance to see this NBA Classic in your own backyard!  Put the reminder on your calendar for October 20th and secure your tickets, before they go onsale, for your chance to be a part of this exhibition game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder.  You can secure your tickets by calling 1-800-SOLD OUT or by visiting TicketCity.com to reserve your tickets Today!

Texas Longhorn fans should have October 20th, 2009 circled on their calendar.  That is the day that UT basketball favorite son, Kevin Durant, will be returning to Austin to play an exhibition game at the Frank Erwin Center.  Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder will play the San Antonio Spurs in an NBA preseason game ahead of the 2009-2010 season.

The game will be the first official game for Durant back in Austin since he went pro after the 2006-2007 season.  Durant played one magical year for the Texas Longhorns, winning all of the major Player of the Year honors in college basketball that season.  Since then Durant has had his #35 jersey retired by the Texas basketball program.  Durant has come back to Austin over the past few off-seasons to practice and scrimmage with some of his former teammates and the new Longhorns basketball players.

The game matches Durant and his OKC squad against the 4-time World Champion San Antonio Spurs.  The Spurs were knocked out in the 1st-round of the NBA playoffs this year, but should return a strong lineup for the 2009-2010 assuming their core of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker are healthy.  Click here to buy Spurs tickets for the 2009-2010 season as soon as they are available.

Wow!! What a game!! The Celtics went in to the series tied 2-2 and came out of last nights, two OT game with a win! 

This has been an exciting series, not only for the overtimes but for the dirty antics displayed by both teams!  In the final OT with 2 seconds left on the clock, Rajon Rondon’s arm hit Brad Millers Face as he was going in for a layup!  Even though many would argue that the foul was intentional or flagrant, the refs gave Miller two shots from the line instead of free throws plus the ball returned, but it didn’t matter either way!  After Miller stood at the line with his teary eyes and bleeding lip, he failed to sink the first shot.  On his second attempt to shoot, he tried to intentionally miss the basket but failed in hitting the rim, which resulted in the lose for the Bulls and bringing the series to 3-2 Celtics.

Now even though you might be sad at this turn of events, you should rejoice in knowing that the next game the Bulls have home court advantage and are sure to tie up the series yet again.  If that turns out to be the case, Game 7 will not be short of competition, and hopefully a few overtimes!

You can’t miss your chance to show what colors you bleed!  Get your tickets for Game 6 by visiting TicketCity.com or call 1-800-SOLD OUT to make sure that you don’t miss all the excitement of this series!

There are a ton of events going on right now, but what are the top events globally?  What are the sports, concerts and theater that everyone wants to see?  Below is a quick look at some of the most searched terms/events/categories on the TicketCity.com website.

TOP TICKET SEARCHES:
* Concert Tickets – Tons & tons & tons of people are looking for tickets to their favorite artist or performer.  Our main Concert Tickets page is one of the highest traffic pages on our website.  Because of that we are going to be releasing some new features soon to make it easier to find information on your favorite concert performer.  The most searched genre on our concert tickets page is “Rock music”, followed closely by “Country music”.  A few of the top performers right now are: AC/DC, Britney Spears, Bruce Springsteen, Jonas Brothers, Leonard Cohen, Sugarland, Taylor Swift & the shows at the Houston Rodeo.  Others that are starting to draw more traffic are: Michael Jackson and U2.  U2 has announced they will be touring the globe in Fall.  The one-time “King of Pop” is playing a series of shows in London; there are rumors about him setting up a series of shows in the United States.

* Sports Tickets – The NFL & College Football are the two most popular sporting events on our website.  Both are out-of-season right now but still drawing large traffic numbers as people search for ticket deals for the 2009 football season.  Dallas Cowboys tickets has been a particularly hot search term, mostly due to the fact that the Cowboys are moving into a new stadium for the upcoming season.  Fans of the Cowboys want to see the new “Jerry World” and are trying to find the best deals on tickets.
The largest traffic these days is being split between College Basketball (a speciality of TicketCity) and NBA Tickets.  In the college segment most people are searching for conference tournament tickets; the most demand is for Big 12 Tournament Tickets & Big East Tournament Tickets, although demand for the ACC Tournament is solid as well.  The NCAA Tournament regional sites are just now starting to draw some interest, although the real buying will not pickup until the NCAA Tournament teams are announced.
On-site demand for NBA tickets is all about the top teams, the most searched terms are Cavs, Celtics, Lakers & Spurs.
The Major League Baseball season is starting in a few weeks, so the traffic is building for that.  Most people searching for baseball are either looking for World Baseball Classic tickets or for New York Yankees tickets.  Other popular search terms are Cubs, Dodgers, Mets and Red Sox.
The demand for NHL tickets is light compared to the other categories, but there are still quite a few queries for the top teams.  Earlier this year, NHL searches were at an all-time for the NHL Winter Classic played at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Spring is not just about team sports, it is also major sporting events.  The two biggest events in that spectrum are both drawing a ton of traffic right now; both The Masters and the Kentucky Derby are two of the most searched terms on the site.  Demand for Masters has been increasing steadily since Tiger Woods returned to the course in late February.

* Theater Tickets - Across the board the demand (and searches) for Broadway Tickets have been down slightly.  But there are still many individual shows that are getting a ton of traffic.  Leading that group is Wicked.  Demand for Wicked tickets has been strong for well over a year and it remains one of the top draws on Broadway.  Right behind Wicked right now in searches is Shrek the Musical.  The other, non-Broadway, theater show that has been burning up the charts is Flight of the Conchords.  Search traffic and demand for this hit show has been unexpectedly huge.

So there is a quick look at what is hot at TicketCity right now.  If you are looking for tickets for one of these shows, or any other, please call 1.800.880.8886 to speak with one of our talented Sales Associates.  Or you buy online at TicketCity.com.

Right now is a great time to visit the Big Apple if you are a fan of live entertainment.  Because the deals on tickets to New York events have never been this good.  Whether you are a sports fan or want to catch a couple of Broadway shows, deals on tickets are abundant.  Below are a few New York City ticket specials available at TicketCity:

BROADWAY TICKET SPECIALS

* Shrek The Musical tickets: Mezzanine seating for this popular is selling for as little as $60 to $70 per ticket.  Orchestra seats are available online for $125 to $150 per ticket.  Playing at the Broadway Theatre.  Click here to buy Shrek tickets on Broadway.

* Speed The Plow tickets: No Jeremy Piven, no problem.  This show lost its star but has kept on-going.  Still a few good Orchestra seats for sale, so buy today.  Click here to buy Speed The Plow tickets at the Barrymore theatre.

* Other top theatre shows are also available at below normal prices.  Check out hot shows like Wicked, Jersey Boys, South Pacific or Lion King.  Click here to buy Broadway theatre tickets for all shows.

NEW YORK CITY SPORTS TICKET SPECIALS

* New York Knicks tickets: TicketCity owns some really nice Knicks tickets in the lower-level.  The seats are located in the corner and behind the basket, but they offer an excellent view of the action.  These Knicks tickets are selling at less than the $100.00 cost for all but the biggest games.  Imagine paying $60 to 90 to sit in some of the best seats in Madison Square Garden.  Take advantage of this opportunity to see a game at one of sports most historic venues.  Big Knicks games against teams like the Cavs, Celtics, Lakers and Spurs are typically available in the $100-$200 per ticket range.  Quite a deal to sit down low at the Garden.  Click here to buy Knicks tickets.

* New York Yankees tickets: Do you want to see the Yankees amazing new ballpark?  Tickets for Yankees games are available for as little as $40.00 per ticket.  Field level seats can be had for $125 and up.  The new Yankee Stadium is going to be amazing, so don’t miss your chance to get there for a game while the prices are so low. Click here to buy New York Yankees tickets.

* New York Mets tickets: While you are in the mood to visit new ballparks in New York, you might as well get out to Citi Field to see a Mets game.  Citi Field is the new home of the New York Mets that is opening for the 2009 season.  That’s right both the Yankees (Yankee Stadium) and Mets (Citi Field) are opening new ballparks this season.  If you are a baseball fanatic or just a fan of sports visiting NYC, you need to take the opportunity to see both of these ballparks.  TicketCity has plenty of good deals on Mets & Yankees tickets.  Click here to buy NY Mets tickets.

So if you are visiting New York City this Spring, this is a great time to buy tickets.  The shows are better than they’ve ever been and so are the prices.  Click here to see our entire schedule of New York City events.  You can buy online at TicketCity.com or call to speak with one of our experience Sales Associates.  If you cannot find the event or tickets that you need, please call us.  We are here to serve all of your ticket needs.

I went to a Mavs/Nuggets game on Monday and sat in our 123 row AA seats – these are pictures from the seats. I was three rows behind Ludacris and probably ten feet from the Nuggets bench. We have these same tickets for other basketball games (like the warriors game on January 28th at $165 each)

Check it out!