CNN: Low ticket sales for Palin event in Jacksonville, Florida

August 19, 2010
Low ticket sales for Palin event

An event featuring Sarah Palin has not proved to be a big sell.

(CNN) - Sarah Palin is normally a major draw on the speaker's circuit, but the former Alaska governor is proving to be a hard sell for an upcoming engagement in Florida.

Palin is scheduled to speak in Jacksonville for a fundraising event on behalf of Heroic Media, a Austin, Texas-based group that describes itself as "a faith-based non-profit that reduces abortion by creating a Culture of Life through television, billboard and internet advertising."

The event - called "Evening of Hope with Sarah Palin" - was planned to be held in a 3,000-seat auditorium but has been moved to a 609-seat venue to ensure the speech will be sold out, Mark Nelson, the Florida director of Heroic Media told CNN.

"We are a new organization…not many people know about us and we have not sold as many tickets as we have liked to, so we are moving it," Nelson said.

Tickets for the event range from $50 to $100.

Kimberly Speirs, a spokeswoman for the organization, said the group did not have "high or low expectations" when it came to ticket sales.

We didn't have much time to promote the event and we are new to the Florida market," she said.

Speirs would not comment on whether Palin is being compensated for her appearance. Palin is also slated to speak at events for the group in Houston and Dallas this fall.