Notable graduates: Joe Simler — Headed to the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium

May 13, 2008

When Wisconsin native Joe Simler stepped foot on the UW-Madison campus as a freshman in 2004, little did he know four years later he would be assisting a 30-member sales staff charged with filling seats at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the largest stadium in the NFL at 3 million square feet.

And with premium seating at the team's elaborate new digs selling for a price of $340 per ticket, plus a special one-time seat license fee for some ranging from $16,000 to $150,000, Simler's task is no small feat, all things considered.

"It's very exciting to be part of such a major project for the NFL, especially witnessing first-hand this monumental moment in Dallas Cowboys history," Simler says of his upcoming experience. "I consider myself very fortunate."

Because every ticket sold at the new stadium will be the result of a one-on-one meeting, he hopes to channel his experiences as an award-winning door-to-door student summer salesperson for The Southwestern Company, a Nashville-based educational reference book publisher.

For three consecutive summers, Simler earned the company's Gold Seal Award for working 80-plus hours per week for the duration of the summer sales period. In 2005, his first summer with the company, he was pinned with the Top First Year Dealer Award for being among the top 100 first-year dealers of the national sales force.