King, Sullivan and the Jacksons' father,
Joe Jackson (who no longer managed any of his sons by that point), came up with a way to generate additional revenue from ticket sales. Those wishing to attend would have to send a postal
money order for $120 ($ in dollars) along with a special form to a
lottery to buy blocks of four tickets at $30 apiece (US$ in dollars), ostensibly to curtail
scalpers. Upon receipt the money was to be deposited into a standard
money market account earning 7% annual interest; it would take six to eight weeks for the lottery to be held and money to be refunded to the unsuccessful purchasers. Since only one in ten purchasers would win the lottery and receive tickets, there would be more money in the bank for that time period than there were tickets to sell, and they expected to earn $10–12 million in interest. The ticket price remained unchanged and at a press conference, King justified the $30 price as appropriate and that he did not blame the promoters for charging that price, adding that "you must understand, you get what you pay for."
Financial difficulties The tour sold what was then a record number of tickets despite the high price. The opening shows were widely covered in the national media and sold out. "Anybody who sees this show will be a better person for years to come", King told the media before the first date in Kansas City. "Michael Jackson has transcended all earthly bounds. Every race, color and creed is waiting for this tour." the shows were failing to sell out. Dates planned for
Pittsburgh were cancelled; extra shows in
Chicago made up the difference. By early October, the time of the shows in Toronto's
Exhibition Stadium, a total of 50,000 tickets had gone unsold, so Sullivan renegotiated again, getting the Jacksons to agree to revenues based on actual sales. Things got worse as the tour reached its final leg on the
West Coast. In late November, the shows at
Sun Devil Stadium in
Tempe,
Arizona, were canceled. Officially the reason was that Jermaine was too sick with the flu to perform, but there was some speculation that slow ticket sales played a role as well. Sullivan was so short of cash he stopped payment on a $1.9 million check to the group after the
Vancouver dates. Immediately afterwards, he suffered a minor
heart attack and left the hospital early to renegotiate with the Jacksons again, claiming losses of $5–6 million. By this time the parties were no longer meeting in person. The Jacksons agreed to waive the stopped payment in return for a greater share of revenue from the six final shows at Dodger Stadium. Sullivan's estimated profit was down to half a million dollars. The Jacksons and King had made money even though Sullivan had not, and near the end of the tour they began making plans for a European leg, as well as an Australian leg. When word reached Michael, he let them know through his representatives that he would not take part. At the rain-soaked tour finale at Dodger Stadium, after six sold out shows, Michael announced at the end of the show that this would be the last time they would all perform together, much to his brothers' surprise. As a result, the plans to go to Europe and Australia were ended. ==Aftermath==