NHL Officially Signs Secondary Ticketing Deal With Ticketmaster

By Eric Fisher & Terry Lefton, Staff Writers

The NHL and Ticketmaster, as expected, have signed their exclusive multi-year ticketing deal, and an announcement is planned for this afternoon. The agreement will create a leaguewide ticket resale exchange to exist at both NHL.com and Ticketmaster.com, with the platform becoming fully operational for the '08-09 season. The pact marks the fourth major American sports league to sign a universal secondary ticketing deal this calendar year, joining similar Ticketmaster deals with the NFL and NBA, and a StubHub deal with MLB. Fourteen NHL teams currently use Ticketmaster for ticket resales, with the Capitals becoming the latest club just last week as the league's deal was being finalized. Ticketmaster also has obtained category rights as the NHL's official resale ticket provider and will have extensive ad inventory on NHL.com. The NHL-Ticketmaster pact was first disclosed in the December 10 issue of SportsBusiness Journal.