In New Orleans, Ron Higgins reported LSU has signed a multiyear agreement with StubHub, making the ticket vendor the "official marketplace for LSU sports, including football tickets starting with the upcoming season." The partnership with LSU "marks StubHub's fourth SEC property on its roster of NCAA partnerships, joining Alabama, Auburn and Georgia." Through StubHub's partnership with Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement, LSU season-ticket holders will access StubHub as the school's "official ticket marketplace." StubHub will also "receive a portfolio of sponsorship and marketing assets, including social collaborations, plus digital and in-venue advertising and promotions at football and basketball games" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 7/27).
THROWING SHADE: In California, Hannah Madans reports Oakley "continues to downsize" its local work force, with a "reduction in its staff expected as several key operations shift to join parent company Luxottica Group in Ohio, New York and Italy." Oakley has been "steadily shrinking over the past year" as Milan-based Luxottica "prepares to integrate several Oakley divisions outside of California." Luxottica "plans to move Oakley's retail operation to its offices in Mason, Ohio, by the end of the year." Oakley yesterday said that 15-20% of its Foothill Ranch workforce "would be affected." The company afterward will "employ roughly 2,000 people" in Orange County and at an Encinitas office (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 7/28).
FEELING LUCKY: A Vikings-themed Minnesota lottery scratch game launched Tuesday "in anticipation" of U.S. Bank Stadium's opening. The purple and gold ticket, which "features scenes of U.S. Bank Stadium, pays instant cash prizes up to $100,000 and includes a second-chance contest to win Vikings tickets and other gridiron goodies." This is the "second Vikings-themed scratch game offered by the lottery." The first, which began in '10, "quickly became the lottery's top-selling scratch game" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/27).
