The partnership of Paciolan and StubHub in college sports continues to grow after the two firms in recent weeks struck secondary ticketing deals with BCS schools Southern Cal, Texas and Texas Tech.
One year ago, Paciolan, a primary ticketing company with 104 major college deals, struck a broad-based partnership with StubHub, the ticketing industry’s largest and most prominent secondary player. The alliance developed official ticket resale marketplaces merged directly with primary ticketing systems for participating schools. Within those ticketing systems, season-ticket holders for college football and basketball can resell their tickets electronically, moving past overnight-delivery-based systems for physical tickets that typically lose their effectiveness within 72 hours of an event.
The schools participate in revenue-sharing agreements with Paciolan and StubHub.
The arrival of Texas, prior StubHub partner USC and Texas Tech brings some of the largest brands in college sports into the ticketing partnership. Previous deals include Purdue, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Michigan.
“College continues to expand as a really big, really important genre for us,” said Danielle Maged, StubHub director of business development and partnerships. “These big schools have seen the initial success that our partnership with Paciolan has delivered.”
Several of the pacts were struck with the aid of IMG College, which controls multimedia rights for Texas, Michigan, Clemson, Florida State and Virginia Tech.
For Texas Tech, a Paciolan client since 1983 and one of the firm’s oldest accounts, the new secondary ticketing deal puts money back in the pockets of season-ticket holders that they did not get before, said Jarod Huddleston, director of athletic ticket operations.
Previously, fans wanting to resell tickets through official school channels posted them on Paciolan’s in-house Ticket Marketplace. Proceeds from completed sales were then automatically donated to the athletic department’s fundraising program, and credits were then given to sellers’ accounts.
“People want their money back, and we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity,” Huddleston said.
Texas Tech will not charge sellers a fee to resell their tickets through the fan-to-fan marketplace, he said.
At Florida State, the school last year saw a 600 percent increase in the number of tickets resold through the program compared with 2009, when it operated under Paciolan’s in-house system, said Paciolan Chief Executive Dave Butler.
“At Florida State, it’s a proven model,” Butler said. “The schools come out ahead. It’s good for every stakeholder involved.”
