Less than two months old, 2016 is already being defined by a series of market-shifting moves by individual sports franchises seeking to more closely manage all facets of their ticketing operations.
Fueled in large part by an increased hunger for data and a desire to be even more involved in a critical revenue stream, teams as diverse as the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors and New York Yankees in recent weeks have all made seismic shifts in their ticketing operations.
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The Red Sox last week announced plans to create a team-driven secondary ticketing platform.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The Red Sox last week announced plans to create Red Sox Replay, a team-driven secondary ticketing platform operated in partnership with MLB Advanced Media and its subsidiary Tickets.com. In doing so, the Red Sox broke off from MLBAM’s leaguewide ticket resale partnership with StubHub and are seeking to entice listings by offering season-ticket holders below-market selling fees that can reduce to zero via rebates for 2017 season tickets.
Also last week, the Yankees announced plans to eliminate print-at-home tickets, requiring either a hard ticket or mobile bar code to enter Yankee Stadium.
The 76ers signed a multiyear partnership with StubHub and Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement earlier this month to have the club’s primary ticketing business run within StubHub’s website and mobile application beginning with the 2016-17 NBA season in a team-branded environment that blends primary and secondary inventory.
The Warriors, meanwhile, announced plans to implement a two-tiered pricing structure for both 2016 playoff tickets and the 2016-17 regular season in which ticket brokers will be charged higher rates than individual fans not reselling mass quantities of tickets.
Each of the ticketing initiatives is unique, but generally, they converge around the themes of teams having more direct involvement in all parts of the ticketing process and placing their own brands front and center.
“We are interested in exploring something controlled by us,” said Red Sox President Sam Kennedy of the creation of Red Sox Replay. “Our focus is doing everything we can to protect our season-ticket holders and offering the very best secondary solution we can, tailored to their needs.”
Sixers CEO Scott O’Neil similarly said of his team’s venture with StubHub, “With this, we have the most choice and the most options, and built around our brand.”
Major ticketing executives said the recent team actions are largely extensions of marketplace trends already in play.
“Some of these things have been out there. The [Dallas] Cowboys also eliminated print-at-home last year, as have some other events, as the entire industry moves toward a mobile-first environment,” said Jared Smith, president of Ticketmaster North America. The industry giant services the Cowboys and Yankees, among many other teams. “It’s all about trying to provide a combination of the best experience for the fan and the best data back to the team, whether that be pricing data or marketing data or both.”
Indeed, data lies at the heart of each of the recent moves. Even after several years of mobile-based ticketing, dynamic pricing and other similar ventures, teams are still searching for a firmer grasp on knowing who is actually entering their venues, how often particular tickets get resold, and how pricing trends fluctuate, among other questions. The recent initiatives promise to yield large amounts of real-time data back to the teams.
“The season-ticket holders are the lifeblood of our operations, and we’ve really ramped up our efforts to be attuned to their needs, particularly since the sellout streak ended [in 2013, after 794 regular-season games],” Kennedy said. “This platform is something they have asked for, and we intend to continue to listen very carefully to them.”
Of course, the shifts in strategy have caused some market ripples, as well. The creation of Red Sox Replay ended a nearly decadelong offline marketing relationship for the team with Boston-based Ace Tickets. The Red Sox initially opted out of the first MLBAM-StubHub deal in 2007 to do business with Ace Tickets, and even after later joining in on the StubHub agreement, maintained a relationship with the broker.
“When we started with the Red Sox, secondary was just getting started on this major scale, and that deal with them helped grow us and legitimize us in a lot of ways,” said Jim Holzman, Ace Ticket chief executive. “I understand what the Red Sox are doing. It’s business. … But I have a business to run, too, and I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. Are they going to be a competitor now? We’ll see.”
StubHub, meanwhile, is in the midst of developing a variety of plans to deal with the Yankees’ new prohibition on print-at-home tickets, such as increased staffing at its Last Minute Services locations and messenger services for hard tickets. By virtue of the club’s resale partnership with Ticketmaster, StubHub does not have electronic ticket integration with the Yankees, an offering that is a major draw for StubHub users. But it will continue to market the fact that Yankees tickets can still be purchased last minute on StubHub.
“StubHub believes that the best customer experience is one on a free and open marketplace where fans can buy and sell tickets whenever and wherever they want,” the company said in a statement.
