StubHub has issued a report on its '17 ticket market activity, indicating a sharp uptick in fan interest around top MLB games. The company’s third annual “Year In Live Experiences” study not surprisingly found that Super Bowl LI in February was the resale marketplace’s top-selling sports event for the entire year. But all seven World Series games this year also made the top 10, up from four in '16 as StubHub set new company revenue records from the event and Game 7 in L.A. on Nov. 1 individually became StubHub’s highest selling MLB game ever. Rounding out the top 10 of best-selling sports events for '17 were the CFP Championship Game at No. 9 and the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor bout at No. 10. The report comes as MLB and the eBay-owned StubHub are finalizing a third contract term to keep the company as one of the league’s largest business partners. Overall, the Cubs were the most in-demand MLB team and the Warriors the top NBA team on StubHub each for the second straight year, while the Rangers and Cowboys took NHL and NFL honors, respectively, for the third straight year. The StubHub report also found a continued increase in social media and emerging tech usage by its users, with 62% of event patrons using Facebook to discover live events and 60% of users indicating a willingness to use a smart home device to purchase tickets.
