Chance the Golden Gila Monster hopes digital tickets keep away fans out of T-Mobile Arena. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Vegas Golden Knights are attempting to curb attendance of away-team fans at home games in the playoffs with a new digital ticketing program that stops ticket holders from reselling on StubHub.
The Las Vegas-based hockey team will offer cheap tickets to season ticket holders for its first-round playoff series through a newly-created “Knights Vow” e-ticketing option. As part of the deal, season ticket holders won’t be able to resell their digital playoff tickets through StubHub, the team’s official secondary ticket partner. Fans will be automatically enrolled into the program unless they opt out.
Full season ticket members in good standing will also be allowed to attend playoff games and then pay for those games at a later date after the first round, something the Knights are calling “Cheer Now, Pay Later.”
Both of these options represent an attempt to minimize the amount of away team fans at T-Mobile Arena in what will be the new team’s first playoff appearance.
“We have had the best in-arena atmosphere in the NHL this season and we will look to take that to another level come playoff time,” Vegas Golden Knights President Kerry Bubolz said in a statement. “Our playoff ticket options reward the loyalty of the most passionate, committed and ardent Vegas Golden Knights season ticket members.”
The Knights Vow provides the most significant price savings off the single game ticket price. Members will receive tickets electronically via FlashSeats shortly after dates/times of the first-round games are set.
SportTechie Takeaway:
The Knights Vow represents an attempt to use technology to address an age-old problem: keeping away fans away during important home games so that the in-arena energy stays focused on the home team. Secondary market ticket exchanges such as StubHub have made it easy for ticket holders to buy and sell tickets, but those tickets are sometimes scooped up by away team fans, diluting the attendance to the chagrin of home fans, often in what can be high-quality and high-visibility seats.
As teams continue to move toward mobile ticketing options, they are turning to technology to engage their fan base, learn more about season ticket holders and how often they’re attending games vs. selling their tickets, and sometimes to democratize expensive season pass programs to engage a wider pool of loyal fans. The NFL’s Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons have all experimented with digital-first ticketing. Last season, the NFL’s New York Jets launched a first-of-its-kind mobile subscription season ticketing service where members were guaranteed new seats (sometimes on the 50-yard line and sometimes in the nosebleeds) at a more affordable price than traditional season ticket packages.
