Fred Rosen jumped back into the ticketing business in October, joining Outbox Enterprises, a Canadian company co-owned by Outbox Technology and Cirque du Soleil. In February, AEG became an investor in Outbox after Rosen negotiated a joint venture with the Los Angeles sports and entertainment firm. From 1982 to 1998, Rosen was president and CEO of Ticketmaster, transforming a small startup ticketing company with under $1 million in annual sales into one of the world’s most powerful brands with more than $2.4 billion in sales. Outbox’s business model, similar to Paciolan, New Era Tickets and other smaller ticketing firms, is to provide a “white label” solution that allows facilities to brand their own ticketing system with greater control and flexibility to sell tickets.
■ What made you decide to get back into the ticketing business?
ROSEN: I thought the marketplace was right. I thought that there had been a lot of changes in the business, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the current provider[s] and I thought that market conditions would lead to an opportunity to build another business.
■ How has the business changed since you were at the helm of Ticketmaster?
ROSEN: Well, first of all, the needs for big distribution systems are gone. You don’t need outlets, and to a great extent you don’t need phones. It’s primarily an Internet-based business. Underneath it all, I believe that what the Internet allows you to do and requires you to do, is be in direct contact with your consumers. So, that makes the need for a third-party distribution service significantly less.
■ What are your strategies for the sports market?
ROSEN: Fundamentally, every team is a brand and the more the teams can deal directly with their consumer and their websites, the more interesting it becomes for ways they can reach out to their base. The teams that do well, it’s functionality, it’s the ability to be in daily contact with your consumer to create merchandise offers for them or to create special packages for them. I’m not a big fan of discounting and my view is that you create added value for people. The system gives you the freedom and functionality to do that without going to a third party. What it does is it empowers your marketing people to be much more proactive in how they reach the consumers.
■ What does AEG bring to the table to help launch this joint venture?
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| The former Ticketmaster CEO wants to help teams and facilities take greater control over how they sell tickets. |
ROSEN: In the next 18 months, all of their buildings will turn their ticketing over to us, so they bring a huge amount of inventory that already makes us the second-largest ticket company in the world [in terms of convenience fees], or in the U.S. certainly. They own teams, they own facilities, they have a lot of smart people there and a hell of a marketing staff.
■ How will Outbox distinguish its product?
ROSEN: It’s really simple. If you have a direct line to the consumer, you can do a lot more than having a third party control the system. Here’s the truth: Everybody’s website becomes infinitely more valuable when you do transactions in them. I think all the teams know that, I’m sure the leagues know that and the fact of the matter is there is no reason there should be any third party between you and your ultimate customer.
