Judging by StubHub’s 40-plus college relationships, including three new deals in the Southeastern Conference, the trepidation coming from schools about the secondary ticket market has dissipated.
StubHub has finalized ticketing and sponsorship deals at LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, putting the company in business with six of the SEC’s 14 schools. Georgia, Auburn and Alabama are the others.
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LSU’s deal with StubHub marks the first time it has partnered with a secondary ticket provider.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
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The arrangements with these schools are similar to most of StubHub’s college deals. StubHub, through its software integration, becomes the marketplace for the schools and their fans. And StubHub buys a sponsorship from the school or its rights holder for brand placement on the school’s website, in-venue signage and mentions on the school’s social media channels.
For instance, if a game sells out, the school will direct its fans to use StubHub as a way to find tickets.
As part of its sponsorship package, StubHub activates with its “Move of the Game,” a promotion that moves a season-ticket holder to a premium seat. About two-thirds of the company’s college deals include both ticketing and sponsorship.
Additionally, StubHub provides consumer data to the schools, giving them new leads for their fundraising and season-ticket sales.
“The process has become so seamless for the fans now that schools are a lot more open to this type of relationship,” said Mississippi State’s Scott Wetherbee, the senior associate athletic director who oversees external operations. “They’re giving us the data to push ticket plans and find new fans.”
StubHub also has become one of the most influential drivers in single-game and season-ticket pricing. By reviewing what buyers were willing to spend the previous season on the secondary market, schools get a gauge of whether their pricing is too high or too low.
“We’ve opened up our data and we’re giving schools the tools to understand what people are buying, what they’re paying, and who is going to their games,” said Kate Green, StubHub’s head of sports business development.
Green, a nine-year StubHub veteran, has taken the lead on negotiating most of these college deals. She said a strategic partnership with Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement (formerly Paciolan) has helped drive new business for StubHub.
From a technology standpoint, Spectra and StubHub have integrated their systems so that a potential ticket buyer can move seamlessly from the school’s official website to the secondary market. The technology enables the fan to buy or sell without worrying about duplicate bar codes on the tickets. When a ticket changes hands, the old bar code is erased and a new bar code is issued for the new buyer.
That also helps customer service at each school know who the new buyer is and to help them if a ticket is lost.
“It’s an easy process now,” said Kim Damron, COO at Spectra. “Fans can print at home or have the new bar code show up on their mobile device. The last thing anyone wants is a problem on the day of the game.”
It wasn’t that long ago — StubHub entered the college space in 2010 — that the secondary market was considered a threat by athletic departments. The concern was that fans would stop buying season tickets and making the required donations for those tickets if they could just go to StubHub and buy without making a donation.
It was a legitimate concern that StubHub had to answer.
“There was some worry at first, but we’ve become such a large part of the ecosystem that we’re now seen as a connector for schools and their rights holders,” Green said. “We’re helping schools turn buyers into season-ticket holders.”
Mississippi State and Ole Miss previously were with Vivid Seats. This deal marks the first time LSU has partnered with a secondary ticket provider.
Also in the college space, StubHub recently signed Navy and completed renewals with Pittsburgh and Purdue. Several more renewals are in the pipeline, the company said.
“I know a lot of schools weren’t sure about the secondary market,” Wetherbee said, “but StubHub has such reach, people are going to go there. At the point we’re at, where we’re selling out just about every football game, we can see who’s going there and we couldn’t before.”
