gametime

Like many successful technology startups, the development of Gametime started from its founder’s own personal struggles.

Brad Griffith, a Bay Area native and devoted San Francisco Giants fan, and his brother nearly missed a Giants playoff game when they were at a bar near AT&T Park and realized they still needed to print out their tickets. Griffith successfully prevailed upon a bartender to use the bar’s office and print out his tickets. But upon realizing all he really needed was a bar code, Griffith soon set out to develop a mobile-based solution that would eliminate such paper-based hassles.

Now nearly six years into its development, Gametime has pushed its influence far beyond just helping accelerate the demise of print-at-home tickets. The company, backed in part by Wasserman Chairman and CEO Casey Wasserman and Accel Partners, has played a deeply impactful role in establishing the concept of last-minute ticketing in which fans can buy seats right up to the start of a game, and in some cases, even after it begins.

And that mobile-based, on-demand notion for tickets has successfully attracted younger fans coveted by every team and property, with the large majority of
Gametime’s audience age 35 or younger.

The established heavyweights of the ticketing business have taken notice. StubHub’s new contract term with Major League Baseball has a leaguewide “zero-hour” rule that allows ticket resales right up to the first pitch. And Ticketmaster has gone even deeper, striking a broad-based relationship with Gametime that allows its partner teams to use Gametime as an additional distribution option for primary ticket inventory.

“The business is changing faster than ever, and is becoming more directly attuned to the fan,” said Griffith, who started his career working on statistical analysis for the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox. “Those changes play directly to our strengths since we were built from the ground up to be very nimble and fan-first.”

— Eric Fisher