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Power Players

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The people and companies changing how we take ourselves to ballgames

For any sports team, league, venue or ticketing company, filling seats remains as vital a proposition as it has for more than a century. But that’s where the similarities to yesteryear end. The ticketing business now stands as one of the most dynamic, fluid and quickly evolving segments of the entire sports industry, bearing very little resemblance to the landscape of even five years ago.

The arrival of mobile, high-end data mining, last-minute purchasing, blended markets, facial recognition and a bevy of other technologies has quickly transformed ticketing from a tradition-bound, largely paper-based practice to a deeply sophisticated digital enterprise.

The people and the companies represented here are just some of those who are at the forefront of these developments, ranging from veteran, team-based sales executives to upstart tech-driven players. We chose 35 entities to make up our seventh different Power Players list, and we have separated these executives into various groups to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their influence. Despite those classifications, however, all share one thing in common: These are the people changing the ticketing industry forever.

 

Primary/Secondary

Jared Smith, Amy Howe, Greg Economou, John Forese — Ticketmaster
Bryan Perez, Brian Peunic — AXS
Kim Damron — Paciolan
Joe Choti — Tickets.com
Russ D’Souza, Jack Groetzinger, Jeff Ianello — SeatGeek
Nathan Hubbard — Rival
Rob Sine — IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions
Scott Jablonski, Jill Krimmel, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Perkins Miller — StubHub
Brad Griffith — Gametime
Geoff Lester — Vivid Seats

Leagues

Amy Brooks — NBA
Ian Campbell — MLS
Rob Mulhall — NHL
David Wright — Minor League Baseball
Mark Plutzer — MLB Advanced Media
Chris Hardart — NFL
Kirsten Corio — U.S. Tennis Association

Analytics

Patrick Ryan — Eventellect
Jessica Gelman — KAGR
Russell Scibetti — KORE Planning & Insights

Tech Players

Junior Gaspard — Experience
Josh Manley — ReplyBuy

Premium Seating

John Collins — On Location Experiences
Mike Ondrejko — Legends / Chad Estis — Legends, Dallas Cowboys
Al Guido — Elevate Sports Ventures
Brian Learst — QuintEvents

Teams

Jake Reynolds — Philadelphia 76ers
Doug Dawson — Dallas Cowboys
Don Rovak — AMB Sports & Entertainment
Bryant Pfeiffer — Minnesota United FC
Tucker Kain — Los Angeles Dodgers
Chris Gallagher — Orlando City SC
Russ Stanley — San Francisco Giants
John Abbamondi — Madison Square Garden Co.
Brandon Schneider, John Beaven — Golden State Warriors

 

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