Replacing Live Nation’s Ticketmaster (NYSE:LYV), eBay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) StubHub has won a 6.5 year revenue-sharing deal to resell tickets for the New York Yankees.
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ESPN reported that the deal was worth around $100 million to the Yankees.
The ticket resale service through StubHub will be fully operational on July 7 for the Yankees’ July 15 game and will be available for the rest of the season all through mobile-only.
“This new product was the result of many productive discussions with StubHub, which will allow them to fully integrate into our ticket system, ” Levine said. Many fans saw the move as an attempt to stop them from using StubHub and other secondary markets, since printing tickets at home is perhaps the easiest way to redeem tickets purchased at the last minute.
“We fundamentally believe in an open and transparent marketplace that provides fans access to tickets for the right price”, he said.
The price floor? Originally there was absolutely zero price floor (so you could buy Yankees’ tickets as low as one dollar) but the new floor will be half as much as the one-year season-ticket price of the tickets.
The Yankees tried to encourage ticket holders to use its site by making it harder to list tickets on StubHub. When StubHub responded by planning to open a ticket pick-up center near Yankee Stadium, the Yankees sued, claiming the storefront violated anti-scalping laws.
“250,000 mobile tickets have been used here at Yankee Stadium and are widely popular and more secure, ” Levine said.
It started in 2012, when the Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels opted out of a league-wide ticket partnership with StubHub.
Added StubHub President Scott Cutler: “The New York Yankees are one of the preeminent brands in professional sports, and we are thrilled to join with them to create a best-in-class fan experience”.
StubHub and the Yankees officials met after the announcement in February that the Yankees were eliminating print-at-home tickets.
While StubHub’s Bronx office will close, the ticket-exchange logistics under the new deal are unclear, Rovell reports.
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“When we decide to become sellers _ if we decide to become sellers _ or if we decide to become buyers, you’ll know about it, ” Levine said.
