The Evolution of Ticketing On Display This Week

Suites are evolving, Vivid Seats is floundering, and the "experience" category is booming

Three Things I Learned In SaaS, Sports, Tech, & Live Events

Back to the industry this week….

"Suites are breaking"

Had coffee last week with a high level executive at a major ticketing provider. As we discussed the industry, one theme was clear: Suites are struggling in most markets.

This isn't news. We've all seen the changes in many buildings where suites are being re-purposed and re-imagined.

It's not a weakness in the ticketing market. It is simply a maturation.

There will always be buyers for suites.

But….

When suites first came on the scene, the secondary market was relatively new and suites were really the only hospitality offerings for businesses. So, companies who wanted access to the team and couldn't get them through season tickets (back then there were waiting lists) bought suites. Many of them probably shouldn't have, but it was the only way to ensure being at the game.

The rest of the ticketing market was inefficient and suites were a way to get access. When I sold at Staples Center, people would call in for Lakers tickets, which were sold out, and end up buying a suite for the game (they'd also get a Clippers or Kings game bundled with it).

The market is more mature now with consolidators and marketplaces everywhere. So, many of those suite buyers have downsized into a package which makes more sense for them.

Suites will always be here. Especially for the big events. But we'll see fewer of them in newer buildings and will see more being re-purposed into clubs with easier points of purchase entry.

Marketplaces no more?

Back in 2019, I wrote an article about the evolution of marketplaces. Four months later, Covid hit. Marketplaces were shut down for over a year.

Once live events returned, there was an avalanche of demand leading to a big 2022. Easy money after a full year off. Vivid Seats went public via a SPAC at $9, Seat Geek postured to do the same, and StubHub announced IPO plans.

They couldn't get public.

Taylor Swift saved 2024, but she was just hiding the erosion of the market. Customer acquisition was getting more competitive (read: expensive), nobody had any new ideas that worked (sell-it-now, experience sponsorships to grab inventory, loyalty programs and an unloyal market), marketplaces toyed with owning inventory and competing with the PE backed consolidators, and, eventually, where we were headed in late 2019 has arrived.

Marketplaces haven't evolved. The market is. And the big ones are struggling. No new ideas. No new blood in the exec ranks.

SeatGeek laid off 15% of their staff last month

Vivid Seats is under $3 as of this post

StubHub claims they'll go public and try to raise $1b. Probably to service their debt load. We'll see if they can (and we'll take our judgement after they brazenly stole from us).

The chase for the Experience category

Teams are always looking for a new category to sell. The latest? The fan experience category. It's really a way to package inventory to sell to re-sellers, but it's all the rage these days with a number of major teams looking to fill the category. Spent time at a major venue last week that has two consolidators and a re-sale partner….in the same building.

Secondary ticketing was a new market twenty years ago.

Now? It's a race to commodity. And that's expensive.