StubHub+Recession = Death of Season Tickets

Over the past few years sports teams have faced a challenging landscape in selling season tickets. Season tickets are the single biggest economic indicator for any team in any sport. The more you have the better. The best teams in baseball have well over 20,000, over 60k in the NFL in most stadiums, and over 14k in NBA is a solid number. As the years pass it's become harder to sell them for a few reasons:

1. Cost
As the economy has slowly collapsed it's hit people and business hard and the 2-15k thousand that people spend on seats isn't there anymore. I think it's hit the middle and lower-class the most as I think the wealthy are still well off but the middle and lower income are somewhat jobless and getting screwed by their ARM loans left and right. Large big purchases like vacations and sports tickets are one of thing the first things cut.

2. Time
Now let's say that you have the money to buy season tickets. Can you commit yourself to 41 nights of basketball, 81 nights of baseball, or even 11 nights of football? The answer is probably not. People work no more than ever and why pay for something upfront when you can now "figure it out later". Many people have partners in their seats but it leads to issues over playoff tickets and big games.

3. StubHub
Now you have the time and the money, would you purchase a product that is readily available at a lower price the second you buy it? Secondary brokers have a role in the changing landscape but they have done more for the fan and nothing to sports teams. You need a ticket to a soldout event or don't want to pay any PSL or licensing fees on your seats they have that. Many people requested seats from me all over the country this year and I send them straight here. The devalued cost of sports seats on the site is amazing and a huge problem down the line for the NBA and MLB due to the number of the games they play.

The team that best allocates, inventories, and price their tickets in the future and takes care of their customers will be the best business and teams in the future. Miniplans and allocations will be just as important as scouting in the next 5 years. Why the MBA's and finance majors are working in the scouting departments is beyond me. If it's my team I'm sending them straight to the head of tickets to maximize ticket revenues. Fortunately for me this area is something I know very well so if I end up back in sports I'm your man for the job.