The NBA is fortunate enough to have die-hard fans in every city and its games are constantly being sold out no matter what stadium it is. The NBA has the world’s greatest athletes and there is nothing like watching a live game and experiencing the high-level play first hand.
Getting hands on tickets can be very difficult today, but the league and Ticketmaster are working to make the process easier for fans.
ESPN New York has learned that a new ticket site by the NBA and Ticketmaster will list tickets for games sold by fans and teams. Most fans use sites like StubHub to buy tickets, a service where fans sell their tickets to other fans looking to attend the event. Stubhub profits from the exchange as it get a percentage from both the seller and the buyer.
As fans and brokers have taken to the secondary market to resell tickets, many teams have felt left out of the game, as secondary ticketing sites like StubHub get a percentage from the buyer and the seller.
The league wants to provide fans with a smoother process of buying and selling tickets, and this new site will give them that opportunity. Many people first look at the team’s site for their tickets, but often times they have to resort to other services because the game was sold out. StubHub has become a leader in the ticket business and the NBA wants take some of the power back.
The fees the new site will institute are not yet clear, but it is expected that they will be lower than StubHub’s. The only way for this new site to work and win over customers is if it is cheaper to use than the competition.
In one recent survey, the NBA found that 70 percent of fans who had purchased tickets from a secondary site went to the team site first and didn’t find what they were looking for. Another survey reflected that two out of every three fans wanted to shop for their tickets in only one location.
Fans will also be assured that the tickets they receive will be 100 percent authentic thanks to Ticketmaster. StubHub offers its users a replacement seat if their ticket is a fraud, but Ticketmaster’s process of exchanging tickets will be much easier for all parties involved.
The new site has not been named yet and is expected to debut in October.
