91poohah said:
Not a bad move in my opinion... Both FlashSeats and Stubhub have easy to navigate features and are intuitive to use. The announcement says that free transfers will still be an option, so that's a plus for sending tickets to friends, family, coworkers or customers without a fee. And getting tickets is easy as well... Also, Stubhub has a greater reach and larger market than Flash, so more potential buyers if you are on the selling side, and more listings if you are on the buying side.
I can imagine this will not sit well with non-season ticket holders that preyed on cheap ticket listings on FlashSeats. As a buyer, I think StubHub may be a bit more expensive, but the TMF does not have the job of looking out for secondary buyers, their responsibility is to the 12th Man, the Athletic department, and the donors and season ticket holders. As long as I have a means to transfer tickets to friends with no charge, or list tickets to sell when I have extras, I'm fine if they are a bit more expensive to the buyers...
And I have to think the TMF is getting a better deal or they wouldn't have changed partners. I remember the move from Nike to Adidas, and that was a no-brainer for the athletic department. Pay lots to Nike and get no support, or get paid lots to wear Adidas and get better support. That was a smart business decision, and I have to think StubHub is making it worthwhile for the 12th Man to make this move.
Could be a good decision. Could be a bad decision. All I know is:
1) cheaper secondary market tickets means tickets won't go unused as often.
2) Unused tickets means fewer butts in the seats.
3) Fewer butts in seats on game day means fewer people buying $12 beers/$24 chicken wraps from the concessions and other Aggie merch at the vendors inside Kyle field.
What percent of revenue is straight from concessions/merch at Kyle field?
TMF has already been paid prior to a season ticket hitting the secondary market. If it goes unused then they are losing revenue from people being in the stadium and buying stuff on game day. It would behoove them to make sure as many secondary tickets get used as possible: once again assuming TMF gets a cut of concessions and other Aggie merch purchased in the stadium.
I am a not the one making the decisions, and I know TMF's job is to generate revenue, but the Atlanta falcons have proven that you can make a lot more money keeping prices low and making it easier to bring people into the stadium and even making merch and concessions cheaper than by pricing yourself out of the market by nickel and diming your fan base and alienating potential customers.
If stubhub makes the secondary market more expensive and difficult to use, then TMF could be biting themselves in the ass.
