This season, FA Premier League teams Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC have launched the first comparable service in Europe, which is intended to open a new market that the services’ provider believes may be worth up to $5 billion a year.
The secondary ticketing service offered by Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC is operated by Viagogo, a company created by StubHub’s co-founder Eric Baker. He explains the rationale behind the clubs’ decision to offer the service to its customer base: “The reason that clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United have embraced secondary ticketing is that there are a number of benefits that accrue directly for the club when they’ve got this kind of system in place. Let’s look at everyone in the equation. First off, for the season ticket holder, you know you’re going to actually get some cash back for your seats, so you’re very happy. For the fan who purchases, they can get access to a ticket they couldn’t otherwise gotten. Sometimes the game will be sold out but they’ll see hundreds of empty seats on television. They would have sat there, and now they can. And from the team’s perspective, first and foremost, an empty seats spends no money on beer, concessions or parking. So there able to get more per cap revenue.”
Reference: Stevens, Andy (2006) Secondary sales, auction and futures. Sport Business International. December. Issue 119. p49.
