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USA Today gets into sports-event ticket business

December 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

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I think fans everywhere agree that there are a huge number of sporting events that they would be interested in attending, at least once in their life, but finding out how to apply for tickets much less working your way through the red tape will always be an impediment.

Now leaping to the (possible) rescue is USA Today Sports Media Group which has teamed with QuintEvents to launch a joint venture called USA Today Sports Events that promises access to the biggest sports events.

The effort seeks to establish USA Today Sports as the go-to site for fans looking for tickets and packages to events such as the NFL’s Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, Kentucky Derby and the NBA All-Star game, among others.

It does not just offer tickets but much more in some cases such as access to players and coaches, the ability to walk a field or arena prior to an event, hospitality tent and parties access, and other amenities. The packages it offers are not third-party ones that cobble together hotels, seats and transportation but ones from the official sponsors of the events.

A look at the website shows it is offering tickets for the upcoming Super Bowl next year, with a clock counting down the days, hours and minutes. It has a link to different ticket packages, then a second to extras that can be added to your package, then a seating chart and so on. Currently tickets max out at $11,799 each.

The Level White Package starts with seats at $5,899 and has seats in the corner of level 100 at MetLife Stadium. The amenities include a $100 In-Stadium Super Bowl XLVIII merchandise coupon, preferred on-location parking (for an addition fee for the actual parking) and access to the NFL On-Location venue.

It does seem that all but well-heeled fans are increasingly phased out of the modern sports picture and while I like the idea of this and if I had the cash might actually try and use the service but increasingly fans of teams are the last that get served by the leagues when the biggest events come around, forcing them to try all sorts of maneuvers to get tickets. Maybe USA Today can also start a business finding bargain seats for real fans who aren’t loaded with cash?

Filed Under: All Star Game, Baseball, Basketball, BCS, Daytona 500, FIFA, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA Football, NCAA Hoops, NFL, NHL, Rose Bowl, Stanley Cup, StubHub, Super Bowl, Tennis, The French Open, USA Today, Wimbledon, World Baseball Classic Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Turner Sports to provide viewer options during Final Four broadcasts

November 21, 2013 by 2 Comments

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The NCAA’s Final Four is one of the most watched sporting events of the year, and for that matter talked about as fans and non fans start early by entering pools of all sorts to predict the winner of the month long tournament..

As the teams get eliminated and it charges down to the finals fans become polarized as to who they want to win based on teams’ reputations, pool results and a host of other issues. Now fans can watch broadcasts that are designed for each team in the Final Four thanks to Turner Sports, the network that will be broadcasting the games.

Sports Business Daily is reporting that the two will take an innovative approach to broadcasting the games at next years’ tournament. There will be the traditional national broadcast that will be seen on TBS. TNT and truTV will then carry the exact same game but with a twist.

Each channel will have a team-centric approach with announcers and camera angles designed to highlight one team. The differentiation does not stop there as the halftime shows will also be different, although pregame and post games shows will be the same.

The Final Four next year will be seen only on cable for the first time and the networks are hoping that they can avoid the tradition viewership drop when a formerly over the air broadcast moves to cable with this move. The championship game will be broadcast on CBS and so will obviously not have dual perspectives.

Filed Under: Basketball, CBS Sports, Live Sports Video Consumption, NCAA Hoops, NCAA.com, TBS, TNT, truTV, Turner Sports Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Aruba scores with new Wi-Fi deployment for Portland Trail Blazers; Toyota dealers sign on as Wi-Fi sponsor

November 1, 2013 by 1 Comment

Wireless networking vendor Aruba Networks scored a big-time NBA deal as the centerpiece technology behind an enhanced Wi-Fi deployment at the Moda Center, home of the Portland Trail Blazers. With more than 400 Wi-Fi access points reportedly deployed, the 20,000-seat arena should have great connectivity for fans as the 2014 NBA season kicks off this week.

While we haven’t yet talked to Aruba folks about the deal (we are working off the numerous versions of the press release we found yesterday) there seems to be a really interesting financial twist, one that could prove a model for others if successful: According to the press releases the local Toyota dealerships in the greater Portland area have signed on as title sponsor for the new Wi-Fi service, which will appear to user devices as “Toyota Free Wi-Fi” in the SSID list. With teams and stadium owner/operators facing the question of how to pay for Wi-Fi infrastructure deployments, title sponsorships could be one way to help offset the millions in sunk costs.

We’ll try to circle back with all the companies involved in the deal, since there are many fingers in this pie: According to the release there is participation from Crown Castle on the deployment side, and popular team-app provider YinzCam scoring yet another team-app deal.

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, NBA, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: A look back at ABA, Sculley returning to High Tech?

November 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

If you fondly remember red, white and blue basketballs then this is probably great news for you — ESPN Films is going to explore the history of the American Basketball Association in its latest 30 for 30 documentaries.

One of the few leagues that, at least semi-successfully, challenged an incumbent one, the ABA ran from 1967 until it merged with the NBA in 1976. It helped bring a new degree of flash into the NBA with freewheeling players such as Julius Irving.

Android KitKat and Nexus 5 here
The next generation of the Android operating system, code named KitKat and the Nexus 5 smartphone that is the first device to run the new OS are here this week.

CNN Tech has a nice roundup, and points out that LG will be making the phone that is expected to have a 4.95-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and have the latest generation of Gorilla Glass 3 for the front cover. Expect to see a new generation of tablets and phones with the OS in the coming months.

Few tablets have paid cellular
When you look at the price for a tablet you often see two figures: one that lists the Wi-Fi only cost and one for having 3G or 4 LTE cellular as well, which is often at least $100 more. A recent study from theConsumer Electronics Association shows that few use cellular.

The survey found that only 29% of tablet owners buy cellular enabled tablets and of these only 49% buy a data plan. Of those who buy it is almost split evenly between those that buy a separate plan for the tablet and for those who bundle.

CEA to debut WristRevolution at 2014 International CES
With Samsung, Sony, Google and a host of others now chasing the ‘wearable tech’ space the International Consumer Electronics Show will have a section that is devoted to products and technologies coming out for this market segment.

In the past products that perform some of these functions such as health monitors/wrist watches would be found across the huge show floors but now they will be gathered into a single area so that both hardware and software developments can be easily tracked.

First ticket for wearing Google Glass?
Speaking of wearable technology it is being reported that a California driver was ticketed for wearing Google Glass while driving. The officer cited a law that starts with “person shall not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other similar means of visually displaying…” They were also speeding.

John Sculley to buy BlackBerry?
Former Apple and Pepsi CEO John Sculley is now being rumored to be in the running to buy the beleaguered smart deceive manufacturer BlackBerry, according to a report carried in the IT Wire, originally from the Globe and Mail.

Sculley is probably best known for pushing out Steve Jobs, one of Apple’s founders and the man that recruited him for the job while at Apple. He has been active in high tech since leaving Apple and is said to be working to bring a group of investors together to buy BlackBerry.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, Basketball, BlackBerry, Consumer Electronics Association, ESPN, Google, NBA, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: More Thursday Night Football? New land speed record set

October 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

In case you were dying to know which of the new iPhones from Apple is the top seller, wait no more. Computerworld, with an assist from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners has done the heavy lifting for you.

The results are really not that surprising, the high end iPhone 5S is outselling the much less expensive iPhone 5C by better than two to one. It said that 64% bought the 5S, 27% bought the 5C and the remaining 9% bought the older 4S.

Lack of viewers leading to more Thursday night games?
According to the Wall Street Journal the NFL is looking at adding additional games to its slate of Thursday night broadcasts, adding to the 13 games that are already broadcast on that day of the week by making some doubleheaders.

The WSJ said that the reason is that the league is disappointed in the ratings that its broadcasts bring in, which while high for that day of the week are lower than Sunday and Monday. The NFL is denying the rumor saying that it is false.

Of course it could not end there. So Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner said that the league is indeed thinking about starting to play doubleheaders on Thursday, which the league again denied.


Jessi Combs sets land speed record
Time to reset the clock to count down when the latest land speed record will be broken, as Jessi Combs driving a converted F-104 Lockheed Starfighter, just broke the women’s land speed record, one that managed to last 48 years, according to Gizmag.

The old record was 308.51 miles per hour set by Lee Breedlove in 1965 on Utah’s Salt Lake Flats. Combs hit 392.954 mph running at Oregon’s Alvord Desert course. The vehicle had a mere 52,000 hp, without the afterburners going.

Will the latest version of Android and a new smartphone arrive this month?
There are hints that the next generation of the Android operating system, version 4.4 and a new Nexus smartphone, will be announced on Oct. 28, due to hints that have been found in a number of Google’s Twitter messages.

The rumor campaign is based around KitKat, the code name for the next version of the operating system, and yes it is based on the candy bar. According to the LA Times the tweets could contain cryptic clues that point to the rollout. Well we have two weeks to see if that is true.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Athlete to Follow, Basketball, Bonneville Salt Flats, Dallas Cowboys, Google, iPhone, NBA, NFL Tagged With: , , , , ,

SeatAdvisor Seeks to Bring Secondary Ticket Sales Home

September 24, 2013 by 2 Comments

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A company named SeatAdvisor is seeking to take the pain out of secondary seat sales, a topic that can perplex and frustrate sports teams, by giving them greater control over the resell while also providing a level of security for fans buying the tickets.

To do this it has launched TicketResell, a technology that puts the primary source of the tickets, the sports team, in charge of reselling any that cannot be used at the last second, bringing control back to the team rather than to outside market forces.

Sports teams have a love/hate relationship with secondary ticket resellers. In some cases the resellers are offering tickets at significantly lower than official rates, because the games are either overpriced or not popular. That annoys teams. The NY Yankees battle with StubHub is a prime example of this issue.

Then there are the more basic ticket resellers, the ones that most fans are familiar with, people outside of stadiums with a wad of cash in one hand and a fan of possibly questionable tickets in the other, shouting out potential ‘deals’ and claiming that they have top seats.

TicketResell removes any middleman from the equation by providing fans that have extra tickets a secure avenue of reselling them. The fan simply establishes an account with the venue where the ticket was originally purchased. They then set a resell price and the tickets become available for new buyers. In addition fans reselling their tickets have the ability to tie the sales in to notices in social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to better alert friends of select ticket availability.

Pretty much any fan, or concert goer, has experienced the issue with someone dropping out at the last minute and it always seems that it is hard to get someone on short notice. This solves that issue as well as for the serial procrastinator who waits too long before an event is sold out- now tickets can become available at the last minute.

The company plans to debut the technology at the Breeders’ Cup World Championship taking place Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita Park.

There seems to be a lot of opportunities for a technology like this, and while MLB and the NFL have been working to take ticket resale internally, there is a huge spectrum of sports that are still looking up at the 21st Century fan and wondering how to meet their needs.

A program like TicketResell should appeal to them and take the next step forward following the move made years ago by Craigslist that brought the online the ticket secondary market to the masses. TicketResell has the potential to add security to ease of purchase, something everyone can value. In addition since the ticket purchase is often the teams first contact with a fan, by ensuring that they know of the ability to resell their tickets via the team it helps strengthen the relationship between the two.

Filed Under: Apps, Basketball, Facebook, Major League Baseball, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA Football, NFL Tagged With: ,
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