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Amazon Considering Entering The Ticketing And Events Industry And Competing With Ticketmaster

Photo of a sports fan holding Super Bowl tickets.

Image Credit: Michael Dorasuch (CC BY 2.0)

With Ticketmaster (Live Nation Entertainment) holding a virtual monopoly on the primary ticket market in the United States, Reuters is now reporting that Amazon Inc. is considering entering the event and ticketing industry. Ticketmaster has received plenty of negative feedback over the years with it’s excessive fees that get tacked on to each purchase. Amazon has stated that those fees would be included in their ticket prices with no surprise fees upon checkout. Amazon has already shown traction in the ticketing industry for select events in Great Britain with their brand Amazon Tickets.

By offering tickets for professional sporting events, Amazon also believes they could often pair team merchandise with ticket purchases. A partnership with Amazon would be a no brainer for leagues including the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB. The company’s overall goal, however, seems to be to steer more consumers towards their Amazon Prime product.

Amazon is currently hiring the staff needed to expand their ticketing operations into Asia and Europe. Amazon had expressed interest in partnering with Ticketmaster instead of entering the ticketing industry on it’s own. However, the two giants could not agree on which company would control the customer data. At the moment, Ticketmaster pays many of America’s stadiums and arenas cash in exchange for the exclusive rights to sell the tickets for that venue. These venues don’t seem to care that their fans are required to overpay to see games and concerts. Ticketmaster currently offers ticket exchanges for the NFL, NHL and NBA. Amazon would be faced with an uphill battle in securing the inventory needed to dominate the ticketing industry. However, Amazon has already been in discussion with one professional league about selling tickets as a secondary ticket marketplace like Stubhub.

Rumors about Amazon joining the ticketing industry have been swirling since at least 2012 when our staff attended Ticket Summit in Las Vegas. Amazon had a presence at the conference and they seemed to be interested in testing out the waters and learning more about the ticketing industry from ticket brokers that were already established. Both Ticketmaster and Amazon officials declined commenting on the Reuters article when approached by multiple news outlets. Whether or not you think Amazon would succeed in the ticketing industry, you’ve got to love the company's efforts. Free market capitalism and competition like what Amazon would create with Ticketmaster is what made America exceptional.

 

Reference:

Recode.Net 

 

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