SeatGeek takes over as MLB partner, MLS has a successful opening weekend and Warner Bros. Discovery is exiting the RSN business
NASCAR closed the door on the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Yesterday, Kyle Busch took the checkered flag for his fifth victory at the track in front of a sellout crowd of about 50,000. The drivers lined up five wide during pace lapses before the drop of the green flag, an impressive site meant to salute the fans that supported the 2-mile track since it opened back in 1997.
Good morning. It's Monday, February 27th. This is your SBJ Morning Buzz cast. I'm David Albright filling in for Abe Madkour.
SeatGeek has nabbed another important secondary ticketing marketplace deal within a month, as it was selected by MLB to be its official ticket resale partner in a multi-year deal, reports our Brett McCormick. The position was held by StubHub since 2007, but that deal with MLB expired at the end of 2022. Baseball is another major pickup for SeatGeek, which also recently claimed an official partnership with Paciolan, the leading ticketing provider in college sports, also unseating incumbent StubHub. The unrivaled volume of ticketed MLB games, just over 2,400 in the regular season alone each year, makes MLB what SeatGeek co-founder Russ D'Souza called the jewel resale opportunity.
Between college and MLB fans, SeatGeek has added millions of tickets to its secondary marketplace. While SeatGeek owns the official designation and will receive ample marketing and signage, as well as direct integration to all 30 teams in the MLB ballpark app, the league will offer a stamp of approval to other secondary marketplaces. The new deal allows MLB ticket holders to resell their tickets on SeatGeek with one click inside the MLB ballpark app. To do that under the previous deal required going into the StubHub app separately. You can read more about the SeatGeek MLB partnership in this week's edition of Sports Business Journal.
Continuing with Paciolan, the company is unveiling ONEpass, a single digital ticket pass for season ticket holders that automatically updates ticket information before each new game. ONEpass replaces a single digital ticket for each game with a ONEpass that lives in the season ticket member's digital wallet the entire season, without new tickets needing to be added prior to every event. With the sea change switch in college sports to mobile ticketing post pandemic, ONEpass could help speed up ingress at stadiums and arenas, and it also eliminates the need for schools to send automated emails reminding fans to add tickets to their digital wallet before arriving at the stadium or arena.
Five Paciolan partners schools: Miami, Mississippi State, Arizona, LSU, and University of California Irvine are testing ONEpass during their spring softball or baseball seasons, but it will be rolled out to all the company's 160-plus college athletics partners ahead of the 2023 college football season. The schools cannot opt in or out of using ONEpass and can personalize their ONEpass digital passes appearance and design, including selling sponsorship on them. Currently, season ticket members will get a ONEpass for each seat in each sport for which they hold season tickets.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber in a letter to fans on Saturday wrote the league kicked off the most promising season in its history with the addition of St. Louis City SC, a long-term transformational partnership with Apple, and an unprecedented League Cup tournament this summer. Garber wrote that there is tremendous momentum behind the league and the sport. The 10-year partnership with Apple will give fans access to more MLS content than ever before. St. Louis City SC and its debut season Shattered records with more than 63,000 season ticket deposits. Garber wrote the launch of MLS's 28th season this weekend is a continuation of an important era leading into the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Of note from the weekend's opening matches, were crowds of 69,000 in Charlotte and 67,000 in Atlanta. And St. Louis City SC beat Austin FC in the club's inaugural MLS match.
If you miss this one from over the weekend, our John Ourand is reporting that MLB currently is negotiating with pay TV distributors in the Denver, Houston, and Pittsburgh markets about carrying games in those markets after Warner Brothers Discovery shuts down its AT&T Sports Net channels, sources told Ourand. Mariner's games still will be available via Root Sports in Seattle since the team owns the majority of that regional sports network. Warner Brothers Discovery informed teams late Friday that it is exiting RSN business in the next several weeks. WBD gave teams a deadline of March 31st to come up with a deal where they would take back their rights. In the absence of a deal, Warner Brothers Discovery said its RSNs will file for chapter seven liquidation. MLB's opening day is March 30th.
Even after the AT&T Sports Net RSN shut down in Denver, Houston, and Pittsburgh, an MLB source said that local fans in those markets still will be able to watch games on linear TV and likely streaming. MLB is prepared to produce pre and post-game shows around those local games. Comcast's Xfinity has systems in Denver, Houston, and Pittsburgh, and it owns NBC Sports branded RSNs in markets where it's the dominant cable system. But the sources said Comcast has no interest in expanding into AT&T Sports Nets markets. Spring may be in the air, but cloudy skies continue on the RSN front.
That's your SBJ Morning Buzz cast for Monday. I hope everyone has a great day and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.