Founding TickPick in 2011, Brett Goldberg discovered a secondary market ripe with opportunity to aggregate ticket listings. Goldberg discusses his beginnings in Wall Street finance, as well as forming a private company that has yet to go after mega seed funding. As a no-buyer fee site, Goldberg talks about how each broker engages with the secondary, prices their product, and how the consumer can feel safe while purchasing the product through the channels. Not all resales are always admirable, and Goldberg tackles the challenge of the Pope's visit to the United States, as well as the impact that carrying those tickets would have on TickPick - the company chooses not to list such resales. Goldberg also talks about his vision of increasing the opportunities for the secondary market, as well as ensuring that the Super Bowl issues in 2015 do not resurface again in the future by only segmenting and working with admirable brokers who fulfilled all of their orders during that troublesome time. Twitter: @iTickPick
The definitive component to any revenue stream is R.O.I. and Dave Wakeman loves chatting about that three letter acronym. Wakeman talks about his history of looking at sports business R.O.I., especially his time at being a ticket broker, where he moved a ton of inventory (over $10 million), yet the astonishment of how limited the industry is at adaptation. Wakeman discusses his theories on how to help improve inefficiencies, especially in sales, and why social selling is only component of increasing the amount of ticket sales revenue opportunities for a franchise. Twitter: @DavidWakeman
Dr. Andrew Zimbalist has managed to be at the forefront of several sports stories when they get to the economics sector, especially when it comes to stadiums and arenas being financed by taxpayer dollars. Zimbalist's latest book, Circus Maximus, focuses in on the plight that is the I.O.C.'s Olympic Games and FIFA's World Cup. Zimbalist shares his knowledge of the terrible deals that nations and various U.S. cities have crafted over the years in order to attract a rampant, out-of-control stadia financing plan, many times for facilities that are never used again after their 17-20 days of initial operation for either the Games or World Cup. Zimbalist talks about the issues current stadia financing plans in the United States, which he states have improved over the deals of the past, and how minor league facilities are typically better deals for municipalities overall because of the revenues generated.
Purchase Circus Maximus here
Jane Kleinberger has seen the advent of ticketing from a computerized card system to a fully enhanced database, donor management, guest management as well as highly complex ticket delivery system with both online and mobile technology patron pass. Yes, she's been at it a while, over 35 years with a company that originated as Paciolan and became the dominant ticket system in college athletics, now rebranded as Spectra Ticketing. Kleinberger shares her thoughts on the history of ticketing from the 1980s moving forward, covering not only the technological advances but also the new attitudes toward the ticket side of the industry. Kleinberger talks about the relationship building that she has been a part of, spanning over three decades from former Texas A&M Athletic Director Bill Byrne during his origins at San Diego State to Byrne's son, Athletic Director Greg Byrne at the University of Arizona. Kleinberger also discusses her passion for trying to help athletic departments find the right people for their ticket office, as well as some of the issues facing women especially getting into the field and moving up through the ranks to positions of power. Twitter: @KleinbergerJane
As Todd Rahr steps down from his 12-year positon at the top of the Boise Hawks Single-A baseball team, he comes on the podcast to share his thoughts on the industry. Not all of them are good ones, especially when it comes to the question of whether fans are consuming a sports product, or just an entertainment product. Rahr speaks on the idea of "gifting" fans with Bobbleheads, discounts on concessions and where the focus on the selling of season tickets, mini-plans or group tickets. Rahr gives his impression on the Boise Hawks' decision in 2015 to drop all play-by-play radio broadcasts entirely, and whether that decision could be costly toward building fans down the road. In a stadium of 3,500 where there are only 38 total regular season games, Rahr presents several issues that come from selling out in limited capacity. Twitter: @ToddRahr
The majority of social network discussions in sports happen around the idea of using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. But new on the scene is Fancred, a fan social media system that now has partnerships with The Carolina Panthers, Boston Red Sox and America East conference. As Fancred CEO Kash Razzaghi explains, this isn't just another social media platform, but a meeting place for dedicated fans to get the best messaging from their team in a community-building arena. Razzaghi talks about the concept behind Fancred, and why it stands out amid a growing competition for the attention of franchise executives who are eager to harness the use of social media to monetize their fanbase. Twitter: @hrazzaghi
Live broadcasts are one of the many facets of how Chris Mycoskie helps promote the schools within the Southland Conference. Using his background in television as a sports director in Baton Rogue, Mycoskie has developed a skill set of bringing the action to the audience at home, whether that be through their cable boxes or digital streaming options. Mycoskie discusses the different variables in presenting a live broadcast, including when schools bid on hosting, but don't have the ability to make camera work and television production simple because of their physical locations. Mycoskie also talks about the time that he held back, purposefully, from exploiting the attendance of a famous athlete at a Southland Conference game, and why he believes that was the right call to make, under the circumstances. Twitter: @Mycoskie
James Kimmel has been around the secondary market for over 13 years, while leaning into the various business models of sports marketing throughout the Seattle area. Kimmel has helped launch ZeroHero, a secondary platform aimed at protecting the consumer, as well as bringing some needed integrity to the secondary market as a whole. Kimmel explains ZeroHero's broker requirement of "tickets in hand" in order to eliminate some of the short-selling techniques that caused havoc from the last Super Bowl. Kimmel also talks about his passion of ensuring that the secondary market is viewed as a viable distribution channel, even for primary partners, in order to move more tickets in general. Twitter: @ZeroBuyerFee
Major League Soccer's secret data weapon comes in the form of Charlie Sung Shin, who has over the past decade revolutions various insights into understanding the league's customers. Shin discusses the various metrics that make up the MLS fan - age, nationality, and geographic insights. Shin also shares some of the ways that have made the MLS unique in gathering information, as well as expanding on the information that they already have. Twitter: @CRMInSports
What's in a name? In minor league sports, Greenville's ECHL hockey franchise is the latest to embrace the weird, renaming themselves from the Road Warriors to the Swamp Rabbits. And this took every single person who has heard it by storm, including the national press. Chris Lewis explains the history behind the Greenville franchise, how its numbers haven't been stellar in attendance or corporate sponsorship as the Road Warriors, and how the name change has caused a lot of drastic attention to come the way of the team by the Swamp Rabbits moniker. Lewis talks about how only a few people have had an issue with it, but thus far, The Swamp Rabbits has brought national attention by way of Sports Illustrated and ESPN, and revitalized the prospects of a small hockey franchise in South Carolina. Twitter: @SwampRabbits