Philadelphia 76ers Partner With StubHub For New Ticketing Platform

Oct 8, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie (R) talks with chief executive officer Scott O
Oct 8, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie (R) talks with chief executive officer Scott O /
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The Philadelphia 76ers and StubHub are launching a brand new way of buying tickets to basketball games next season.

The Philadelphia 76ers often seem to be the first ones on the scene in a lot of cases that have to do with business innovation and fan experience. They are breaking ground in an unconventional way of rebuilding their franchise, but on the fan experience front were one of the first teams to launch a revolutionary court hologram that has been mimicked and perfected around the league for pre-game introductions of teams and players. The Sixers continue to reward season ticket holders with seat upgrades and look to make the most out of the game experience. Now, they’re moving onto their next innovation, and it’s one that fans should greatly benefit from–a new ticketing platform, which the Sixers announced on their website.

The Sixers and StubHub have been longtime partners, but this business move appears to make their synergy even tighter, and looks to solve the issue of ticket buying for consumers. As it stands, fans seeking to go to single games without tickets can hop on the Sixers website and buy tickets, or they can go on StubHub and buy from people who already have tickets that are looking to sell them because they can’t go to the game. Fans have to check both places if they want to find the best deal, and have to go back and forth to find the optimal ticket price and location that they are looking for. This partnership and new platform puts all of the tickets–from the Sixers or a third-party StubHub seller–in the same place, and allows customers to see all available tickets in one place. Fans will be able to see one seating chart with all available tickets.

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StubHub looks to bring this to more teams and more venues, but the Sixers are the first to jump on the opportunity. StubHub president said of the Sixers, “we could not be more excited that the Philadelphia 76ers are joining us as our inaugural partner.”

This also allows consumers to purchase from more than one seller in the same shopping cart, which should make it easy for larger groups to find tickets near each other, and even add things like parking passes on top of tickets.

On top of the one-stop shop for all game tickets, the new platform will provide fans with a more mobile experience for ticketing, which is important as smartphones continue to become the norm. Sixers’ CEO Scott O’Neil hinted before the season began that next year season ticket holders should be able to scan their phone on the way into the game instead of the plastic credit-card like identification that ticket holders wear on lanyards.

The Sixers are, at this point, 29th out of 30 teams in home attendance so far, but as the team continues to rebuild and bring in big name players and the future starts of the league, this new platform should benefit all ticket buyers and sellers greatly.