By Alfred Branch, Jr.
TicketNews.com
The announcement of a major secondary deal between two sports heavyweights, and a disagreement between two others dominated the week ended August 3 in the ticketing industry.
Thought financial terms were not announced in the deal between StubHub! and Major League Baseball the arrangement of StubHub! handling MLB’s ticket resales could be one of the more important and lucrative in the industry.
The deal calls for all 30 MLB teams, if they want an online secondary ticketing operation, to go through StubHub to create that presence. Teams have a choice not to offer secondary ticketing online, but can only offer an offline version if they do not use the StubHub agreement. . .
What this will mean for Ticketmaster, its new partner Paciolan and Tickets.com, all of which had secondary ticketing deals with several MLB teams, remains to be seen. Those contracts are set to expire by 2008 when the new deal takes effect.
The other big story of the week was the Cleveland Cavaliers and Flash Seats’ decision to sue Ticketmaster on alleged anti-trust grounds.
According to the Cavs and Flash Seats, Ticketmaster allegedly sought to use its muscle to thwart the two from launching a secondary ticketing initiative. Ticketmaster denied the assertion, claiming it had a valid contract with the Cavs to handle the team’s primary and secondary ticketing options.
The week also featured news that Madonna and Live Nation were reportedly negotiating a recording, touring and merchandising deal where the two would partner for several years.
In addition, the balance of power in the NBA may have shifted east with news that superstar Kevin Garnett had been traded to the from the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Boston Celtics.
