Flash Seats and Vertical Alliance announced the merger of their companies to form Veritix, at the INTIX annual ticketing conference Jan. 29-Feb. 1 in Chicago. The new company combines Flash Seats’ electronic secondary ticketing and relationship marketing tools with Vertical Alliance’s advanced primary ticketing technology.
“The integration of the two ticketing companies creates the industry’s most advanced ticketing system, providing benefits to fans as well as the teams and venues that sell tickets to sports and entertainment events. “This is a very exciting day for us,” stated Sam Gerace, CEO of Veritix, in a statement. “We are now able to go to market with one brand and a truly integrated platform for primary and secondary ticketing. Veritix allows us to offer our clients the most robust, end-to-end ticketing solution in the industry.”
For the fans, or primary ticketing market, Veritix integrates ticketing, customer-relationship marketing, merchandising, kiosks, and e-commerce. To the secondary market, Veritix provides a secure, team or venue-branded online secondary ticketing marketplace where customers can buy, sell or transfer their tickets electronically to others in real-time. In all cases, the team or venue manages, and monetizes, a single customer database for the entire relationship with the customer.
According to Gerace, teams and venue operators can build a complete fan profile that maximizes the lifetime value of the fan through true relationship marketing. The net benefits are increased revenue streams and greater operating efficiencies, while building stronger client loyalty and creating a much better fan experience.
Veritix is owned by an investor group led by Dan Gilbert, chairman and founder of Quicken Loans, the nation’s largest online home lender. He is also majority owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and operator of the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Additionally, Gilbert is majority owner of the American Hockey League’s newest franchise, Cleveland’s Lake Erie Monsters, and Fathead LLC, which makes life-sized vinyl wall graphics of popular sports figures and entertainment characters.
Flash Seats currently provides secondary ticket services to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Quicken Loans Arena. Vertical Alliance clients include the Houston Rockets, the Houston Toyota Center, Boise State University and Texas A&M University.
