UK-based secondary ticket exchange viagogo.com, in a move to boost its profile among fans of the National Football League, has high hopes for its new Victory Pass Super Bowl ticket guarantee program.
Launched last week, the plan gives fans a chance to buy a “pass” or opportunity for their favorite team that later gives the fan the chance to buy a face value ticket for the Super Bowl or playoff game. For example, if a person is fan of the New York Jets, they can buy a Victory Pass for $91 (as of today, September 10) for the Super Bowl and if the team makes it to the big game, that fan can then buy a ticket for face value.
Super Bowl tickets sell at face value for about $700, and often resell through ticket brokers and on secondary Web sites for an average of $2,000 to $3,000. So, a Jets fan would pay a total of $791 for their ticket to the Super Bowl, instead of more than $2,000 on the street, if they could even score one.
“Face value tickets for the Super Bowl are almost impossible for fans to get,” Eric Baker, founder and CEO of viagogo, told TicketNews, adding that the Jets have signed a partnership deal with viagogo for the Victory Pass program. “This gives them guaranteed access to a ticket.”
Victory Pass prices can fluctuate based on a team’s popularity and odds to make the Super Bowl, similar to the futures exchange market that companies like yoonew have created. For example, the New England Patriots saw their Victory Pass price drop from an opening price of $539 to $317 following the injury to quarterback Tom Brady. Unlike yoonew, which specializes in sports futures, Baker stressed that the Victory Pass is only one aspect of viagogo’s full-service ticket exchange offerings, which include concert and theater tickets.
“There is no league better suited for this type of program than the NFL because of its parity,” Baker said. “This is mostly a program for fans, but anyone who wants a ticket can participate, including brokers.”
Just over a year ago, viagogo signed a multi-year deal with the Cleveland Browns, which is also a Victory Pass partner, to be the team’s official secondary ticket provider, and the company has slowly increased its presence in the U.S. ever since.
