“BIG TEN ANNOUNCES TICKETBAG.COM AS THE CONFERENCE’S OFFICIAL SECONDARY TICKET MARKET”

Park Ridge, Ill. (The Big Ten Conference) October 8, 2008 – The Big Ten Conference has announced a marketing agreement which makes TicketBag.com the official secondary ticket market of the Big Ten. TicketBag.com will offer fans access to thousands of tickets to Big Ten games, as well as other sporting events, concerts and shows across the country.

Unlike other ticket auction sites, TicketBag.com charges significantly lower fees to buy or sell tickets online. Fans who buy tickets at TicketBag.com pay only for shipping their tickets, while fans who sell tickets pay just a 10 percent commission, less than the fees charged by other sites. TicketBag.com ensures ticket purchases through its Safe at Home Guarantee©, which protects both sellers and buyers by requiring each registered user to agree to a code of conduct before using TicketBag.com.

“As a Big Ten alumnae and fan, I am excited to be partnering with the conference and offering our services to Big Ten fans,” said Michael Baggot, founder of TicketBag.com. “Fans shouldn’t have to pay exorbitantly high fees to sell tickets they can’t use, or to buy tickets to their favorite team events. As a fan, I can relate to the frustrations over these high fees, so I founded TicketBag.com to prove there’s a better way.”

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As an official partner of the Big Ten, TicketBag.com will be granted marketing opportunities for all 25 conference sports, including each of the Big Ten Championships or Tournaments. Benefits also include promotional and on-line opportunities, special event and on-site marketing, tickets and hospitality, use of the Big Ten mark and presence in select publications. TicketBag.com will be partnering with local establishments in select towns to give away tickets to conference events, including championships and tournaments. TicketBag.com will also be hosting special Big Ten promotions on TicketBag.com and will invite fans to on-site hospitality booths at select events.

Big Ten Sports Properties secured the TicketBag.com partnership on behalf of the Big Ten. Established in May, Big Ten Sports Properties is developing a corporate partner platform for the conference as part of the new relationship between the conference and collegiate multimedia rights leader Learfield Sports. In addition to the Big Ten, Learfield Sports manages the rights to nearly 50 collegiate institutions and associations. Learfield Sports is an operating unit of Learfield Communications, Inc., which made its initial foray into the world of sports marketing in 1975. For more about the company and its complete portfolio, visit www.learfieldsports.com.

The Big Ten Conference is an association of 11 world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes’ lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. Big Ten universities provide in excess of $100 million in athletic scholarship aid to more than 8,500 men and women student-athletes who compete for 25 championships, 12 for men and 13 for women. Conference institutions sponsor broad-based athletic programs with more than 270 teams. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.

Contacts:
Scott Chipman, Big Ten Conference / 847.696.1010 x141 / [email protected]
Michelle Damico, Ticketbag.com / 312.423.6627 / [email protected]

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