SeatGeek is reportedly in merger talks with RedBall Acquisition Corp, a blank-check special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) that would bring the ticketing company public. RedBall is led by Billy Beane, former Oakland A’s general manager and current executive (as well as the subject of the film Moneyball) and Gerry Cardinale of RedBird Capital Partners.
An email requesting comment from SeatGeek did not receive a response as of Friday afternoon.
According to Bloomberg News, RedBird confirmed it was in talks with SeatGeek management, and that a deal could be announced as early as next week, if the parties can find suitable terms. RedBall, which currently trades as RBAC, raised $575 million in an August 2020 public offering. At the time, it indicated its intent was to pursue an acquisition in the sports, media and analytics sector.
If a deal is reached, SeatGeek would become the second SPAC acquisition of a ticketing company in recent months, following in the footsteps of Vivid Seats, which is in the process of merging with the Horizon Acquisitions Corp SPAC led by Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers. That deal, which will wind up with Vivid Seats traded using the SEAT ticker, is rumored to be closing at some point this month after a shareholder meeting.
SeatGeek began as a ticket resale marketplace focused on serving as something of a search engine allowing consumers to find tickets across multiple platforms through one website. It has since evolved to operate as a primary ticketing competitor to companies like Ticketmaster, boasting deals with the Dallas Cowboys, Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New Orleans Saints, among others. Most recently, the company announced a program that would allow consumers to return tickets they don’t want to use for future credit on its marketplace, a unique offer in ticketing that would make SeatGeek itself the owner and seller of returned tickets.
Bloomberg references the New York-based company as being worth an estimated $571 million according to PitchBook. Proposed terms of the merger deal with RedBall were not disclosed in the report.
