Shortly after announcing a deal that made SeatGeek the official ticket resale marketplace of Major League Baseball, the league announced the establishment of a new ecosystem that will allow other companies to become “Authorized Ticket Marketplaces.” StubHub, which had served as the resale marketplace of choice for more than a decade with MLB, was the first platform to be announced to the new program, though others are expected to follow soon as the season gets underway this week.

“We took a step back and looked at the industry as a whole and tried to balance access and fan engagement with the right financial model and I would say that we feel really good that we achieved that,” says MLB Chief Revenue Officer Noah Garden. “We weren’t trying to maximize revenue at the expense of fans. We were trying to optimize the whole ecosystem.”

While official league channels will point consumers looking for ticket resale options to SeatGeek, individual organizations can sign local deals with other marketplaces if they so choose. Platforms that pay their way on to the ATM system will also share customer data with the league and its franchises, while gaining the ability to sell tickets that have been authenticated through the official ticketing system.

Buy Sell and Go with confidence at StubHub

Such consumer data sharing has become a hallmark of any ticket resale website hoping to partner with event operators, though it comes with risks for those selling tickets on the platforms, as teams have been known to vindictively cancel ticket accounts for those they believe to be selling their tickets on “too frequently” – particularly problematic for a league where season ticket holders buy passes to 81 home games.

MLB does not have a single ticketing platform across its league, though most organizations have their primary ticketing handled by Tickets.com, a system owned by MLB Advanced Media. Some clubs use Ticketmaster as their primary box office. Garden told Sports Business Journal that the league expects to announce “four or five more” platforms approval on the ATM system by the end of this week.

Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is scheduled for Thursday, March 30, where all 30 clubs will play for the first time since 1968. The full schedule for Opening Day 2023 and links to ticket marketplaces are included below:

MLB Ticket Links

Opening Day tickets at MEGASeats | 10% off use code TICKETNEWS
Opening Day tickets at ScoreBig
Opening Day tickets at SeatGeek
Opening Day tickets at StubHub
Opening Day tickets at Ticket Club | Free membership use code TICKETNEWS
Opening Day tickets at Vivid Seats

MLB 2023 Opening Day Schedule

(all games Eastern time)

  • Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals – 1:05 p.m.
  • San Francisco Giants at New York Yankees – 1:05 p.m.
  • Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox – 2:10 p.m.
  • Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs – 2:20 p.m.
  • Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays – 3:10 p.m.
  • Philadelphia Phillies at Texas Rangers – 4:05 p.m.
  • Pittsburgh Pirates at Cincinnati Reds – 4:10 p.m.
  • Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres – 4:10 p.m.
  • Toronto Blue Jays at St. Louis Cardinals – 4:10 p.m.
  • Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals – 4:10 p.m.
  • New York Mets at Miami Marlins – 4:10 p.m.
  • Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros – 7:08 p.m., ESPN
  • Los Angeles Angels at Oakland Athletics – 10:07 p.m.
  • Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers – 10:10 p.m., Bally Sports AZ
  • Cleveland Guardians at Seattle Mariners – 10:10 p.m.
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