Sports Illustrated Tickets was announced Thursday as the third officially integrated marketplace for NFL tickets this coming season, joining Ticketmaster and SeatGeek in the league’s “open” model. This means that consumers shopping for tickets on the marketplace can buy “verified” tickets to NFL contests throughout the year, as only barcode-entered and validated tickets can be sold through this buying experience.
“Today marks an important milestone, as we launch our partnership with the NFL to help grow the NFL Ticket Network,” said David Lane, CEO, Sports Illustrated Tickets. “The addition of our global ticket marketplace strengthens and expands the NFL Ticket Network, but also reinforces our commitment as a Sports Illustrated company to improving the fan experience, offering fully transparent, no fee pricing and collaborating with NFL teams to give fans a new option to purchase tickets and support their team on gameday.”
The NFL open resale ecosystem was developed and launched for the 2018-19 season, using Ticketmaster’s digital ticketing technology as its backbone. It allows for NFL franchises to gain significant user data from transactions that take place across any integrated system, as the seller and buyer both have to be account users, with that data being shared back with the organization and all involved ticketing systems.
FURTHER READING | What Does the NFL’s Ticketing “Open Market” Mean for Consumers
Ticketmaster has been the league’s overall official ticketing resale platform since that time, with SeatGeek also serving as both an authorized resale outlet and primary marketplace for multiple organizations. StubHub has also been an integrated marketplace in the past, though it is not for the upcoming 2024 season.
Sports Illustrated Tickets is a relatively new entry to the ticketing ecosystem, having launched in June of 2021. It offers consumers what it describes as a “seamless and transparent purchasing experience” – with consumers paying the original price shown for any ticket listed on the website with no added fees. While it has grown from its resale-only origins with partnerships with both the U.S. Equestrian organization and Pickleball Pros, the NFL integration is a major splash for the company.
“Football fans are a critical part of our league, and through the NFL Ticket Network, they can be assured a seamless, secure ticketing journey knowing their purchases are fully verified across all three partner channels,” said Bobby Gallo, NFL senior vice president of club business development. “With long-time partners Ticketmaster and SeatGeek, and now with Sports Illustrated Tickets onboard, the NFL Ticket Network becomes an even more well-rounded ecosystem that will continue to provide value for our fans and closest partners.”
With its draft done, the NFL is expected to release its 2024 season schedule – and put single game tickets on sale – at some point in May.
