A deal that makes SeatGeek Inc. the official ticket distributor for the Los Angeles Football Club also brings Facebook Inc. into the promotional equation for the newly minted team.
New York-based SeatGeek has been serving as the official ticketing partner of Major League Soccer for 18-months, although relationship doesn’t necessarily give them exclusive rights with individual teams.
The deal with LAFC give them exclusivity on the primary and secondary markets for tickets, with the team inaugural season set to start in March, 2018. The primary market includes team-affiliated sellers; the secondary markets covers tickets resold by fans or other purchasers.
The team’s new entrée comes courtesy of a recent SeatGeek deal to distribute tickets through Menlo Park-based Facebook in addition to its own website and app.
SeatGeek announced the partnership with Facebook in October, and LAFC executives have seized on what they view as a unique opportunity to build a fan base through social media, which is seen by some as potential game-changer when it comes to how event tickets are purchased.
The SeatGeek-Facebook link “will provide a revolutionary and innovative way for our fans and supporters to enjoy more access to LAFC,” Jamie Guin, the team’s senior vice president of corporate partnerships, said in a statement.
Fans will be able to display their tickets bought through Facebook, the SeatGeek website and have them scanned via their phone or any other mobile device for entry into the team’s Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park, which is under construction and set to open in 2018.
The arrangement gives LAFC a chance to emphasize digital ticketing from the start of its existence as an expansion franchise.
“SeatGeek offers our fans and supporters a first-class ticketing experience,” said Tom Penn, LAFC co-owner and president, in a statement. “They are our top priority, and SeatGeek will help make attending a match at Banc of California Stadium seamless, uncomplicated and efficient.”
The Granddaddy of Them All
The Rose Bowl that matched the University of Oklahoma Sooners against the University of Georgia Bulldogs in the playoff for a national champion lasted a few hours, counting the always extravagant halftime show.
Planning the menu and semantics of the day’s festivities took a full year, according to Rose Bowl Operating Co. General Manager Kevin Hengehold.
Concessions for the Rose Bowl game and all other events that take place at the venue are contracted out to Sodexo Inc., a management services company based in France.
Sodexo and Rose Bowl management – which is responsible for the overall logistics and security – count on volunteers from local nonprofit organizations to make up the bulk of the 1,300 or so event staffers needed for the big game. The non-profits get a cut of a portion of concession sales—usually divvying up a pie of $100,000 or so.
“It’s difficult to staff the building with employees because of the intermittent nature of events, and using nonprofit organizations solve an issue for us and for them because they can make the same amount of money during this game than they can hosting multiple events,” said Hengehold.
The Rose Bowl has 11 eleven permanent concession stands but the total swells to more than 500 on the day of the big game. Offerings include granddaddy dogs, pretzels, beer and nachos.
The week before the game gets busy, with 65,000 bottles, cans and kegs of beer delivered. Tents for the annual fan fest go up on the concourse on Dec. 30 in preparation for the 20,000 tailgating fans expected to show up at 8 a.m. on Jan. 1 – a full nine hours before kickoff.
The Rose Bowl wouldn’t be considered the “granddaddy of them all” without special items on the menu. The Granddaddy Dog goes a quarter pound and gets topped with mac-n-cheese, pulled pork, bacon and barbecue sauce. This year the hot dog will get competition from Oklahoma-style and Georgian-style hamburgers – a nod to the out-of-town competitors.
Rose Bowl tradition calls for all leftover food to be given to the Pasadena Hot Meals program.
Johnny Hekker Fires Back
Los Angeles Rams punter Johnny Hekker has co-designed a T-shirt and partnered with United Way of Greater Los Angeles and Vancouver-based Athletes Brand in a bid to help bring some relief to victims the wildfires that have scorched parts of Southern California recently.
The T-shirt is being sold on the website of Athletes Brand – which offers merchandise designed by professional athletes – and 100% of proceeds will go into the United Way’s Southern California Wildfire Relief Fund.
“Partnering with United Way of Greater Los Angeles and Athletes Brand is a great opportunity to bring relief and unified support to the communities affected by the recent wildfires,” said Hekker in a statement.
Staff Reporter Joshua Niv can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 556-8336.
