Box Office Hit: MLB Signs Exclusive Alliance With SeatGeek Ticket Marketplace

By Barry Janoff

UPDATED March 27,2023: StubHub this season was replaced by SeatGeek as MLB’s “Official Ticket Marketplace Partner,” but under a new deal is now a non-exclusive "Authorized Ticket Marketplace" partner, a new platform that will complement the league’s previously unveiled "Official Ticket Marketplace."

“This new integration underscores our ongoing commitment to partnerships that give buyers and sellers of live event tickets wider access and reinforces that StubHub is a go-to platform for customers, including season ticket holders, to easily secure and sell baseball tickets,” Cris Miller, StubHub chief business officer, said via MLB.  

MLB said it would “continue to form non-exclusive partnerships with additional secondary ticket providers to form Authorized Ticket Marketplaces.”

February 27, 2023: New bases. New clock. New defensive strategies. And now MLB has a new ticket partner.

MLB today said it has signed a multi-year deal naming SeatGeek as its “Official Ticket Marketplace,” beginning with the 2023 season.

SeatGeek replaces StubHub, a MLB partner since 2007, whose deal expired at the end of 2022.

Financial terms were not shared, but the overall deal was valued at $100 million by Forbes.

"SeatGeek is a data-driven company that is relentlessly focused on improving the fan experience from purchase to post-game,” Noah Garden, MLB chief revenue officer, said via the league.

“We're eager to tap into SeatGeek’s extensive user base across numerous categories to reach an even wider audience of potential attendees.”

According to Garden, “We sell more tickets than the other leagues combined.”

MLB said the partnership would include “ticket barcode integration, which will allow fans to resell their MLB tickets on SeatGeek’s marketplace with just a tap of a button.”

Under the alliance, MLB and its teams will have access to SeatGeek's analytical tools and database of event-goers “to help identify new audiences.”

According to a national survey taken in January 2023 by Qualtrics on behalf of SeatGeek, SeatGeek had the highest percentage of Gen-Z users among all of the top ticketing platforms.

"Baseball is the largest spectator sport in the world in terms of total attendance, and the nature of the league's 162-game season makes it ripe for innovation on the ticket resale side of the business," Russ D'Souza, who co-founded the platform in 2009, sad via SeatGeek.

"With MLB, we get a chance to re-imagine what the ticketing experience is like while bringing new fans to the ballpark.”

SeatGeek’s partner roster included the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, as well as the English Premier League.

Earlier this month, SeatGeek signed an exclusive partnership with Paciolan, a division of Learfield and a leader in ticketing, fundraising and technology solutions for college athletics and live entertainment venues.

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