Millwall FC has selected Ticketmaster Sport as their exclusive ticketing provider. The club’s Chief Commercial Officer Luke Wilson talks us through the partnership.
What is the most important thing you’re looking for in a ticketing provider?
First and foremost, our primary objective is to ensure usability for our supporters. Many of them will make dozens of purchases every year, so providing them with a quick, easy, and intuitive system is our biggest consideration when selecting a ticketing provider. A secondary but also very important factor is the back-end functionality for our staff and the ability to generate new data and reporting from which we can gather new insights.
Have you ever worked with Ticketmaster before?
The Club has, yes, but many years ago now so this feels like an exciting step forward and very much a fresh partnership for supporters and staff at Millwall.
What factors influenced Millwall Football Club’s decision to select Ticketmaster as its ticketing provider?
There were many reasons, but ultimately, Ticketmaster just felt like the most robust option versus the competition in several key areas.
Firstly, as mentioned, the ease of that fans’ purchase journey was very important to us. Ticketmaster’s offering in that regard really stood out, given the wealth of learnings and experience they have from deployments across other rights holders and sports.
Secondly, the functionality for staff and ability to better interrogate our sales data to inform future development and marketing of our products was equally impressive, as we target increases in our average attendances each season. Finally, their products felt like they were the most future-proofed, with the scope to integrate new technologies and features as we look to progress our off-the-pitch offering to fans.
What specific features of Ticketmaster Sport’s platform will be most beneficial for Millwall FC?
There are a few which when utilised will help us improve the service we provide for supporters. The ‘buy-back’ feature is one we have been exploring for some time now and has become particularly important from a strategic perspective now that we are regularly selling games out. One of the longer-term steps in our e-ticketing implementation process is to allow fans to add tickets to their Apple Wallet/Google Pay applications, which is another feature of Ticketmaster Sport’s platform. We are always looking at ways we can enhance our offering to fans, so we look forward to exploring new options to do so alongside Ticketmaster.
How important is ticketing for you as part of the wider business?
As a professional football club, our main ‘product’ is what happens on the pitch, so having a ticketing operation that supports us in bringing this to as many fans as possible in as smooth and efficient a way as possible is of the utmost importance.
How will Ticketmaster’s ticketing system help Millwall Football Club manage its ticketing operations more efficiently?
Ticketmaster’s system is unquestionably more advanced than any we have utilised before. The platform’s flexibility, ease of functionality, reporting capabilities and ability to add additional functionality in future will be a big step forward for us. Hopefully, this should allow our people more time to focus on new ways to contribute positively to and enhance the supporter experience.
What are your thoughts on the future of ticketing technology in football, and how does Ticketmaster Sport fit into this vision?
Ticketing technology has evolved rapidly in recent years with huge developments in seat view visibility, reductions in the number of tickets made available from unofficial sources, and the evolution of digital ticketing, making it increasingly easy for fans to access their tickets directly. As a club, we are conscious of supporters who use more traditional purchasing and access methods. But it is also evident that increasing numbers of football fans are embracing technological advancements throughout all areas of their lives, and when visiting other sports and entertainment venues, so it is right that we also embrace this at Millwall too.
We want to ensure that at the heart of this, we still take the time to listen to supporter feedback, though, so we can fully understand their needs and evolve with them. It is a bit of a journey, and there will always be bumps in the road, but we take confidence from our switch to e-ticketing, for example, which has been a big success so far. As such, we are confident that working with Ticketmaster Sport will enable us to embrace future developments with as much certainty and efficiency as possible to serve our fans and the Club best.
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