How SeatGeek can manage socially distanced ticketing

SeatGeek offers a platform that can help with ticket allocations, where socially distanced seating would be the first step towards welcoming fans back – for competitions such as the A-League.

Founded in 2009, SeatGeek is a mobile-focused ticket platform based in New York and provides assess to tickets for live events, whether it be buying or selling.

With a wide range of sports covered, SeatGeek is trusted by clients around the world and has already been working with UK-based Premier League and EFL Championship clubs about how to navigate through this tricky time.

SeatGeek engaged with their UK clients and created a series of tools that enable football clubs to reintroduce fans to stadiums safely and effectively – social distancing seating plans, demand-based algorithms and online sales tools just some of the products and services.

“There were two key areas to our response to dealing with our clients’ needs across such an uncertain landscape,” Peter Joyce, Managing Director for SeatGeek Sport (EMEA), said.

“First of all we needed to engage in high levels of communication across our client group to enable all of us to stay well informed and share ideas. 

“Secondly we needed to quickly investigate how we could build enhancements to our software functionality that would assist a new way of staging football matches and sports events with more restrictions required around the sale and distribution of tickets, as well as the methods of entering stadiums on match-day.”

Clubs who are looking to drive their sales activity online have been benefited by the introduction of Pod sales functionality. Underpinned by SeatGeek’s rules-based enterprise software platform, SeatGeek clients have maximised their seat inventory by allowing fans to purchase in their approved social bubbles, with parameters included to allocation definitions, meaning that contiguous seats are sold together. 3D Digital Venue is a SeatGeek partner who have engaged with a range of clients to offer their visual seat mapping tool to further add to its functionality on offer.

In the summer pre-season leading up to UK football seasons getting underway, several SeatGeek clients were chosen to host events that would test the new features that are being planned to roll out.

Brighton & Hove Albion FC welcomed Chelsea in a pre-season friendly in front of 2,500 supporters at the Amex Stadium in August, while Middlesbrough FC were one of the first 9 EFL clubs to host a league fixture with fans during September. 1,000 supporters were allowed to be in attendance at The Riverside Stadium for their home game v AFC Bournemouth.

“The football community as a whole has been dealing with such an uncertain landscape when it comes to planning our matches leading into this season, but we were delighted to be selected by the EFL to stage one of the first round of games with fans coming back to stadiums in September and we were pleased with the handling of the game,” Lee Fryett, Head of Commercial & Ticketing at Middlesbrough FC, said.

“We were able to work closely with the team at SeatGeek who have provided excellent support as have other partners involved in helping us stage the game.”

In Australia, the A-League and W-League seasons have been confirmed to start on the same date of Sunday 27th December 2020.

In the two months leading up to the season start, there is the potential for more trials of socially distant seating measures that can be implemented, where restrictions are slowly being eased across the country.

“There has been a huge amount of work and planning covered in a short space of time to react to the challenges that have been presented and it has been encouraging to see a whole range of partners and clients come together to find solutions,” SeatGeek’s MD, Peter Joyce said.

“With the sharing of best practice and the launch of the Adapt tool kit, we’ve produced a range of functions and services that will provide real value to our partners as they look to leverage technology, with mobile ticket entry becoming a key component of the recently successful test events conducted at many of our SeatGeek supported venues.” 

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New board appointments and regulatory reform announced by APL

The Australian Professional Leagues (APL) have announced the appointment of two new Club Directors to the APL Board, as well as updates to the salary cap structure which will be implemented from the 2025/26 season.

At an Extraordinary General Meeting held earlier today, Club Unitholders voted to appoint John Dovaston, Chairman of Melbourne Victory, and Kaz Patafta, Chairman and CEO of Brisbane Roar, as new Club Directors to the APL Board.

Both bring a strong mix of football, business, and governance experience to the table, drawn from their work both within and outside the sport.

The rest of the Board — including the Chair, a Silver Lake Director, the FA-appointed Director, and three existing Club Directors — remains unchanged, as they were not up for election.

After consulting with the Board, Club Unitholders, and club reps, the APL also announced it will introduce a new financial sustainability framework for the A-Leagues, to be rolled out over the next three seasons.

The focus will be on revamping the salary cap system.

The current setup which includes a $2.55 million soft cap and six types of salary exemptions was originally designed to support financial stability and competitive balance, but it’s no longer delivering as intended.

Starting from the 2025/26 Isuzu UTE A-League Men season, a $3.5 million hard cap trial will be introduced.

Then, in 2026/27, a $3 million hard cap (plus one marquee player) will be enforced. Clubs that exceed the cap will face financial and sporting penalties.

For the 2025/26 season, clubs will still operate under the current salary cap rules and exemptions, with the trial period acting as a transition to the new system.

A broader financial model, based on each club’s revenue will be finalised with input from clubs and the PFA and introduced in the 2027/28 season.

Executive Chair, Stephen Conroy, highlighted the need for change when it came to the current salary cap structure as well as the benefit of the new reform.

“Following consultation with clubs over the last twelve months, it was determined that the current spending structure, which has been in place since 2005, was no longer fit for purpose,” he said in a press release.

“We are doubling down on strategies that are already working; investing in our product and highlighting our fantastic homegrown talent. 

“The implementation of these reforms over the coming years is designed to ensure a competitive balance and to build long term foundations for growth that helps unlock the full revenue potential of each club.

“The APL Board firmly believe this is the model for long term success, giving clubs time to assess and plan before a new model is agreed to for season 2027/28 based on global best practice, that can deliver greater outcomes for talent development and a better football product.ˮ

The APL’s latest moves mark a significant step forward for the future of the A-Leagues, with new leadership on the Board and a clear plan to overhaul the financial structure of the competition, the league is positioning itself for long-term stability and growth. 

A-League records strong viewership and attendance in New-Zealand

In recent news the A-league viewership on sky sports has climbed significantly in New Zealand.

Official A-League media sources have identified that 1.31 million people have watched the A-League through Sky Sports media channels this season.

This confirms an impressive 40% increase in viewership for the 2024-25 season.

To add to this an additional 228k, a 46% increase, and 167k, a prominent 115% increase, have also streamed on Sky’s digital platforms.

This amounts to a huge increase in viewership of the sport for New Zealand and also a large portion of the respective nation’s population, displaying football’s huge popularity in Australia’s close neighbour.

Sky Sports extended their exclusive rights for the Isuzu UTE A-League Men and Ninja A-League Women at the beginning of this season and this deal will be the sole provider for 2 more seasons.

Both Leagues through this season are available not only on Sky Sports but also Sky Sport Now and Sky Go.

This upward trend in popularity can be attributed to the addition of a second New-Zealand team in Auckland FC, who currently sit at the top of the A-League and look positioned to win the minor premiership.

To match this news with viewership Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix have both recorded some of the highest game attendance in the league throughout most of their home games.

Auckland FC has had the overall highest attendance with a total of 211,095 so far and an average of 17,591. With the biggest attendance their derby against Wellington Phoenix at just above 27,000.

Auckland FC worst attendance at around 13,000 is almost double the next most attended team, Sydney FC. Wellington Phoenix have also recorded high attendance with 99,677 up to this point.

Though down averagely from last season, to maintain these numbers after a title chasing seasons shows fan dedication from the Kiwis.

The introduction of a new team from New Zealand’s biggest city has turned out to be a successful investment by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL).

It has increased viewership, attendance and all round enjoyment in the A-league, helping the APL increase in value and quality this season.

The APL and New Zealand must now build on this momentum to keep viewership strong and continue growing the beautiful game across Aotearoa.

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