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SeatGeek – The sports ticketing platform which continues to take on the world

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Founded in New York in 2009, SeatGeek is a prominent mobile ticketing platform that allows consumers to buy and sell tickets across sports and other events in the US market.

The company has partnered with different organisations around the US since the platform was launched, including Yahoo! Sports and various MLS teams around the country.

The service has recently moved into other markets, including the UK, after acquiring Israeli ticketing software company TopTix in 2017 for $56 million.

SeatGeek’s acquisition opened up the service to an international market, as TopTix’s primary software application, labelled ‘SRO’, combined perfectly with SeatGeek’s mobile applications and market place ability.

SRO gives sports clubs a world class software application to manage areas such as memberships, ticketing, reporting, corporate hospitality, marketing and so forth all inside a singular web-based user interface.

“We all thought it was a very good fit – what SeatGeek would bring to the table to work alongside the SRO software platform. We felt it was a great opportunity to build a global offering that could really drive a change in the market at a significant level and we have enjoyed strong growth over the past two and half years,” SeatGeek’s managing director for Sport across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Peter Joyce told FC Business, earlier this year.

When the acquisition of TopTix occurred in 2017, SeatGeek only had one English Premier Club partnered with the company, West Bromwich Albion. Two years later, the platform is now used by seven Premier League clubs in the 2019/2020 season, which represents a 35% market share across the league.

The clubs using the service are Manchester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Brighton and Hove Albion, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Sheffield United.

A further seven clubs are clients from the EFL Championship. Those teams are Derby County, Stoke City, Middlesbrough, Reading, Bristol City, Charlton Athletic and West Bromwich Albion.

The UK Sport headquarters has recently doubled in staff numbers with SeatGeek now having 430 employees and eight offices in different locations around the world.

Joyce believes the company continues to improve its reputation in the UK sports market.

“Ticketing software in UK sport has tended to work in five-year cycles when it comes to the systems and software products available and I think we’ve turned heads over recent years.

“New suppliers can come and go and there can be a swing in a certain direction from time to time. SeatGeek and the SRO software solutions have certainly enjoyed excellent growth over the years and our challenge is to build on a very solid platform and client base and take it to the next level.

“Alongside winning significant new business over the past two years we have also re-signed every club (7) who have come up for re-contract in that period and this demonstrates a client base that are enjoying working with SeatGeek and the SRO software platform. Technology is changing rapidly as we all know and there’s a demand for ticketing providers to keep pace with those ever-changing requirements and continue to grow and evolve.”

Central to SeatGeek’s success is the technological superiority the company has over its competitors. Legacy ticketing systems are generally known to manually report, overwork staff and be inflexible when it comes to configuration of events.

However, SeatGeek’s SRO service provides those in charge with extensive control across their organisation. This includes the most customisable rules-based engine ever created, with clubs also given valuable services for those using a powerful Application Program Interface (API). This gives third party providers the chance to build in tools that provide analytics, CRM, data, dynamic pricing and so on.

Fans praised the SeatGeek’s SRO platform last season, when the service was in use for a series of semi-finals and finals at Wembley Stadium. Over 95% of all tickets were sold online using SeatGeek’s online applications with not one complaint received. Instead, hundreds of positive comments were left across social media regarding the ease of the sales process.

Joyce claims SeatGeek will continue to grow and adapt in the future, using the impressive technology that is accessible.

“We will continue to listen to the market’s requirements; build for the future and one club at a time grow the footprint of our SRO platform to deliver an excellent all-round ticketing experience for as many clients and fans as possible.”

 

 

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Netflix’s Women’s World Cup deal puts IMG’s technology in the spotlight

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Netflix’s first exclusive football deal will see the next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup at the centre of it’s live-sport strategy. The US-streaming service company has appointed IMG as its production partner for all 64 matches in Brazil, as well as more than 100 hours of live studio programming. The deal includes English and Spanish coverage for viewers within the US, and English and French-language coverage for those in Canada. IMG will also support Netflix’s coverage of the tournament’s draw in December.

The 2027 Women’s World Cup runs from June 24 to July 25 across eight host cities, and will be the first edition to feature 32 teams. The scale of the tournament makes it an ambitious first foray into sports broadcasting for Netflix – which means IMG’s involvement will be of great significance.

IMG’s production engine

IMG has built its reputation on producing and distributing live sport at scale. It’s Stockley Park, London facility includes broadcast studios, production galleries, edit suites and facilities for radio, podcasting, dubbing and visual effects. The company has worked across major properties including the Premier League, Major League Soccer and other international sporting events.

For a World Cup, this infrastructure provides more than a place to make television; it creates a central point where production teams can manage feeds, graphics, replays, commentary, editing and distribution while events are taking place thousands of kilometres away.

Remote production is the key

The most important technology for a tournament spread across eight Brazilian cities is connectivity. IMG has invested in remote-production workflows that allow production teams to work across locations, rather than putting every specialist inside each stadium. Its wider production operation has used fibre, satellite, cloud and IP-based connectivity to move live signals between venues and production centres.

That model can reduce the amount of equipment and specialist staff required at every venue while allowing senior producers, directors, replay operators and graphics teams to work from centralised facilities. IMG has also demonstrated long-distance IP production, including a 20,000-kilometre link between Tokyo and London that carried uncompressed, low-latency video. For Netflix, those capabilities are particularly relevant. The platform is building a single viewing experience for audiences in two markets, but the raw ingredients will come from stadiums spread across Brazil. A resilient network becomes just as important as the cameras themselves.

From stadium to stream

The technology chain does not end when the pictures leave the venue. A modern sports production operation has to manage ingest, replay, media asset management, graphics, audio, quality control, archiving and transmission. IMG’s facilities have been built around those workflows, with master control and transmission capabilities alongside post-production and archive operations.

That infrastructure also gives IMG the ability to turn the live tournament into a wider stream of content. A goal can become a replay, a highlight, a social clip or part of a studio package without waiting for the match to finish. For Netflix, that fits a platform built around on-demand discovery as much as live viewing.

A new test for Netflix

Netflix has already made a significant investment in football through documentaries and other programming. The 2027 Women’s World Cup takes it up a level. FIFA describes the agreement as the first competition Netflix has acquired in full, making the tournament a major test of its live sports operation. IMG therefore has a job that goes beyond producing 64 matches; it must help Netflix build the technical backbone for a month-long, multi-venue broadcast, while maintaining consistent production standards across languages and locations.

The viewer may simply press play and see a World Cup match appear instantly. Behind that button will be a complex network of cameras, connectivity, control rooms, production systems, people and data. That is the real significance of Netflix’s IMG deal: the streamer is bringing the tournament to its platform, but IMG is providing much of the machinery that can make a global football event feel seamless.

The ball is no longer just being improved it is being connected

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The humble football is becoming one of the more technologically advanced objects on a football pitch.

Across the A-Leagues, Mitre’s new Ultimax Pro is focused on improving what happens when the ball is kicked, while LaLiga has taken the next step by turning the ball into a source of live match data.

The contrast shows how football technology is moving in two directions at once, improving the physical performance of equipment while increasingly connecting it to the digital systems surrounding the game.

Refining the Physical Object: Mitre’s Ultimax Pro

The Ultimax Pro, which will be used across the 2026/27 A-League Men and Ninja A-League Women seasons, incorporates Mitre’s HyperFlow, HyperFoam, HyperSeal and Delta Skin technologies.

Its debossed grooves are designed to reduce drag and improve stability in flight, while the cushioning, bonding and surface technologies are aimed at producing consistent rebound, durability and control. The ball carries FIFA Quality Pro certification, reflecting the testing standards required for professional match balls.

The technology is largely invisible to supporters. Its purpose is to make the ball behave more predictably for players, rather than fundamentally changing the football itself.

Connecting the Ball to the Digital Ecosystem: LaLiga’s Sensor-Driven Approach

LaLiga’s approach is different.

The Spanish competition has introduced a radio-frequency sensor developed by KINEXON into its PUMA match ball, with the technology being used across every LaLiga EA Sports fixture this season.

The sensor continuously transmits information about the ball’s position and the precise moment of contact. Around 12 antennas installed in each stadium capture the data and feed it into LaLiga’s wider technology infrastructure.

That gives the ball a role beyond simply being the object of play.

Knowing exactly when the ball is touched can help officials in a variety of situations. Offside, handballs, deflections and other decisions where a difference of milliseconds can affect the outcome could all benefit.

But the more interesting development may sit outside officiating.

LaLiga is using the connected ball to create xBALL, an official data layer that can feed broadcasts, digital products and future second-screen experiences. Data such as shot speed, ball spin and trajectory could all be incorporated into its media and digital products.

The ball is no longer just something that manufacturers compete to make faster, more durable or more responsive. It can also become a source of proprietary data that leagues can use to improve broadcasts, develop digital products and create new ways for supporters to understand the game.

The Ball as Part of Football’s Intelligence Layer

Mitre is refining the physical object. LaLiga is connecting that object to the digital ecosystem of the match.

Together, however, they point to the same direction of travel.

Football equipment is becoming increasingly intelligent.

The evolution is not necessarily about adding technology for its own sake. In the A-Leagues, the objective is consistency: predictable flight, touch and rebound. In LaLiga, the objective is precision and information: knowing exactly where the ball is and when it was touched.

The commercial opportunity comes from what can be built around those capabilities.

As stadiums become more connected, broadcasts become more data-rich and clubs and leagues collect increasingly detailed information about matches, the football itself can become another input into that infrastructure.

It also changes the relationship between equipment manufacturers and competitions.

A match ball used to be primarily a physical product supplied to a league. Connected technology creates the possibility of the ball becoming part of a broader technology stack involving officiating systems, broadcast platforms, analytics and fan-facing digital products.

The A-Leagues are starting with the physical performance of the ball. LaLiga is showing what can happen when that physical object becomes connected.

The next generation of football technology may not be something players wear or referees use.

It may be the ball itself.

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