BBL Sign Tickets.com as Official Ticketing Partner

June 4, 2014

The British Basketball League have announced that they have signed a five-year deal that will see Tickets.com become Official Ticketing Partner of the league from the beginning of the new season in September. 

The new agreement will see Tickets.com named as the ‘official ticketing agent’ of the BBL, doctor exclusively managing all ticketing requirements for the league’s 14 clubs, mind which includes two new franchises set to make their Championship debut from September 2014.

Central to the partnership will be the development of the clubs’ fan engagement strategies, ambulance with Tickets.com and BBL working closely with all teams to encourage and facilitate increased online ticket sales.

Each club will utilise Tickets.com’s ProVenue® suite of products to manage ticket sales and provide CRM insight into purchasing and attendance traits. The white label ticketing solution will also allow each franchise to sell tickets via personalised ticketing pages, built into their existing club websites, which will be designed and built by Tickets.com to incorporate the team’s unique brand identity.

As well as ticketing all BBL Championship league fixtures, in which all BBL teams play each other three times, Tickets.com will also be responsible for BBL Trophy and BBL Cup matches.

Spectators will also be able to purchase tickets to all fixtures at www.tickets.com, the consumer-focused website re-launched in 2013 that provides all Tickets.com clients with an additional platform from which to generate ticket sales.

Commenting on the new partnership, David Leyden Dunbar, commercial director for the BBL, said: “I’m thrilled to welcome Tickets.com onto the growing roster of league-wide partners in what we are sure will be an exciting partnership for both parties.

“The company’s pedigree within this space is unquestionable as a privately held subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media, LP, the interactive media and Internet division of Major League Baseball as well as supplier to more than 300 sports and entertainment clients across the UK. A unified deal such as this will allow us to really drive forward our ability to engage with fans, and make their experience of interacting with us easier and more efficient, while also increasing the scale and share of online advance sales.

“Clubs and the BBL have seen significantly increased ticket sales this season, so this is an area of focus for us,” added Leyden Dunbar.

“In addition to this, I’m incredibly excited about the prospect of Tickets.com implementing tried and tested technology from the MLB to these shores, and using the BBL as their preferred partner.”

Giles Bayliss, Tickets.com Business Development Director, said: “We are delighted to enter into a long term partnership with the BBL, which will see us working closely to further grow the clubs’ game day attendances in line with their wider plans to grow the sport,” added.

“In addition, we aim to support the league in building on its relationships with the clubs, using our experience and expertise to develop how they market and sell tickets to their fans. This is an exciting development for both groups and as a first for a professional sports league in the UK, we are looking forward to creating a positive long term partnership with the BBL and all 14 teams, whilst building a showcase for how other sports can benefit from similar league-wide agreements.”

As part of its role as the official ticketing agent for the league, the Tickets.com logo will be present on court branding at all BBL fixtures, as well as included in the perimeter digital signage used for all televised fixtures.