"StubHub, Paciolan go mobile for four schools"

From SportsBusiness Journal

Review by William Spreen in KIN 332 (section 1)

Smart phones have made it possible to access immeasurable amounts of information and the ability to perform services anywhere a person could possibly desire. Whether it is checking the score of a game, finding directions with GPS coordination, shopping, or even renting your favorite movie to watch in the palms of your hands these phones continue to change the ways in which both businesses and individuals conduct business and leisure activities everyday. “StubHub, Paciolan Go Mobile For Four Schools” is an eye-opening article in the August 27th issue of the Sports Business Journal discussing the introduction of mobile ticketing to NCAA college football.

North Carolina, Purdue, Tennessee and Texas are the four schools that are introducing mobile ticketing for this upcoming season. In the words of Greg Ivry, Stubhub’s business development manager, “Mobile is a seamless experience that allows fans to buy a ticket on their phone. Receive a new barcode for that ticket and then scan it at the gate and get your seat.” Forget stopping by the box office or even printing out the tickets at home, this new form of service provides consumers with the convenience of having a ticket within a matter of seconds. Making it this easy for the consumer to purchase will result in new marketing and sales strategies for both Stubhub and the University introducing mobile ticketing.

Stubhub is affiliated with thirty colleges for ticketing services, however only a few maintain legitimate sponsorship deals. With more universities embracing the secondary ticket market industry I believe that this new form of convenience will soon become the norm of the college sports world. According to Paciolan eighty percent of school’s currently have the technology to scan barcodes off of phones. The Internet in recent years has proved to be a major game changer bringing in new ways for fans to purchase tickets. This leaves you to wonder what is in store for the athletic marketing and sales world with the dawn of the Smartphone era.