Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, is returning to its former ticketing vendor, Ticketmaster, only a year or so into its seven-year contract with SeatGeek.
BSE Global, which is the parent company of the venue, named SeatGeek as its new official ticketing partner in July 2021.
Barclays Center is the home of National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise the Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA’s New York Liberty, and the SeatGeek partnership took off in October 2021.
According to the New York Times, just over a year later, BSE Global has returned to Ticketmaster, which it utilised for almost a decade before its switch to SeatGeek.
The move to Ticketmaster was revealed recently when Barclays announced a concert by singer and producer Jackson Wang in May, with a link to Ticketmaster. The report added that SeatGeek currently remains at the ticket vendor for a number of events on the venue’s calendar, but will be gradually replaced by Ticketmaster for new concerts and sporting matches.
Larry Miller, the director of the music business programme at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, told the NY Times: “It’s very rare for such a cancellation. Ticketing platform deals with venue owners are not of short duration.
“I can’t think of a time over the last decade where a major venue has dropped a ticketing platform early on in the deal cycle.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for BSE Global said that SeatGeek “provided our fans with a first-class game day ticketing experience, and we’re appreciative of the time and energy they put into our work together”.
Danielle du Toit, president of SeatGeek, added in a statement: “It’s never easy to part ways with a client, but as we look to the future, SeatGeek is grounded in our strategy and road map that are geared towards solving the challenges that plague the live entertainment experience.”