viagogo, Europe's leading secondary ticketing service, today continued its North American expansion with an innovative ticketing deal with the NFL's New York Jets.
The Jets have named viagogo as their Official Victory Pass Provider, making the viagogo Victory Pass™ the official channel to offer fans guaranteed playoff tickets at face value.
"We're excited to announce the launch of the viagogo Victory Pass Exchange and to partner with the New York Jets," said Eric Baker, chief executive officer of viagogo. "All fans want the opportunity to see and support their teams in the big game, but as we all know that can be a costly endeavor. viagogo Victory Passes guarantee fans face-value tickets to see their team take the field in the postseason."
With the deal announced today, viagogo has created a new sponsorship category in the international professional sports marketplace. It marks the first time that an NFL team has officially offered fans (other than season ticket holders) a way to guarantee face-value tickets to contingent playoff games.
The viagogo Victory Pass Exchange gives fans the guaranteed right to playoff tickets at face value if their team makes it to the playoffs. viagogo Victory Pass prices will vary as the season evolves, but as of Sept. 2 were they were selling for as low as $31 for the Jets.
As the season progresses and the teams move up and down in the conference standings, the value of a viagogo Victory Pass will fluctuate based on market demand and each team's playoff prospects. Once a fan purchases a Victory Pass, he or she will be able to hold it until the end of the season or resell it on the viagogo Victory Pass Exchange.
"Victory Pass provides an innovative way for fans to get behind their team early and reap the benefits if the playoffs should come to pass," said Matthew Higgins, the Jets' executive vice president for business operations. "Viagogo has created a unique product that rewards the most loyal, diehard fans in the NFL who always believe their team is destined for the playoffs."
viagogo's Official Victory Pass category sponsorship with the Jets includes a range of marketing and promotional consideration, including season ticket holder direct mailings, featured links on the team Website and other online marketing, in-stadium signage and messaging, and on-air broadcast promotion.
In addition to the official team partnership with the Jets announced today, viagogo has also signed an exclusive Victory Pass partnership with the Cleveland Browns and is offering Victory Passes for all 32 NFL teams. Victory Passes are available now.
About viagogo
viagogo is Europe's leading ticket exchange that allows people to buy and sell live event tickets in a safe and 100 percent guaranteed way. viagogo is bringing efficiency and transparency to what has traditionally been a murky marketplace. By managing payment and delivery, viagogo guarantees that buyers will receive their tickets and sellers will receive payment.
Launched in August 2006 with landmark deals to become the official secondary ticketing partner of two of the leading English football clubs, Manchester United and Chelsea, viagogo became the only legal way to resell tickets to these clubs. Special laws in England make it illegal to resell tickets for football matches. Similar partnerships followed with German giants Bayern Munich, Everton, Portsmouth, Hearts and leading rugby clubs Leicester Tigers and London Wasps.
In August 2007, viagogo launched operations in the U.S. with an exclusive partnership with the NFL's Cleveland Browns.
Deals followed with companies including The Independent, Lastminute.com and Warner Music International, which became the first music label to partner with a secondary ticketing company. A deal between viagogo and Live Nation in the Netherlands was the first partnership between a secondary ticketing company and a music promotion company. viagogo also works to promote charity ticket auctions with artists such as James Blunt and Peter Gabriel.
In May 2008, viagogo struck a partnership to become the official premium and secondary ticketing partner for Madonna's Sticky and Sweet European tour. This marked the first time an artist signed a deal of this kind, signaling a dramatic shift for both the recording and ticketing industries and proving viagogo to be a true market leader. viagogo now provides fans with its safe, secure exchange in the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands and the United States. Further expansion across Europe will follow in the near future.
viagogo was founded by Eric Baker, the co-founder of StubHub.com, the leading online secondary ticketing company in the U.S. that was acquired in 2007 by eBay for $307 million.
