Blockchain Turns Ticket Stub into New Point of Fan Engagement

Blockchain Turns Ticket Stub into
New Point of Fan Engagement

Blockchain, the backbone of next-gen information and financial technology, will inevitably disrupt how sports properties conduct their business. Ticketing is believed to be among the first processes likely to be improved as adoption grows.

The tech enhances “security, transferability, and validation, and it creates additional capabilities for rightsholders,” David Lane (CEO, Sports Illustrated Tickets) said. 

Including turning a useless digital stub into a new point of fan engagement.

“A ticket that everybody attending an event possesses, but has historically been discarded once entering the venue, [presents] a great opportunity for teams and artists to [communicate] with their fans,” Lane said (think: short video content, custom rewards offerings, targeted sponsor messages). “It doesn't replace other channels; it’s another way that the team can interact with fans and improve their experience.”

To be clear, no one is suggesting that primary market ticketing is ‘broken’. Fraud is not rampant. Gates are not being torn down by mobs of fans with fake or used barcodes. And the establishment provides a stable ticketing ecosystem that enables the market to operate efficiently.

There simply haven’t been many advancements in recent years.

Sports Illustrated Tickets began its foray into ticketing in ’21. The company initially launched a secondary marketplace to compete with StubHub and Vivid Seats. 

Box Office, its primary market solution, debuted two years later.

“We built that end-to-end offering to compete with [Ticketmaster and dozens of other] SAAS ticketing solutions” Lane said. “List, sell, transfer, gate scan, financial reconciliation; [it does] everything that a venue or [operator] needs to manage their event.”

And unlike the existing market leaders, Sports Illustrated built its ecosystem onchain. The company mints NFT tickets on Avalanche (Ava Labs is one of its investors). 

The blockchain creates some efficiencies for the business. The bulk of them exist on the back end (think: reducing fraud, improving data insights).

That is by design. 

"You'll never see the word blockchain or the acronym NFT [on the Sports Illustrated Tickets app]. You'll never have to KYC yourself to get in,” Lane said.

The platform takes care of it all for users. The company understands that most fans aren’t going to be comfortable downloading meta-mask or opening a digital wallet, and it didn’t want to slow adoption. 

And its interface looks and feels like any other ticketing platform. Fans will not know they’re purchasing tickets that reside onchain.

But behind the scenes, the Web3 tech gives the challenger ticketing company –and by proxy, rights owners/venue operators using its solution– additional capabilities that can improve fan engagement and the in-stadium experience.

“That is what the marketplace hasn’t started to understand yet,” Lane said.

The barcode that currently resides in a digital trash can can be transformed into a vehicle that delivers valuable content (think: game preview, in-game clips), exclusive access, or personalized offers to the ticket holder before, during, or after an event.

And it resides “in a place –in your phone– where weeks later you can go back and watch a memory or highlight from a game or concert you attended. It sits [there] in your wallet as a minted NFT,” Lane said.

Sports Illustrated Tickets isn’t the first to suggest blockchain could help push ticketing forward. Ted Leonsis has been banging that drum since at least 2021.

However, it is the most prominent ticketing company to lean into the tech. ~200 venues and events across North America and Western Europe use its Web3 powered platform.

“The events are everything from airshows to basketball tournaments to motocross [and] [music] festivals,” Lane said.

Come February ’26, the company will assume primary ticketing responsibilities for MLS’ New York Red Bulls and the NWSL’s Gotham FC. The two clubs play their home games at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, NJ.

It will become “the first professional stadium in the world to go fully onchain,” Lane said.

Sports Illustrated Tickets understands that ticketing software is a commodity. 

“There are plenty of companies that can manage an event and issue a ticket that can get [fans] in the door,” Lane said.

So, it is focused on selling the enhanced fan experience it provides.

“Every guest that comes to one of our partner venues can get their own Sports Illustrated fan cover branded from the game with their picture on it and commemorative tickets, and they will see SI content and interactive storytelling throughout,” Lane said.

There are 40 locations inside Sports Illustrated Stadium that feature giant SI covers, images, and/or stories. Fans can scan the QR code next to each and mint, store, and collect them all–and those that do are rewarded with credits to purchase tickets and other Red Bull-related loyalty benefits.

The company also sponsors high-end hospitality offerings at fan-friendly prices (think: the Sports Illustrated Ticket Club at Sports Illustrated Stadium is $50/seat and includes F&B) and gives its rights owner partners free wallet credits for their fans to use on its secondary market platform.

“You’re not going to see that kind of fan engagement and value add from other ticketing companies,” Lane said.

Sports Illustrated Tickets intends to announce another professional that will be adopting its tech in the months ahead. But no one should expect a rapid shift towards the company’s onchain ecosystem. 

Venues/event operators tend to resist major infrastructure changes, many of those willing to consider a new option are tied up in multi-year contracts, and even if Sports Illustrated Tickets is ultimately chosen in an RFP process the transition takes time.

“You can’t just flip a switch, take a professional sports stadium, and move ticketing platforms,” Lane said. “A proper transition takes 6 months, and the venue ticket operations team needs to lead that process. They are critically important to the long-term success of any ticketing partner.”

Inertia certainly exists, but the opportunity to use ducats for more than just getting into a venue is seemingly an endeavor worth pursuing.

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