Posts Tagged ‘search’

Watching ticket activity around the two hot national events this month – the Final Four and the Masters – reminds me of something I sometimes take for granted. 

My kids have no idea what a tea kettle is.  Or an LP record.  They also have no clue what the words “sold out” mean.

Since the ticket resale market has gone mainstream in the past decade, there is no such thing as “sold out.”  It is possible to get into almost any game or show, no matter how hot.  With tickets, just like any other commodity, demand creates supply.

That’s really the primary difference between the original distribution of tickets (the “primary market”) and the resale market.  There is no such thing as sold out. The other major difference between the two ticket markets is that fans have many choices where to buy from in the resale market, where the original box office ticket distribution is always contracted with a single company.

You choose to go to events.  You can choose your location and how much to spend.  You can choose who to buy from.  Enjoy those choices – and your ability, and right, to choose.

If it’s on your “bucket list,” this year may be a great year to catch the Masters or the Final Four.  Don’t forget that a few years ago this would not have been possible.

Mike

Just two more games until “One Shining Moment.”  What an incredible weekend of play!

The Wildcats and the Spartans obviously didn’t care about selection committee seedings, as two #1′s bit the dust.  This is how championships are supposed to be settled.  Hopefully college football is paying attention.

The Final Four is set, with the semifinals next Saturday Apr 4:

Connecticut vs. Michigan State

North Carolina vs, Villanova

The winners play for the National Championship Monday night, Apr 6.  There are 2600 tickets available, starting at $130*

* Ticket search results as of 4:14PT, price equals ticket price + commission.

The “Elite Eight” has been set, with all four #1 seeds still on a collision course. Louisville and North Carolina have been devastating, perhaps bringing thoughts of adding a “mercy rule” to the tournament next year, as they dispatched their opponents with ease.

Who’s going to Detroit? The winners of these games:

East (Saturday in Boston)

1 Pittsburgh vs. 3 Villanova

Prices starting at $100/ticket*

West (Saturday in Glendale)

1 Connecticut vs. 3 Missouri

Prices starting at $60/ticket*

South (Sunday in Memphis)

1 North Carolina vs. 2 Oklahoma

Prices starting at $20/ticket*

Midwest (Sunday in Indianapolis)

1 Louisville vs. 2 Michigan State

Prices starting at $55/ticket*

These prices are the most affordable in years.  Can’t make it?  Then fire up those flat panels!

Mike

* Ticket search results as of 9:30PT, price equals ticket price + commission.

Many thanks to the brothers (literally) over at AllMyFaves for naming FanSnap to their latest “weekly faves” list.  AllMyFaves is a pretty cool site that highlights the latest and greatest on the web in a really quick and easy format.  Over the years, we have discovered several great entertainment, kids, shopping, and travel sites on their recommendation.  If you get a minute, check it out.

Mike

As usual, the NFL released the dates for a handful of games early, all to be held on either Kickoff Weekend or Thanksgiving Day.

Sep 10 Tennessee Titans at Pittsburgh Steelers

Sep 13 Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers

Sep 14 Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots

Sep 14 San Diego Chargers at Oakland Raiders

Nov 26 Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions

Nov 26 Oakland Raiders at Dallas Cowboys

Nov 26 NY Giants at Denver Broncos

Since long-time season ticket holders already know their seat locations, some are already listing their tickets for sale, even before they physically receive them. Over the next few weeks you will see many more listings flood in.  A little known secret, if you want to lock that purchase in early.

While the 2009 NFL team match-ups have already been announced, the actual dates for the remainder of the schedule are typically released sometime in April.

Mike

March Madness continues…  After the opening round, 65 becomes 16.

What a great weekend with lots of overtimes and last second finishes!  All the top seeds are still alive, and the action moves to Boston, Memphis, Indianapolis, and Glendale.  The Big East is playing huge.  This year’s Cinderella is Arizona, who is making the critics who said they didn’t deserve an invitation feel foolish. Let the regionals begin!

East (Thu & Sat in Boston)

1 Pittsburgh vs. 4 Xavier

2 Duke vs. 3 Villanova

West (Thu & Sat in Glendale)

1 Connecticut vs. 5 Purdue

2 Memphis vs. 3 Missouri

South (Fri & Sun in Memphis)

1 North Carolina vs. 4 Gonzaga

2 Oklahoma vs. 3 Syracuse

Midwest (Fri & Sun in Indianapolis)

1 Louisville vs. 12 Arizona

2 Michigan State vs. 3 Kansas

I hope your bracket is in better shape than mine!

Mike

On September 23^rd last year we opened www.fansnap.com and told you our goal was to create “a “fast, easy (and free) way for you to find your perfect tickets.”   In announcing our beta site, we told you it was big job and asked for your help.  We asked you to tell us how to make it better.  You did.  We did.  We especially appreciate your feedback on the interactive maps.

We are pleased to announce that the FanSnap ticket search engine has officially launched, and today we unveiled a new version of the ticket search engine.  We are also happy to announce:

• FanSnap’s ticket results now include more than 13 million tickets to 40,000 events from 57 ticket companies, with the addition of newest partner eBay tickets;
• FanSnap’s dynamic FanSnap Maps have been created for 215 of the top venues in the U.S., with many more on the way;
• FanSnap’s new “best value” feature, which highlights at-a-glance those ticket offers that are priced significantly lower than surrounding offers;
• FanSnap’s new “view from seat” feature for many venues (e.g., try Dodger or Angel stadiums, Fenway or AT&T parks, or Wrigley or US Cellular Fields) that will be rolled out over the next month.

Our goal was to launch in time for you find great March Madness tickets, MLB tickets for opening day, and concert tickets to all the new tours being announced daily it seems.  Check it out; the choices and values are really fascinating.

Even though we are out of beta, please keep sending us your thoughtful suggestions using the feedback link on the site.   We have learned a lot through this process, and we know we still have lots of work to do.  In fact, we have a number of great new features already in development!

The FanSnap team is working hard, and the journey remains exhilarating.  The path to being as comprehensive, accurate, fast, and easy as possible never ends…   You have played a critical role on our launch team.  We could not have launched today without you.  Feel free to put this experience on your resume.  Put us down as your reference.

Thank you for telling so many of your friends and colleagues about FanSnap.  Please keep sending them our way.  Going to events has always been a great escape from the news of the day.  Especially in these economic times, we want to help you get the best value for your entertainment dollar.

We remain focused on fans.

Mike

With the last regular season games completed today, the real college basketball season starts.  It’s March, and you know what that means.

This week, the big conferences have their league tournaments.  A chance for the strongest teams to lock in those high NCAA seeds, and for those “on the bubble” to impress the selection committee and score a bid next Sunday to the Big Dance.

This week is where Cinderellas get their start.  Thinking of going?  Check out the wide choice of tickets still available:

ACC Tournament tickets (Atlanta)

Big Ten Tournament tickets (Indianapolis)

Big 12 Tournament tickets (Oklahoma City)

Big East Tournament tickets (NYC)

Pac 10 Tournament tickets (LA)

SEC Tournament tickets (Tampa)

Enjoy the games!

Mike

The map team has been working around the clock and we are pleased to announce that FanSnap now has more than 210 of our patent-pending interactive maps for your viewing pleasure.  We have built them out for MLB, NBA, NHL, concerts – we even have the NFL ready for when football tickets go on sale.

So many choices!  Cubs fans will want to use a FanSnap Map to check out the first Cubbies-Cards game of the year.  North-siders can check out the first White Sox-Twins game.  We have a little something for fans in pretty much every city.

Have fun checking out our comprehensive selection of ticket results from 57 ticketing companies (all at once!) in this easy-to-use way.  One day, sooner than you think, you will tell your kids about the old days when you used to have to look for tickets from a list!  Then you can tell them about walking to school in the snow, uphill, both ways.

Mike

By popular demand, FanSnap’s ticket results now include tickets from our newest partner, eBay.

Fans have been buying and selling tickets on eBay almost from the moment the pioneering web site launched.  Many ticket sellers only sell their tickets on eBay, so this announcement means lots of new ticket choices for you.

This brings us to 57 ticketing companies who have integrated with our FanSnap TicketData^sm system, giving “fans of FanSnap” by far the most comprehensive, accurate view of available tickets and prices from the best of the web.  Many, many thanks to the FanSnap and eBay teams that made this possible!

Mike

Fortune editor/writer Stephanie Mehta put together a nice article today chronicling the state of the live event tickets market. In it, she outlines how the ticket resale market has gone online, gone ‘legit,” and is rapidly growing.

When we launched the public beta of FanSnap this past Fall, we started with about twenty dynamic FanSnap Maps (patent pending). The plan was that fans could take them for a test drive, and we could learn a bit more, before we rolled them out.

Fans told us how much they appreciate being able to using the colored “heat map” markers to see ticket price ranges at a glance. Fans still can’t believe that when you ZOOM into our maps, you can actually see specific ticket offers from multiple providers with specific row labeling. Quickly spotting those light-colored low price tickets among the pricier tickets on the map appears to be among many fans’ “top three” delights, along with scoring a backstage pass, and catching a fly ball.

We learned a lot from how you used the maps, and from your thoughtful suggestions. We made some improvements (stay tuned for more surprises very soon). Then we unleashed our map team, who have been absolutely on fire! I am pleased to say that, with today’s release, we now have more than 160 FanSnap Maps live on FanSnap. … and many more coming!

If you haven’t already, give FanSnap Maps a spin.  We made them just for you.

Mike

p.s. Can’t wait?  Here’s a few hot upcoming events:

SUPERBOWL tickets

NBA

3/15/09 Mavericks @ Lakers tickets

4/10/09 Heat @ Celtics tickets

4/12/09 Celtics @ Cavaliers tickets

NHL

4/4/09 Ducks @ Sharks tickets

4/4/09 Rangers @ Bruins tickets

4/9/09 Flyers @ Rangers tickets

MLB (Opening Day)

4/3/09 Red Sox @ Mets tickets

4/3/09 Cubs @ Yankees tickets

4/6/09 Royals @ White Sox tickets

4/6/09 A’s @ Angels tickets

4/6/09  Rays @ Red Sox tickets

4/13/09 Rockies @ Cubs tickets

CONCERTS

3/19/09 Fleetwood Mac tickets (New York)

4/1/09 Springsteen tickets (San Jose)

4/24/09 Britney Spears tickets (Glendale)

I just read Darren Rovell’s (the sports business reporter at CNBC - and most recently with ESPN) article, “The Year of the Sports Fan,” in the New Republic.  His key theme is that a silver lining in the current economic situation is that sports fans should expect to see more lots more TLC from their teams.

OK, what most real NFL fans consider to be the “pre-season” has ended and now things count. It’s the playoffs.  Not only the usual “one and done” excitement but also lots of great story lines. Can the Giants repeat?  The amazing turnaround of the Dolphins from 1-15 last year to division winners this year.  The Cardinals in their first playoffs since their move to Arizona. The Chargers’ late surge. The post-Michael Vick Falcons.

Here at FanSnap, we have integrated systems with dozens of ticket sites, so we can check constantly for available NFL playoff tickets. In some cases as many as ten or more sites have tickets for a given game.  Nothing is better for fans than choice!  We check 50+ ticket sites so you don’t have to.  A daily snapshot of our ticket search results from the last several days shows how dynamic the available tickets can be and, how the price of the “cheap tickets” can vary from game to game.

You can see that available tickets for this weekend’s wild card games are generally declining, but many are still available.  Ticket choices for next week’s divisional playoffs are actually still increasing!  With all those tickets to choose from, surely we can help you find yours.  Of course, with all this buying and selling going on, if you have not yet found your perfect tickets, check back often!  Happy New Year!

Mike

I just went out with a bunch of Miami Hurricane friends to see their team play the Cal Bears in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.  What a great game!  I was also reminded that, with less than a week to go, it is still not too late to see this year’s best teams, maybe even your team, play in the BCS bowl games.

It used to be that when your team was invited to a bowl game, all the available tickets went to the athletic boosters and corporate sponsors, and there were not always that many tickets left for regular fans. Fortunately those days have gone the way of leather helmets.

FanSnap partners with dozens of ticketing sites, displaying ticket-level search results for all the BCS bowl games and guess what?  There are thousands of tickets still available.  Not quite ready to head back to work? Check out all your choices!

With so many choices, and games in such nice places, a road trip might be just the thing to bring in the New Year right.  Have a happy holiday!

Fans have told us loud and clear that, along with the location of the seats and great service, the most important element of their ticket search decision is the price.  Some fans are on a tight budget.  For some lucky fans, price is no object.  What everyone wants are the best seats for the price point they have budgeted, whatever it may be.

FanSnap was built to help fans quickly find the best values.  We continue to add partners to give you the largest choice possible.  We now show more than 7.5 million tickets from 56 providers, with many more coming! FanSnap Maps show ticket offers color coded by price range.  Our listings reflect both the ticket prices and any commissions by the ticket provider.

FanSnap’s key feature to help fans get the most for their money is our price control, located on both the event listings and tickets pages of your search engine.  Yes, you can even select an event from many event listings using price.  You want to see the least expensive Duke basketball tickets or Sharks hockey tickets offered all season?  No problem on FanSnap.

The price control on the tickets page shows the distribution of tickets by price range, at a glance.  This lets you know right up front the choices that are available if you spend a little more or less.  The taller the bar, the more tickets available.  The color of each bar, with lighter colors representing lower prices and darker colors representing higher prices, directly corresponds to the markers on the FanSnap Maps.

Roll your cursor over each bar to see the actual price range highlighted. Select your price range by moving either price slider.  Or, enter your desired lower or upper price directly into the input boxes if you would rather.  You can even just click directly on a price bar to select that price range.  Any of these actions will be instantly reflected in the ticket listings shown and dynamic FanSnap Maps, where available.

The FanSnap Team is continuing to improve your search engine to make it even faster and easier for you to find the sports, concert, and theatre tickets you want.  If you think we are on the right track, please keep telling your friends, family and colleagues.  Many thanks,

Mike

One of the most unique features of FanSnap is that we let fans see all of the available tickets for a “series” of events (with the same team, artist or show – and location) all at once. This feature comes in really handy when you have flexibility in your schedule and other factors such as the price, or the location where you want to sit, are more important to you. There is a huge payoff to being date-flexible, as fans don’t always realize that price and availability often can vary widely from performance to performance.

There are many examples where this comes in handy. Going to New York for a few days to celebrate the holidays, and need Broadway tickets? Compare all the available tickets for several performances of the same show at once. What a great way to get Wicked tickets!

Is your favorite artist playing more than one night in your town? This is the perfect way to find those Guns and Roses tickets, at that magic time when they play several nights in Staples Center. Please tour, Axl!

Want to cheer on your baseball team as they play their hated rival? Select your tickets from the entire homestand all at once. What better way to get Red Sox tickets vs. the Yankees, or Cubs tickets when they play interleague vs. the White Sox?

FanSnap was created to save you from burning up your valuable time “drilling” into and out of one ticketing site after another looking for exactly the tickets you want. You didn’t think we would stop there and ask you to do the same thing, wasting time examining every individual event, do you? Sometimes the powerful ideas are the most simple.

Why didn’t anyone else think of this? Don’t know. At FanSnap, what we do know is, we are focused on fans… and we are just getting started. We have a lot more great features coming, and soon. Please keep sending us suggestions and let us know how else we can make your life easier!

Mike

Guided by your suggestions, the FanSnap team has been hard at work relentlessly refining your ticket search engine.  One of our most useful improvements is our industry-first “comparable tickets” feature.

When the event, section, and row (and even seller “notes”) information for various ticket listings match, FanSnap now displays the ticket details only once, with quick links to each provider and their price, rather than repeating the entire entry for each listing.  No more endlessly scrutinizing listings to see if they appear to be similar!  You can now easily see “comparable tickets” at-a-glance.

Are these “comparable” listings actually the exact same ticket set being offered by one seller on different ticket sites (which happens sometimes), or are they just different ticket offers in the same row? That is often not possible for us to know, since the ticket sellers, for a variety of reasons, rarely include the seat data in their listings.  What we do know is that these listings are literally in the same row.

Fans have let us know that they value choice.  By presenting your ticket search results in this way, once you choose which ticket location you want, you can then easily decide which provider to buy from based on the factors that are important to you personally – known brands, prior experience or existing account already set up, price, local provider, or perhaps other services such as local pick-up.  It’s your choice!

How do we do it?  If you don’t care and are just glad it works, great.  Have fun finding tickets to that next great event!  If you do care, read on…

FanSnap partners with many of the best ticket providers in the U.S. (we are now up to 56!) to receive the latest ticket-level data feeds, which we compile in our FanSnap TicketData system.  As you may know from visiting different ticket sites, each provider may use slightly different names for events, venues, and sometimes even teams, artists, or shows.  It’s part of what makes surfing for tickets across multiple ticketing sites such a pain.

So, for you, the fans, we “scrub” all this ticket data from our partners to make it fast and easy for you to compare the results you see.  It is a challenge and definitely a work-in-progress.  If you see any listings that do not look right, let us know by clicking on the feedback link on any page, and we will get right on it.  (If you have other ideas for improvements, please keep them coming as well!)

That’s the secret.  Don’t tell anyone.  Except other fans, of course.

Mike

We are getting lots of great feedback on our FanSnap Maps.  It’s a good thing we got all that patent application paperwork submitted!  Many fans seem to think we are on to something here.  The biggest request we are getting is how quickly can we roll them out?  Fans are clearly excited to see a ticket site with more than just a list of tickets and a bad map.

We launched with about 20 dynamic maps and, as we planned, have been making improvements based on all the great suggestions we are getting.  Better row labels?  You got it.  We will continue to add maps as fast as we can, based on fan requests and the event season.  Our goal is absolutely to build dynamic maps for every venue that you care about.  We also have more new features coming!

You have told us your favorite feature of FanSnap Maps is the heat mapping, which makes ticket values so obvious.  The lighter color markers reflect the lower prices and the darker color markers reflect the higher prices.  The delight of zooming in, spotting and buying the low-priced ticket offer surrounded by more expensive tickets seems to be many a fan’s new delight.

Many ticket sellers also are happy with the FanSnap Maps as they are a great tool for helping them set their asking prices.  You know, ticket sellers are a bit like house sellers.  Some really don’t want to sell that bad, so they ask a really high price (the web site Zillow calls this the “make me move” price) – these are the high prices you often see noted in news articles.  No one ever really pays these amounts.

On the other hand, you have motivated sellers who drop their price because they really want to sell.  Often when they do this on other sites, nothing happens. No one notices, amongst all the listings.  On FanSnap, that great value shows up immediately as a light colored marker for all potential buyers to see.  That’s why you should check back with us often for the events on your radar.

Check out the FanSnap Maps for Phillies tickets for the World Series this weekend – what a wide variety of providers and prices!   The news may be no fun these days, but whether you are looking for AC/DC tickets or Celine Dion tickets, it is always a great time to be a fan!

Mike