Leadership / 11.10.21
SeatGeek’s D’Souza on Making It Through the Pandemic
Teddy Durgin
Russell D'Souza
If ever there was a ticketing platform built to survive the pandemic, it wasn’t going to be one named SeatJock or SeatRebel. It was going to be … SeatGeek! Founded by smart guys Russell D’Souza and Jack Groetzinger more than decade ago, SeatGeek Inc. has made it through the COVID-19 crisis and thrived. So much so that it made headlines last month when it agreed to go public by merging with RedBall Acquisition Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company, at a valuation of $1.35 billion. The deal is on track to close in the first quarter of 2022.
For D’Souza, it’s been the culmination of a lot of hard work and smart decision-making especially during the past 20 months. “COVID-19 was an unprecedented time for our industry,” D’Souza says. “We came into it with a strong business, incredible investors and a healthy balance sheet. So, we knew we’d survive a prolonged period with reduced revenue. During COVID-19, we ensured that we did not lose sight of our clients. We actually increased hiring during the pandemic to support our clients, and we invested in further improving our product. That investment resonated with the market, and we had the strongest sales period in company history with major brands like Jujamcyn Theaters, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment joining our client base.”
SeatGeek allows both desktop and mobile app users to browse events and view interactive color-coded seat maps, then complete purchases and receive either electronic or print tickets. It was originally launched as an aggregator of listings on the secondary ticketing market. Today, it operates as both a secondary marketplace and direct box office ticket seller for sports teams and live event venues. Clients include such professional sports franchises as the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Pelicans, along with Major League Soccer.
Now with so much of the population vaccinated or getting the COVID-19 shots, more and more live events are back on. So, how has SeatGeek been re-geared for people to start buying tickets again in larger numbers? “The industry is seeing incredible demand for live events again,” D’Souza says. “Since a lot of fans haven’t bought tickets in over a year, we have a chance to reintroduce ourselves in a more powerful way. We went through a complete rebrand that will strengthen our relationship with our existing user base but also help win over new fans.”
SeatGeek also recently started giving buyers the option to return their tickets — for any reason — and receive a credit toward another event in the future. This new feature, known as SeatGeek Swaps, gives purchasers who return their tickets at least 72 hours prior to any event a credit equal to the purchase price and any fees paid.
According to D’Souza, SeatGeek is offering this new option as the pandemic has pushed all types of purchases online, which, in turn, has introduced new uncertainty to planning in-person get-togethers. The company is also looking to get out ahead of future trends. Moving forward, D’Souza says he expects “fans will demand more flexibility about attending events. We’ve seen Broadway, for example, adopt a very liberal policy around returning tickets for any reason. That flexibility has never made its way to the secondary market where fans have been told for many years ‘all sales are final.’ We are excited to have announced Swaps to provide that type of flexibility to fans.”
For D’Souza, it’s all about facing challenges and overcoming them. “Every company in our space has been challenged with the sheer unknown of the pandemic,” he says. “It’s human nature to let each news headline affect your disposition. It took discipline among our leadership team to be level-headed and have confidence in our projections about when live entertainment would return. I’m glad that we invested through the pandemic, as it’s made us a stronger company on the other side.”
D’Souza concludes, “It feels like every week of the past month we have had a major stadium concert tour announced for 2022. The demand we’re seeing across the industry shows that fans are very eager to come back.”
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Tags: Leadership , COVID-19 , Coronavirus , Reopening