VenuesNow (08/06/2020) Muret, Don
Ticketmaster has developed a new social distancing seating tool to help live event venues sell tickets for events with reduced capacity. The software, designed by Chief Strategy Officer Dave Scarborough and his crew, uses customized algorithms tied to variables, like the total number of seats and distance between them, plus the percentage of capacity arenas and stadiums are allowed to hold. Ticketmaster President Amy Howe confirmed that NFL teams are using the technology in the upcoming season, and some big arenas, such as American Airlines Center, Amway Center and Moda Center, are in early stages of adopting the tool. “The great thing about this is it’s working on a lot of the technology and platforms we already built, such as Virtual Venue, our integrated seat map,” Howe says. “It’s pretty much plug and play, where you can run literally tons of different scenarios to meet the [seating] requirements.” This tool can remap a seating bowl in two minutes and adjust seating depending on type of event and its demographics, all while following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. “The other piece of this is we also have to make sure that fans feel comfortable coming back into a venue,” Howe says. “It gives that fan greater peace of mind that the venue has been thoughtful about managing it. Everybody has their own risk profile when it comes to returning to live events. We’ve tried to help restore that confidence.”
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