VenuesNow (08/29/19) Newcomb, Tim

Uptix is offering sports teams and concessionaires new applications for adding stored value to ticket barcodes. "There is more opportunity to do different things because there are so many games," argues Debbi Blackburn with Uptix parent company Givex. "You can incentivize people to continue to come and fill the seats or maybe you want to reward people who are there." More teams have started using stored value as in-game promotions, and Uptix can shuttle money onto tickets in real time by working with ticketing vendors on the back end to know all barcodes in a specific section, row or seat. Uptix also can load value onto a ticket to work for specific products, whether it is money available for use only at concessions or for specific items in the team shop — which also can help direct traffic to certain locations. By linking to a team's point-of-sale system, Uptix can monitor total expenditures resulting from the promotion. "Teams maybe don't have to fill seats, but they may want to reward the people who are there," Blackburn says. "There are different ways of doing things depending on if you are trying to fill seats by giving them incentives or want to offer surprise and delights to thank fans for doing business."

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