Second league English football club West Bromwich Albion FC has partnered with ticketing engagement platform SecuTix to implement their blockchain ticketing platform TIXnGO and ticketing solution SecuTix 360. The software will be in place for the 21/22 season, which will start at the end of the Summer.
Due to the pandemic, during the past season, football clubs played matches in empty stadiums. West Bromwich’s partnership for two ticketing solutions emphasizes the urgency to maximize ticket revenue this coming season.
While conventional businesses use customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, SecuTix 360 is the equivalent for a football club, enabling the club to sell tickets across different channels and run promotion campaigns. TIXnGO aims to ensure ticket traceability and authenticity.
Mobile ticketing is not a new concept, and the pandemic certainly sped up the rate at which venues adopted these solutions. While mobile ticketing makes the process more efficient and less time consuming, it is still subject to fraud, improper reselling, and double selling. Blockchain technology has the potential to address these concerns, and TIXnGO is a prominent solution in blockchain-based mobile ticketing.
Since the ticket is encrypted and logged using blockchain, it removes the risk of counterfeits and facilitates reselling and transferring the ticket. This gives West Bromwich more control over secondary markets and it can potentially impose price ceilings on reselling prices, as well as track suspicious activity for reselling.
TIXnGO’s app will also feature a Covid self-certification. For fans who have been socially distant for over a year, entering into a crowded stadium can be a bit of a shock. Therefore any additional process that can make fans feel safe in a crowd should ease the transition to the stadium’s regular capacity.
“Fan experience and engagement sits at the core of the SecuTix platform and it’s this connected nature that really appeals to our values,” says Mark Miles, West Bromwich Albion’s Operations Director. “We’re excited about working with SecuTix over the coming years to improve the all-round ticketing experience for our supporters – existing and new.”
SecuTix’s 360 solution was used at the 2015 Champions League and Europa League Finals, as well as throughout UEFA Euro 2016. SecuTix also secured a deal with UEFA Euro 2020, the event that was delayed and is currently in progress.
Meanwhile, Lancashire County Cricket Club, which plays at Manchester United’s stadium, was planning to use TIXnGO’s solution for its 2020 season. Dutch team Ajax also partnered with TIXnGO, and the men’s team started selling tickets through the platform this past season.
