NFL Scores Secondary Deal

Major League Baseball’s signing of a secondary ticketing partnership with StubHub earlier this year may have initially sent shockwaves through the sports world, but a trend seems imminent as the National Football League plans to ink a secondary ticketing deal of its own.

NFL owners have already placed votes to partner with one of six secondary ticketing companies including StubHub, viagogo, Ticketmaster, TicketsNow, Seat Exchange or Flash Seats, a source reportedly close to the league told the Jacksonville Business Journal. The selection is expected to be announced in the near future.

While many teams in the league have existing secondary ticketing deals in place – Ticketmaster’s TicketExchange operates for about half of the NFL’s teams and StubHub has deals with another eight – the selected company could reportedly begin operating as the official league-wide ticket reseller as early as Super Bowl 2008.

But the company that secures the NFL deal will still have to play by team rules.

The New England Patriots filed suit against StubHub last November claiming the company encourages violations of anti-scalping laws as well as the team’s own rules against reselling tickets for profit.

No matter which company the league partners with, "They have to abide by our rules and the state law, and that is part of the resolution whomever gets this has to agree to," Patriots owner Robert Kraft told the Journal.