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For more than 12 years, StubHub has been an online destination where people can buy tickets for sports, entertainment and other events at stadiums and arenas.
On June 1, StubHub itself became a sports and entertainment destination when its six-year naming rights deal—a first for the company—began at the venue formerly known as The Home Depot Center, which is owned by AEG.
StubHub, a division of eBay, said its makeover for the 10-year-old stadium would encompass much more than just changing 1,000 signs and printing new letterheads. According to the San Francisco-based firm, “just as StubHub has utilized technological innovation to revolutionize the ticketing industry, StubHub will do the same in transforming the live event experience at StubHub Center, with a focus on providing several ‘fan-friendly’ activation components at the facility.”
Visitors to the stadium, located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, will start to see changes as soon as the official ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 19. The ceremony will take place right before Major League Soccer’s defending champions, the Los Angeles Galaxy, take on the Portland Timbers.
StubHub also will tap into the popularity of its current “spokesperson” and social-media celebrity, Ticket Oak, who appears in StubHub’s most recent marketing campaign.
Located in the southwest plaza of The StubHub Center, the 1,600-square-foot “Ticket Oak Backyard” will be a multimedia destination anchored by a digital wall comprised of nine flat-screen TVs. There, fans can “generate content [that can be] displayed in real time,” according to StubHub, such as Tweets and Vines.
The wall won’t just be home to social-media content, though, with highlights of the game or concert in progress, previews of upcoming events and other interactive information about the stadium and other venues also popping up.
StubHub Center employees—known as “brand ambassadors”—will circulate around the Ticket Oak Backyard much like employees at an Apple store. Equipped with iPads, they’ll be able to upgrade tickets, answer questions about upcoming events and share current information such as roster changes and amenities available in the stadium.
Those brand ambassadors also will be available throughout the venue to sign people to a fan-rewards program, sell tickets to upcoming events at StubHub Center and other AEG venues and to offer real-time solutions for any situations that might arise, such as ticket disputes, lost kids and so forth.
Finally, four booths in the stadium’s north end zone will allow visitors to create personalized mementoes of their experience at the stadium using their ticket stubs and iPad photo technology. StubHub said that’s an outgrowth of a program that’s been successful at AEG’s Staples Center in Los Angeles, home to the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers, and the NHL’s Kings.
Off-site, The StubHub Center is currently ramping up its presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, with a home web page relaunch scheduled to coincide with The StubHub Center’s opening on June 19.
In addition to the Galaxy, the 125-acre StubHub Center also is home to MLS’s Chivas USA; is an official US Olympic and Paralympic Training Site; and houses the training centers for the US Soccer Federation, the US Tennis Association and USA Cycling. StubHub said it would work with each of the teams and associations to share technology and information and to implement fan-friendly amenities during all events.
Barry Janoff is director of sports media marketing initiatives for PromaxBDA. He also is the executive editor for NYSportsJournalism.com which covers national sports marketing, business and media news; and a contributing writer for Yahoo! and MediaPost.
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