Taylor Heinicke, No. 4 of the Washington Football Team, celebrates after defeating the Seattle Seahawks at FedExField on November 29, 2021, in Landover, Maryland.
Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesThe Washington Commanders and SeatGeek, a mobile-focused ticket platform that enables users to buy and sell tickets for live sports, concerts and theater events, have agreed to a multi-year ticketing agreement.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but league sources tell Forbes it is the Commanders’ richest sponsorship deal of any kind and the most annual guaranteed money for any ticketing deal in the NFL. Given the team’s other big sponsorships, like its 27-year, $205 million stadium naming rights deal with FedEx, the SeatGeek deal likely guarantees the Commanders an average of somewhere between $10 million and $12 million a year.
The team will almost certainly earn much more because it will also receive incremental revenue from the amount of tickets sold. Ryan Moreland, chief partnership officer for the Commanders, negotiated the deal with SeatGeek. The four-year deal, according to a source, begins in 2023, with a team option to extend it. The Commanders have been rumored to be preparing to move into a new stadium in 2027.
Team president Jason Wright tells Forbes: “This groundbreaking and franchise-record-setting partnership continues our work in challenging the status quo and delivering a gold standard experience for our fans. SeatGeek is transforming the ticketing industry, and we are excited to harness their boldness and innovation for our fan experience.”
He adds: “As we bring in talent to deliver on our promise to bring championship performance on and off the field, we know SeatGeek is the right fit not only because of their products for fans but their commitment to fans. I can’t wait to get started.”
According to a press release obtained by Forbes, “starting with the 2023-24 season, the Commanders will benefit from Unify, SeatGeek’s back-end technology platform that allows teams, theaters and arenas to create, sell and manage access to their live entertainment ecosystem.” That ecosystem includes sales and inventory management, CRM and data and insights.
The release goes on to say that fans will benefit from SeatGeek’s products to elevate their game-day experience, including Deal Score, SeatGeek Mobile App and Rally, event-day technology for fans.
For SeatGeek, which replaces Live Nation’s Ticketmaster as the team’s primary ticketing partner, the upside is the expectation that Washington’s ticket sales will increase. The Commanders went 7-10 last season and averaged less than 53,000 fans per game, second-fewest in the NFL.
In June, SeatGeek and black-check firm RedBall Acquisition Corp. decided to terminate their $1.35 billion take-public deal amid a tumultuous market.
