IN THE KNOW WITH @STUBHUBJO

At StubHub, it's more than just tickets -- it's about putting your game face (or rocker hair) on and being a fan. My job is a new bag of tricks every day, filled with fans from all walks of life. Stay in the know and get the inside scoop on all things StubHub with me here.

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  1. Final Four from a Kansas Insider’s Perspective

    Can you believe we’re already at the Final Four?! It feels like March Madness is flying by this year. (Though, doesn’t it every year – especially once your bracket is busted?) To get us all pumped up for tip-off this weekend, I sat down with Jason Booker, general manager of Jayhawk IMG Sports Marketing, to get a little insider’s perspective on what the scene is like for a Kansas fan.


    JF: First of all, congratulations to all of Kansas’ success. What has the scene been like at KU the last couple weeks?

    JB: Lawrence is always a great place during tournament time. There were 8,000 people in Allen Fieldhouse who showed up to welcome the team home at 1 AM – that tells you the passion our fans have for the basketball program! The Jayhawks have been to 23 straight NCAA Men’s basketball tournaments, so we’ve gotten used to the enormous fun and excitement during college basketball’s post season this time of the year.

    JF: What were you doing this past weekend? Were you down in St. Louis at the games?

    JB: I was in St. Louis for the games as IMG College, which represents multimedia rights, licensing, and sponsorship sales for KU, had several clients there. The best part about going to the tournament games is the great pep rally events the athletic department and our alumni association put on prior to each game. It is a great gathering place for fans and sponsors, and you always run into old friends you haven’t see for a while.

    JF: Kansas last won the National Championship in 2008 down in San Antonio, how does this run compare so far?

    JB: That was my first year coming back to Kansas as the General Manager for IMG College. Between the Orange Bowl victory and the basketball National Championship it was a pretty memorable first year. I think what has been special about this year’s tournament is the job our coaching staff has done to get everyone to buy into the team concept. We lost so many guys to the NBA last year that from a fan perspective the expectations might have been a little lower (although expectations are always high here), so it has been really fun watching this team grow and gel together. I also think it has been fun with the first two locations being in Omaha and St. Louis where so many of our fans could be a part of it.

    JF: We’ve seen a majority of tickets purchased on StubHub this week come from the state of Kentucky (37%). Do you expect to see a lot of Kansas fans travel down to New Orleans or will the Big Easy be completely covered by Big Blue Nation?

    JB: With Louisville and Kentucky both being in the tournament that would make sense, but I promise you there will be a large contingent of KU fans. We have one of the best fan bases in the country and we will be well represented. Just to show how passionate and loyal Jayhawks fans are, the school was recently voted the winner of the inaugural Naismith Student Section of the Year Award.

    JF: The Big 12 is undergoing some pretty significant changes next year as Missouri departs for the SEC. How do you think losing the Border War will affect the ticket demand going into next season?

    JB: I don’t think it will impact ticket demand in Allen Fieldhouse at all because it is always pretty high.  Certainly with what could have been the last game of the series with Missouri taking place in Allen Feldhouse it was a tough ticket, but overall demand is always high to get into Allen.

    JF: Will you be going to the Final Four?

    JB: I will be going down to the Final Four tomorrow as we have several clients going down.  It is a great place to network and promote the Jayhawk brand to current and potential customers. Rock Chalk!

    JF: Any predictions for next weekend?

    JB: I’d never want to jinx things with a prediction. I will say that IMG College represents all four school teams playing in the Final Four this weekend…but I am no doubt pulling for the Jayhawks.

     
     

  2. Jo’s Guide to Picking Your Bracket - Part 1

    March Madness is here at last! The brackets were unveiled yesterday and as soon as the match-ups were announced, fans across America began scrambling to fill out their brackets. Fortunately for those of you who aren’t quite sure how to make your 2012 picks, I’m here to provide tips to help you gain an edge in your office pool.

    Let’s face it, picking the Final Four is pretty random. Last year, out of the 5.9 million brackets filled out last year on ESPN.com, only TWO brackets had the correct Final Four. So, it’s safe to assume that picking all No. 1 or No. 2 isn’t going to get you that perfect bracket you desire. Maybe StubHub can help make sense of March Madness. This morning, I dove deep into StubHub’s wealth of ticketing data to pull some interesting facts about this year’s crop of schools to see if we can figure out who could be left standing at the Final Four in New Orleans. This is the first of three installments as I provide a guide to alternative theories of bracketology.

    Quick shameless plug: If you haven’t checked out the March Madness Challenge, I strongly urge you to sign up. StubHub partnered with numberFire and Thrillist. You have the chance to win $100,000 as well as other great prizes!

    TICKETING DATA

    Since we’ve established that it’s fairly hard to accurately predict the Final Four, I wanted to see if we could use StubHub ticketing statistics to make a more accurate prediction. One of the ways I approached this is by looking at ticket statistics from 2011’s Final Four teams and finding comparisons to teams in this year’s field. We took the number of tickets sold on StubHub throughout the entire season and tried to find four teams that roughly featured the same profile as the teams from 2011. We crunched the numbers of tickets sold per school and found our list of 2012 Final Four teams.

    In 2011, we had two established powers in Kentucky and Connecticut, mixed with two mid-major schools in VCU and Butler. You can see the vast gap between schools. Butler was aided from the fact that 2010 was their first Final Four run. If not, their ticket sales in 2011 would’ve been considerably lower.

    2011 Final Four – Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

    East: Kentucky – 8200+ tickets sold in 2010-11

    West: Connecticut – 7000+ tickets sold in 2010-11

    Southwest: VCU – Less than 100 tickets sold in 2010-11

    Southeast: Butler – 650+ tickets sold in 2010-11 

    We then looked at the different regions in the 2012 bracket and found four comparisons that would create a Final Four with regular season team ticket sales similar to the 2011 teams. Here’s our Final Four predictions based on our ticketing data:

    2012 Final Four Prediction – Mercedes Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

    East: #11 Texas — 8000+ tickets sold in 2011-12

    West: #4 Louisville – 7000+ tickets sold in 2011-12

    South:  #5 Wichita State – Less than 100 tickets sold in 2011-12

    Midwest: #7 St. Mary’s – 650+ tickets sold in 2011-12



    These predictions have nothing to do with match-ups or seeding, just ticket sales that match the respective region’s Final Four team from last year. I don’t think anyone would choose these four schools on their own, but then again, no one chose Kentucky, Connecticut, VCU and Butler in 2011.