What does Ticketus do?

• Ticketus buys tickets in advance for events.
• It buys tickets in bulk from the organisation putting on or hosting an event in advance, and then collects the proceeds when those tickets are sold to the public. These events can be football matches using season tickets, but also other sports and entertainment businesses.

Why does it do it?

• Ticketus provides a service to these organisations that are putting on events and looking for ways to bring revenue in ahead of when that revenue would normally be received. In many ways this is the same as, for example, companies who provide funding against media rights revenues or player transfers in the case of football. Ticketus seeks to make a profit by buying tickets in bulk in advance at a slightly cheaper price, before they are sold on at face value by the club/organisation.

What are the benefits to the football club (and its fans)?

• In the case of football, there is often a difference between when a club receives money from activities such as media rights revenue, competition prize money, player transfers and of course ticket income, compared to their expenses on player wages, utilities and rent. This often means football clubs can have cash rich periods and leaner periods each year, so the operators of the club might choose to bring forward some of these revenue streams and so smooth out cashflow.
• Ticketus is a flexible partner for football clubs and has helped provide club cashflow, stadium improvement funding and buying players in the past by buying tickets from a club in advance.

How does Ticketus make a profit?

• Ticketus seeks to make a profit by buying tickets in bulk in advance at a slightly cheaper price, and then selling on at face value. The difference between the price at which Ticketus buys the tickets and the price at which each ticket is sold is essentially the profit, although Ticketus has its own costs associated with doing each deal.

Why don't sports clubs and other organisations using Ticketus just borrow the money from a bank?

• Many businesses at the moment have been struggling to get normal bank finance due to the wider state of the economy. Football is in a similar situation and, for reasons such as already having a mortgage on the stadium, banks are often not interested in providing additional finance.
• Ticketus offers a solution since it does not lend money, but instead provides working capital in exchange for tickets – an asset that banks rarely will lend against.
• Many clubs see advanced ticket sales as a preferential solution to bank loans as it provides access to finance without taking on debt.

Does Ticketus set season ticket prices?

• No. One of the key reasons Ticketus is popular with football clubs (and promoters) is that it often asks the original seller to act as its agent to sell the tickets to the public. This means that fans can buy their tickets as usual, via the club, as they always have done, and it will be the club who sets the prices it wants to charge the fans.

Who does Ticketus work with?

• Ticketus has done a significant number of deals with sports clubs, not just football clubs, and also in the entertainment space. We consider each ticket purchase opportunity on its own merits.

For all media enquiries please contact:

• Luther Pendragon ticketus@luther.co.uk / +44 (0)207 618 9196