Golden State Warriors Access Pass Provides Flexible Seating Option

Warriors’ fans purchase game day tickets without knowing their seat until tip-off.

By: Sam Thornton

Editor’s Note

Dear Faithful Readers,
As I was scrolling through Facebook the other day, I came across a post notifying me that the NBA season tips-off in less than a month. Less than a month?! Weren’t we just watching an exciting NBA Finals series not too long ago? As a basketball enthusiast, I am nonetheless very excited for the new season to start and can’t wait to see what it has to offer.

With the NBA season dawning upon us, it is only fitting that we run a story on last year’s NBA finalists, the Golden State Warriors, and their “Access Pass” program. The Warriors ran this program last season as a way to let their fans know of any tickets still available prior to each game and ultimately move their expiring inventory.

Through the “Access Pass” the Warriors developed a ground breaking program to match their historic season.

Enjoy the read!

Cheers,

Alby Abalos

Marketing and Communications Manager

alby@sports-forum.com

P.S. – Don’t forget to stay engaged with us on social media! Follow @NatlSportsForum on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook!

PROGRAM TITLE

Golden State Warriors: “Access Pass”

OBJECTIVES

The main goal for the Golden State Warriors’ Access Pass idea was to sell more tickets on game days, from holds the team is required to have on reserve until the day of the game. Despite their high-demand situation, the Warriors wanted to be able to let their fans know that there were available tickets and be able to sell their expiring inventory. The Access Pass is a flexible ticketing technology that allows the Warriors to leave their entire inventory of available seats on the market until game time. Once the Warriors know which seats will not be purchased through other channels, the Warriors can assign those seats to fans who purchased an Access Pass for that game.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Warriors fans signed up at warriorsaccesspass.com, which allowed them to receive Access Pass offers via text message for games where inventory was available.  Fans clicked on a link in the message to purchase their tickets for that night’s game.  Once a fan has purchased an Access Pass, they received a barcode that allowed them to enter Oracle Arena.  The Access Pass provides pregame club access and a guaranteed seat in the lower level once the game starts, unless otherwise specified on the original purchase offer.  They received another text just after tip-off with their exact seat location.

Because fans did not know their seat location until just after tip-off, this allowed the Warriors to offer tickets without pulling them from inventory until after the game had started.  They used historical data to determine how many seats could be offered through the Access Pass without running into a situation where there weren’t enough seats.   The trade-off – and benefit – for fans was that buyers were often times assigned seats in areas that would have been more expensive had the seats been purchased through traditional channels.

PARTNERSHIP

The Warriors partnered with their mobile technology partner, Experience.  Once the decision to send a text to the fans has been made, Experience sends the message with a link to purchase and utilizes their Experience Pass technology to deliver the barcode and seat location to the fan’s device.

RESULTS

During the 2015-16 season, the Access Pass sold out for every game it was offered.  The Warriors also received positive feedback from fans on the unique offer.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Warriors plan to once again offer the Access Pass for select games during the 2016-17 season.  The Access Pass idea is a great new way to keep the Warriors and the NBA ahead of the curve by using technology to fill their seats.

CONTACT

For more information, contact:

John Beaven, Vice President, Ticket Sales and Services, Golden State Warriors at
jbeaven@warriors.com

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