Washington Nationals
“We always like to be on the edge of technology. With Tickets@Phone™, we’re offering our fans convenient ticket delivery and a faster way into the ballpark.”
Derek Younger
Director of Ticket Operations
Washington Nationals
Profile
The Washington Nationals is a professional baseball franchise in the National League’s Eastern division of Major League Baseball (MLB). Founded in 1969, the team left Montreal and moved to Washington D.C. in 2005. After playing its first three seasons in the United States at Robert F. Kennedy National Stadium, the team plans to move into Nationals Park at the beginning of the 2008 MLB season. The Nationals draws fans from throughout the Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland markets.
The Challenge
In its efforts to provide an exceptional customer experience, the Washington Nationals wanted to enhance fans’ ability to purchase and receive tickets, as well as gain faster entry into the ballpark. The team also wanted to take advantage of the latest in ticketing technology.
The Solution
Using Tickets@Phone™ from Tickets.com, the Nationals became the first organization in the United States to deliver tickets to mobile phones.
Following a successful test of the system during the 2007 Spring Training season in Florida, the Nationals introduced its local fans to Tickets@Phone at the beginning of the 2007 regular season for home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.
When a fan purchased a ticket on the Nationals website and chose the Tickets@Phone delivery method, the ticket was delivered to the buyer’s mobile phone via Multimedia Message Service (MMS). When the fan arrived at the stadium, the digital ticket on the mobile phone display was scanned at a designated gate, allowing quick entry into the ballpark. The Tickets@Phone technology enabled the Nationals to provide an even better experience for the team’s fans by eliminating their need to carry paper tickets or wait in a long will call line on game day.
Key Successes
Beyond receiving ticket delivery to their mobile phones, some fans were taking the technology a step further by purchasing tickets at www.nationals.com from their mobile phones and choosing the Tickets@Phone ticket delivery method. This kind of convenience encouraged game day ticket purchases, and thus reduced the number of empty seats.
Initial adoption of the new technology started slowly, but grew through word-of-mouth among Nationals’ fans and promotion on the team’s website. The Nationals anticipated an even greater reception to this delivery method when the team transferred into Nationals Park at the beginning of the 2008 MLB season. To accommodate the growing trend, every gate at the new stadium would be equipped for mobile ticket entry.
Additional Benefits
Moreover, mobile ticketing was consistent with the “green design” of Nationals Park. The 41,222-seat venue strived to become the first major stadium in the United States to be certified as a “green” ballpark. Located on the Anacostia River, the waterfront stadium paid particular attention to issues affecting the health of the river. In keeping with the team’s environmental philosophy, the Tickets@Phone technology would boost the organization’s attempts to use less paper at Nationals Park.
“Everything about the Tickets@Phone technology is exciting. It’s now a proven technology. It was the smoothest Beta test I’ve ever been involved in. We want to be on the edge of technology if it’s going to provide convenience for our fans and affect them positively. That’s what Tickets@Phone has accomplished,” concluded Derek Younger, director of ticket operations, Washington Nationals.
For more information, please contact our sales department:
Toll Free – (888) 397-3400
International – +1 (608) 437-3568
www.tickets.com
sales@tickets.com
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