Report: Amazon in Talks to Sell Sports, Concert Tickets

Amazon.com is in talks to partner with U.S. venue owners to sell event tickets, four sources have told Reuters, in a move that could loosen Ticketmaster's grip on the lucrative ticketing business. Ticketmaster, owned by Live Nation Entertainment Inc., is the exclusive seller of primary tickets for many top venues in the U.S. Amazon has had success with ticketing in Britain, where it has been selling seats to West End shows since 2015, according to one of the sources who owns venues in that country. One of the sources also said that Amazon has also approached at least one sports league about selling tickets on the secondary market, which is similar to StubHub. Amazon has several jobs listed online for its Amazon Tickets, including a project manager. Amazon has had conversations about partnering with Ticketmaster as a potential way to get into ticketing in the U.S., but those conversations have stalled over who would control customer data, according to sources familiar with the discussions.

Total Retail’s Take: If Amazon moves ahead, it would represent the latest attempt by the world's largest online retailer to use its massive customer base, technology savvy and bargaining power to shake up a big market. And that market — ticketing — is disliked by many consumers because of high fees. In addition, venue owners, sports leagues and teams, which want more distributors for their tickets as they seek to boost sales, are interested in more competition within the ticketing market. For Amazon, access to tickets could be another incentive to lure consumers into its Prime loyalty program.