How This Founder Sold More Super Bowl Party Tickets Than Game Seats

Key Concepts

• Tixer: A company focused on modernizing the ticketing industry.
• Fan-Driven Experience: Tixer's core philosophy, prioritizing the fan's journey.
• White Label Ticketing: Tixer's platform adopts the client's brand identity, making it less about Tixer and more about the event organizer.
• Integrated Primary and Secondary Ticketing: A unique feature allowing fans to buy primary tickets and safely resell them on the same exchange.
• Fee-Based Model: Tixer's revenue generation, characterized by reasonable and transparent fees.
• Super Bowl Ecosystem: The extensive network of events, parties, and activations surrounding the Super Bowl game.
• Supply and Demand: The economic principle driving the pricing and scale of Super Bowl parties.
• Large-Scale Warehouse Parties: A growing trend for Super Bowl-related events, leveraging large venues to increase capacity.
• Host City Infrastructure: The role of a city's existing nightlife, event spaces, and municipal support in facilitating large events.
• F1 Montreal: A case study demonstrating Tixer's capability to manage complex sporting events and surrounding high-end activations.
• "Fun and Fair" Ticketing: Tixer's vision for the future of ticketing, emphasizing enjoyment, flexibility, and equitable access.
• Legacy Industry Obstacles: The challenge of innovating within an established industry dominated by traditional practices.

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Modernizing the Ticketing Industry: Tixer's Approach

Robert Dvari, CEO of Tixer, explains that the company's primary goal is to modernize ticketing. Founded about a decade ago, Tixer was built on the premise that existing ticketing companies were "antiquated" and lacked the desired advancements. Tixer aims to provide a modern solution to these long-standing issues.

Tixer's Differentiated Value Proposition

Tixer distinguishes itself from large secondary ticketing companies like StubHub and SeatGeek through several key aspects:

• Fan-Driven Experience: The company was started by fans to improve the fan experience, making its design "centric" around the user.
• White Label Solution: Tixer's platform is "white label," meaning it adopts the branding of its clients (e.g., sports teams, festivals, artists). This approach emphasizes the client's brand rather than Tixer's.
• Back-End Efficiencies: Tixer creates significant operational efficiencies for its clients.
• Integrated Primary and Secondary Ticketing: A core differentiator is Tixer's ability to integrate primary and secondary markets. While Tixer is primarily a primary ticketing platform working directly with rights holders, it also allows fans to "resell your ticket at Safeway on the same exchange," ensuring a secure and streamlined process.

Diverse Client Base and Strategic Focus

Tixer boasts a wide-ranging client base, demonstrating its versatility across various event types:

• Festivals and Conferences: Clients include major events like BlizzCon and Riot Fest in Chicago.
• Sports: Tixer has expanded significantly in the sports sector, signing the San Jose Earthquakes MLS team and ticketing the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
• Nightlife: The company also handles ticketing for high-end nightlife venues, such as XS Nightclub at the Wynn.

Dvari states that Tixer focuses on "the best brands in a variety of categories" and has developed an "operating system to address all of them."

Strategic Emphasis on the Sports World

Sports is currently Tixer's number one focus. Dvari explains this by stating that to "modernize an industry, you have to play in the big leagues." Tixer is actively pursuing opportunities across teams and leagues globally, citing MLS and leagues like the PPA as examples.

Business Model and Value Addition

Tixer operates on a fee-based model, similar to other ticketing platforms. However, a key distinction is its commitment to keeping these fees "very reasonable" and "transparent." Beyond just fees, Tixer aims to "add value" by creating new ways of doing things, ultimately ensuring that "the fans getting a fair shot at getting a ticket."

Deep Dive into the Super Bowl Ecosystem and Parties

Tixer became involved in the Super Bowl ecosystem approximately eight years ago through a partnership with Medium Rare (known for events like Shacks Funhouse and SI parties). This involvement converged with Tixer's burgeoning LA nightclub and VIP events business, leading them to become a leader in large-scale Super Bowl-related events. Tixer specializes in "big cool things" and "really great brands that do large scale events."

The Economics of Super Bowl Parties

Dvari addresses the rising cost of Super Bowl parties, attributing it to supply and demand. He reveals a significant statistic: "For the first time that I have seen... We sold more tickets to parties at the Super Bowl this year than the Super Bowl itself." This indicates a massive increase in capacity and demand for ancillary events.

• Capacity Expansion: An example is Tixer's client NPU Live in San Francisco, where the city green-lit Pier 80, a large warehouse, for events featuring Millennium, Calvin Harris, and T-Pain. These are "20,000 person cap events."
• Pricing Tiers: While there are high-end VIP offerings, entry-level tickets for these large parties can be "100 or sub-hundred bucks," making them relatively accessible.
• Audience Demographics: The success of these parties is driven by both the local community ("the community shows up") and the influx of Super Bowl attendees (60,000-70,000 game-goers, industry VIPs for networking). Traditional parties like Shacks and SI typically host 5,000-10,000 people, but the new large-scale warehouse events significantly expand the market.

The Role of Host Cities

The host city plays a crucial role in the party scene:

• Naturally Nightlife Cities: Miami and Vegas benefit from existing "nightlife infrastructure" that supports clubs and events.
• San Francisco's Example: Despite not being a traditional nightlife hub like Vegas, San Francisco has a significant nightlife scene. Crucially, "city backing" for large-scale events and the availability of properties like Pier 80 allowed for increased capacity and event activation.

Evolution of the Fan Experience Around the Super Bowl

Dvari observes that the overall fan experience around the Super Bowl is "getting better and better." He highlights the "breadth of press" and numerous "activations all around town," solidifying the Super Bowl's status as "a if not THE central global event for all entertainment, tech converging."

Analogous Events: F1 Montreal Case Study

Tixer has successfully replicated its Super Bowl event model for other major sporting events. F1 Montreal is cited as a "perfect convergence" example. Tixer ticketed the actual race (a "100,000 person plus reserve seated complex sporting event") and "almost every single event around it," including nightlife and high-end VIP experiences.

• Revenue Scale: These large-scale events generate substantial revenue. Individual parties can hit "$4 million plus per party" in revenue, with smaller events in the "$500,000 revenue range."

The Future of Ticketing: "Fun and Fair"

Tixer's vision for the future of ticketing is guided by two core tenets: "fun and fair." The goal is to evolve ticketing into an enjoyable experience where obtaining a ticket is "fun," offers flexibility, and provides a "fair chance" for fans to attend. This future also prioritizes a "fan-centric experience" that is simultaneously "efficient and easy to use for the producers of these large scale events."

Obstacles to Growth

The primary obstacle to Tixer's growth is the "legacy industry" itself, characterized by "legacy companies that have been doing things the same way." Tixer faces the challenge of "educating people" on modern solutions and encouraging a shift in mindset among conservative teams and event producers. However, Dvari expresses optimism that this resistance is "changing pretty quickly."

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Conclusion

Tixer, led by CEO Robert Dvari, is actively modernizing the antiquated ticketing industry by offering a fan-centric, white-label platform that integrates primary and secondary ticketing. With a strong focus on sports and large-scale events, Tixer has demonstrated its capability to manage complex ecosystems like the Super Bowl and F1 Montreal, even exceeding game ticket sales with ancillary party events. The company's commitment to "fun and fair" ticketing aims to create a more enjoyable and equitable experience for fans while providing efficient solutions for event producers. Despite facing the challenge of disrupting a legacy industry, Tixer is optimistic about the increasing adoption of its innovative approach.