In December of 2015, the Dallas Mavericks and local startup Tixsee announced a unique partnership to provide fans with an engaging ticket buying experience. After debuting its product to the organization earlier that January, Tixsee was able to integrate its technology with the Mavericks’ existing ticket partner, Ticketmaster. Fans could now view available seats and purchase tickets directly through the team’s website. The Mavericks also became the first professional sports franchise to deploy Tixsee’s software with a 360-degree panoramic virtual tour powered by Google Street View. These early achievements sparked a strong relationship, as the two have now partnered again to produce an app to elevate the mobile fan experience.
“Tixsee gives people more of an immersive, authentic experience when buying tickets,” said Co-founder and CEO, Brett Dowling. “Our product provides a high quality, 360-degree shopping experience that revolves around the relational and transactional touchpoints for fans.”
Dowling, who grew up in Dallas going to Maverick games, saw the organization struggle to win games and fill seats in the 1990’s before Mark Cuban’s purchase of the team in 2000. The new owner’s enthusiastic focus improved the franchise’s performance on and off the court soon after. From player development to in-game entertainment, Cuban used creative thinking and technology to not only try and help the team win its first championship in 2011, but to create a memorable experience for fans at the American Airlines Center.
Inspired by Cuban’s approach, Dowling saw a digital opportunity for a ticket company that lived in a native team medium. Years later, that opportunity has become a reality that continues to evolve.
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This past October, Tixsee and the Mavericks introduced the new mobile app for the iPhone and Android just in time for the 2016-2017 season. While the app still focuses on the ticket buying experience, a multitude of digital features have been included. Fans can view interactive maps of the arena to locate food, beverages, merchandise, and entrances. There is also an integration with Google Maps to provide live traffic updates on game day. In-game stats, league news, highlights, and even social media platforms can be found in the app, too.
“We tried to carefully balance the idea of a complete experience without trying to bloat the experience or compromise performance,” said Dowling. “This was definitely a challenge, but we took the vision of the Mavs and executed from there.”
As Dowling targets growth for 2017, several key metrics, such as user retention and new ticket revenue per user, are being tracked to measure and analyze its audience through the app.
“Our primary focus now is onboarding new customers in professional sports with a flexible solution that is able to support teams with different priorities.”