Neil Cooke has found a way to bring together two of our favourite things: entrepreneurship and hockey.
Earlier this season, he launched broker4tickets.com, a local start-up that bases its business in making it easier for Ottawans to get closer than ever to the hockey they crave — by enabling season ticket holders to sell their unused tickets to other fans.
Last week, I swung by the Broker4Tickets office in Kanata to speak with Cooke (President and CEO) and Stuart Sage (Director of Business Operations), to learn a bit about how their business strives to integrate hockey even deeper into the culture of our fair city.
Cooke came up with the idea for the service about two years ago. His consulting firm, I4C, has been a season ticket holder for many years, but was unable to attend every game during the season. He found it frustrating when the tickets he had paid for went unused. This was problematic both as a customer and as a hockey enthusiast—it meant that he wasn’t getting the maximum return for his investment, but also that Scotiabank place contained empty seats that could have been filled with cheering Sens fans.
Broker4Tickets was Cooke’s solution to this problem—a service that allows season ticket holders to sell tickets for the games they can’t attend, and thus recoup a portion of their investment, while still maintaining all the benefits of buying season tickets. As Cooke explains, occasionally season ticket holders have to miss an entire season, but still want to buy season tickets to maintain rights to particular seats.
As useful as the service may be to season ticket holders, Cooke is more excited about the benefits that Broker4Tickets offers to hockey fans. By being able to purchase tickets normally reserved for season ticket holders, people are able to get seats that previously would have been inaccessible. For example, fans can buy seats right behind the glass, which generally cannot be purchased through other vendors. “Now fans can access something they could never have experienced,” Cooke explains. “These are seats that most hockey fans just wouldn’t otherwise have access to.”
Cooke is also proud to offer a more reliable and legitimate way for fans to share tickets and access experiences unavailable through traditional ticket-buying avenues. Buying tickets through Broker4Tickets comes with far more benefits than buying them from a scalper in a parking lot. Using online tools, buyers can research and read reviews of seats, as well as be comfortable buying tickets from a trusted source. Cooke says that the site “allows the community to have access to these new experiences in an informed and safe environment”.
Although there are other ticket reselling services, Broker4Tickets’ structure sets it apart. As Cooke explains, most other comparable services merely function as marketplaces where ticket holders can advertise their tickets for sale. This system can be problematic: anyone can post tickets for sale, and there are no safeguards to protect against fraud — such as a vendor selling the same ticket to multiple buyers. In these cases, buyers show up at an event, only to find that their tickets don’t work.
The uniqueness of Cooke’s approach is that ticket holders assign their tickets to Broker4Tickets, and when customers buy them online they receive the ticket automatically via email. Rather than allowing anyone to sell their tickets, Broker4Tickets works exclusively and directly with season ticket holders, thus ensuring the legitimacy of the tickets.
Cooke stresses that they have a policy to never sell tickets above their face value. He also points out that, for the buyer, there are no service fees or taxes (Broker4Tickets makes money by taking a cut on the seller’s end).
Broker4tickets partners with many organizations and charities throughout the community to spread the hockey love. For example, they work with the Boys and Girls Club to send underprivileged children to hockey games. When asked about the significance of hockey and its importance in the community, he simply responds, “It’s a passion.”
So far, Cooke and Sage have been thrilled with the recognition and traffic they’ve been able to generate. The website’s been in high demand, and Apartment613 isn’t the only media outlet that’s been giving them attention.
Cooke and Sage have plenty of plans about future expansion. They are a bit reluctant to reveal all of the cards up their sleeves, but they did say that they hope to expand to other Canadian NHL cities and also the CFL (once Ottawa has a team, of course).
In the meantime, Cooke says that there will be tickets available to every playoff game this year. In addition to the main site, you can check out Broker4Tickets on Facebook and Twitter.
Go Sens Go!
