Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to Industries

Sports & Entertainment

Are Digital Tickets Here to Stay as Live Events Return?

The fans remember the highlights but the franchises remember the technology, data, and inventions that powered their season. Host Tyler Kern sits down with the innovators, leaders and founders that are taking sports into the future.   We’re over a year into the transition from physical to digital tickets in sports entertainment venues – but…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Sports & Entertainment teams put it to work with Events & Onsite Capture.

Share

The fans remember the highlights but the franchises remember the technology, data, and inventions that powered their season. Host Tyler Kern sits down with the innovators, leaders and founders that are taking sports into the future.

We’re over a year into the transition from physical to digital tickets in sports entertainment venues – but are contactless tickets here to stay?

This week on Salary Capped, guest host Daniel Litwin brought back a previous guest in Don White, CEO and Co-Founder of Satisfi Labs, to break down a Satisfi Labs study in partnership with the MLB that analyzed over a million questions baseball fans have asked within the league’s app.

The study found that 53% of fans have never used a digital ticket. White weighed in on what this means for the staying power of digital tickets and the evolution of ticketing as a whole.

“About 25% of the questions we handle are about tickets. The evolution of ticketing has been fantastic to see, because these fans or customers are able to take what they purchase and align it with the technology of their mobile device.

So, they can get the most out of each and every experience. There was such poor app adoption pre-COVID. Now, the ticket is the major place where the app can add value.

On top of that, everything you need to know about the event – what you’re trying to do, what you need to accomplish when there – becomes right in the palm of your hand.

What’s interesting about mobile ticketing is that, even in our customer base, we’ve helped 125,000 fans that go to baseball games find out how they could use the ticket in their app or how to get it and adopt it more quickly.

Now that we’ve seen the digital contactless environment, you’ll see that the venues are just looking to add more value to the ticket experience.

Our data shows that this trend is not going away.”

Tyler Kern will be back next Monday with a full-length episode of Salary Capped. See you then.

Listen to Previous Episodes of Salary Capped Right Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

New to MarketScale?

MarketScale is the platform Sports & Entertainment companies use to turn their own experts into content like this. Want the short overview?

Free workspace

You just read one expert. Imagine publishing your whole team.

This article was produced through MarketScale. Create a free workspace and turn your own team's expertise into articles, video, and social posts. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale Studio workspace
One video edit a month, on us
AI writing, editing, and publishing tools
In-platform coaching to learn the system

More Sports & Entertainment Insights

Building Stadium Experiences for Everyone

Building Stadium Experiences for Everyone

At InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas, Josh Barney, CEO of SEAT, discussed the evolving nature of stadium experiences. He emphasized the shift from sports-centric design to creating multi-purpose venues. This transformation aims to enhance audience engagement and cater to diverse entertainment demands.

  • 01Stadiums are evolving from sports-centric designs to multi-purpose venues.
  • 02Audience engagement is a key focus in modern stadium development.
  • 03The shift is influenced by a need to cater to diverse entertainment preferences.

Jun 26, 2026

USA’s perfect World Cup start and the business case behind the hype

USA’s perfect World Cup start and the business case behind the hype

The US Men's National Team achieved a perfect start by winning its first two matches in the 2026 World Cup as one of its co-hosts. This success has significant implications for sponsorship opportunities, hospitality sectors, and B2B demand in the sports-entertainment industry.

  • 01USMNT's perfect start in the 2026 World Cup.
  • 02Positive impact on sponsorship opportunities.
  • 03Increased B2B demand in sports-entertainment.

Jun 19, 2026

As World Cup arrives in the US, creator-access clauses reshape broadcast rights deals

As World Cup arrives in the US, creator-access clauses reshape broadcast rights deals

FIFA's broadcast strategy for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico represents the most structurally complex rights package in the tournament's history. Deals now span over 220 territories, include a live-streaming partnership with YouTube, and formally embed creator access into rights frameworks for the first time. Meanwhile, Fox Sports' legacy deal — secured in 2015 for $485 million — has become what Observer describes as the broadcast bargain of the century, setting up dramatically higher price expectations in the next rights cycle.

  • 01FIFA secured broadcast agreements in over 220 territories, with a Dallas-based International Broadcast Centre distributing roughly 8,000 hours of additional non-live content, according to FIFA.
  • 02Fox Sports pays $485 million for US rights to a tournament Observer estimates is worth more than three times that figure — making it likely the last major sports broadcast deal secured at a deep discount.
  • 03FIFA's first-ever global creator programme and a preferred-platform deal with YouTube — allowing broadcasters to stream the first 10 minutes of every match plus select full games — mark a structural shift in how rights are packaged.

Jun 17, 2026

Explore More Sports & Entertainment Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Sports & Entertainment.

Browse Sports & Entertainment Hub