LOS ANGELES, April 12, 2017 – Ticketmaster today announced the hiring of sports and entertainment industry veteran Greg Economou as chief commercial officer and head of sports. Economou will direct Ticketmaster’s sports division, with oversight of products and services delivered to clients throughout professional sports and college athletics. Economou will report directly to Ticketmaster president, Jared Smith, and will also have responsibility over the company’s industry sales and marketing operations.
This newly created role builds on Ticketmaster’s sustained growth and momentum of the company’s ticketing software platform that has driven new signings and client retention in the first quarter of 2017, specifically in the sports industry. The company has continued to renew key long-term partnerships with teams in every major sports league and within college athletics, recently adding high profile new customers ranging from the Ottawa Senators to the University of Oregon and Rutgers University.
As Ticketmaster continues to invest heavily to further enhance its market-leading software and service solutions, Economou will lead a cross-functional team focused on helping sports partners execute strategies to increase ticket sales, optimize pricing, and identify and engage fans at a new level. The group will develop enhanced partner playbooks for leveraging a variety of Ticketmaster products and services, including data and marketing services such as LiveAnalytics and Blue Digital, in addition to its comprehensive Nexus Certified Partner Program that allows clients to plug-in dozens of third-party solutions to enhance their CRM, loyalty, marketing and venue operation efforts.
“We’ve focused this role specifically around helping our partners identify and leverage all these new products and services,” said Jared Smith, president of Ticketmaster North America. “Greg has such a rich history of helping sport and entertainment properties connect and engage with fans that he’s the perfect fit to help our partners utilize Ticketmaster tools to find and engage more fans.”
Utilizing the ticketing leader’s open platform and API integrations, Economou will also focus on developing additional key partnerships to enhance the company’s pricing and distribution network. The combination of new partners, more comprehensive integrations, and pricing tools has helped grow Ticketmaster’s third-party sales to over 10 percent of total tickets sold. When combined with the new marketing and in-venue fan engagement tools, Economou will have a powerful set of Ticketmaster offerings to bring to clients.
“It’s a really exciting time to join Ticketmaster. I was drawn by a set of new products and tools that I believe is truly going to disrupt the way our clients make pricing and distribution decisions to maximize sales, but also to finally be able to identify and personalize the in-venue experience for their fans,” said Greg Economou, chief commercial officer, head of sports, Ticketmaster North America. “I can’t wait to apply my consultative approach and serve as an even stronger partner to help lead the industry into the future in some awesome new ways.”
Greg Economou joins Ticketmaster with a wealth of experience in the sports and entertainment industry, most recently hailing from Dick Clark Productions where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. He first started his career in sports as a professional basketball player in Greece, later playing Division 1 basketball at the University of Connecticut, where he also served as Assistant Director of Athletics. In addition to co-founding two successful consulting and branding firms, BrandThink and SME, Economou has held senior positions as the Chief Marketing Officer of the NBA, Chief Revenue Officer of Bobcats Sports & Entertainment in Charlotte, and served as Executive Vice President of Revenue Performance for The Madison Square Garden Company.
Ticketmaster is the official ticketing partner of a growing list of over 12,000 clients, including professional and collegiate sports teams and leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS and MLB teams, as well as the PGA Tour, UFC, Speedway Motor Sports (SMI), the Kentucky Derby, and many more.
About Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster is the global market leader in live event ticketing, digital marketing, and mobile fan engagement tools that drive over 480 million ticket transactions per year. Through exclusive partnerships with thousands of venues, artists, sports leagues, and arts and theater tours, Ticketmaster delivers unparalleled access to the most iconic live events to millions of fans worldwide. Ticketmaster is a division of Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s leading live entertainment company.
Media Contact:
Catherine Martin, Ticketmaster, [email protected]