Lions drop Flash Seats and return to Ticketmaster

The Detroit Lions has dropped the Flash Seats paperless digital ticketing system in favour of Ticketmaster for the 2018 season, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.

The Vertix-owned Flash Seats has been used at the NFL team’s Ford Field home stadium since 2013.

Crain’s reported that the move was first revealed in a letter from Lions president Rod Wood to season ticket holders, though the team has declined to comment on the switch.

The American football replaced Ticketmaster through a five-year contract with Vertix back in 2013. With the deal to expire this summer, Carin’s says the Lions are expected to make a formal public announcement about the return to Ticketmaster later this year.

The Flash Seats app currently powers all ticketing for games and events at Ford Field, with fans offered three different paperless entries. Sports fans can use the credit card they used to buy the tickets, their driver’s licence, which can be registered on the website, or via a QR code generated by the Flash Seats mobile app.

At the gate, a member of staff using the hand-held scanner then provides the fan with a paper ticket location that’s printed at the door.

Ticketmaster currently operates the NFL’s official resale ticket exchange, as the league continues to foster an open ticketing market place.

The ticketing giant’s Presence venue software aids an ongoing plan to combine primary and secondary ticket sales into a single Ticketmaster NFL app.

Image: Michael Barera