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NFL’s Steelers withholds tickets in case of distancing as Exit Festival given green light

The Pittsburgh Steelers has held back 50 per cent of individual tickets in preparation for any COVID-19 measures, while Exit Festival could become the only major festival to go ahead in 2020…

Pittsburgh Steelers

NFL American football franchise the Pittsburgh Steelers has reduced its individual ticket supply in preparation for possible social distancing scenarios.

The team placed 50 per cent of its individual tickets on sale for the 2020 season, which is scheduled to kick off on September 10, via Ticketmaster on Friday.

Steelers fans can buy up to eight tickets per household for any of the eight regular-season home games at the 68,000-capacity Heinz Field. There is no limit for preseason games.

“We are being proactive with these limited amount of tickets as we are preparing for possible social distancing scenarios at Heinz Field this year,” team spokesman Burt Lauten said on Friday.

The NFL remains committed to its plans to play a full season, with no current guidelines in place for opening stadiums to the public.

Earlier this month, the NFL detailed a uniform refund policy in the event games are not played or take place with a limit on the number of fans in attendance due to COVID-19. Ticket holders who purchased directly from the club will be entitled to a full refund or a credit toward future ticket purchases.

Accesso

Accesso Technology has raised £32.9m through a new share placement as the COVID-19 shut down of theme parks and other attractions looks set to eliminate peak summer trading for its clients.

The queuing and ticketing technology provider has amassed the funding via a placing and subscription at 290p per share.

Accesso is also running a proposed open offer, which, if taken up in full, will raise an extra £6.2m. It has also secured an amendment and waiver to certain financial covenants, raised £8m of new debt facilities while cutting operating costs by 40 per cent.

Due to COVID-19 forcing the closure of attractions and events, the firm saw sales plummet 80 per cent in April, with Accesso predicting that revenue would be down between 66 per cent and 74 per cent down for 2020 overall.

In previous assessments, the company said it had sufficient liquidity to last until autumn, though it would have likely breached debt covenants by September 2020 without extra cash.

Last month it was reported that the group’s net debt position was $10.5m, comprising cash at hand of $14.7m and borrowings of $25.2m against a committed revolving credit facility of $30m with Lloyds Bank, which is committed until March 2022. As a result, cash available to Accesso was $19.5m.

As a result of the various closures and postponements, transactional revenues, which in 2019 comprised approximately 73 per cent of its total revenue, fell to close to zero and professional services have reduced as its customers seek to conserve cash. Accesso’s ongoing revenue consists primarily of support, maintenance and licence fees as well as recurring platform fees and the remaining professional services work.

Exit Festival

Serbia’s Exit Festival could be the only major European summer event to take place in 2020, despite potentially running at a limited capacity.

Organisers of the festival, which welcomes more than 55,000 people each year in, said it would be prepared to reduce its capacity and take other measures to allow the 20th anniversary event to go ahead.

The announcement follows a recommendation from Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabić to postpone the event – held in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second biggest city – from July to August, rather than cancelling due to COVID-19 pressures.

Exit co-founder Dušan Kovačević welcomed the announcement in a statement: “The festival in its full format will probably not return until 2021, but we are delighted to hear that the health situation is becoming increasingly better and that we’ll be able to mark the 20th anniversary of Exit this summer with a meaningful and safe event.

“The health and safety of the audience and everyone involved at the festival is our top priority. Between fear and optimism we always choose the latter and we’re thrilled that we will have opportunity to be together with our fans and favourite artists this summer.”

Image: Bernard Bodo, EXIT photo team 2018