Resale Platforms Need Primary Supply

The real pressure in secondary ticketing is that pure marketplaces are fighting on the same narrow battlefield, buyer traffic, seller inventory, and fee transparency, while bigger rivals increasingly own the ticket at the source. StubHub still operates at major scale, with $8.68 billion in 2024 GMS and roughly 20% take rate economics, but Vivid Seats weak results and SeatGeek’s steady team partnerships show that growth is being won through better distribution, product design, and tighter venue relationships, not just brand recognition.

• Vivid Seats shows what happens when a secondary marketplace loses momentum. It reported a 21% revenue decline in the first half of 2025, which signals that weaker players can see demand, traffic, and seller liquidity fall quickly when events soften or competition gets sharper.
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• SeatGeek has been taking a different route, using primary ticketing deals with leagues and teams to lock in fan acquisition before resale ever starts. Its sports partnerships span organizations in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and nearly half of the EPL, which gives it both distribution and customer data.
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• The toughest competitor is still the vertically integrated stack. Ticketmaster controls much of the venue relationship in primary ticketing, and AXS uses AEG owned venue access the same way. That means StubHub often has to buy traffic and wait for inventory that others control at the point of issuance.
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The market is heading toward a model where resale platforms need primary supply, not just better search and checkout. StubHub’s push into direct issuance, including its MLB partnership launching before the 2026 season, points to the next phase of competition, owning inventory pipelines so margin, traffic, and customer retention become more durable.