Watch out Stage 2
SeatGeek is the main alternative to Ticketmaster, but it competes the same way: exclusive primary-ticketing deals with teams and venues, so fans buy where the venue says. Fee lawsuits were filed (2024) but sent to arbitration (2025) with no finding against it, so no extraction criterion is met. Stage 2.
- Since
- 2009
- Category
- Events
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- No
- Website
- seatgeek.com
The promise
Its first promise, and how much is kept · Scoring
100% kept
“Search for tickets and find out if the prices will go up or down.”
Why it’s rated 2
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 0 of 3
- None
- Lock-in 1 of 4
-
- L4 Gatekeeper or default
- Extraction 0 of 7
- None
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result No extraction that meets the stage 3 test, and either some lock-in or no alignment criterion, so stage 2.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
Jan 20, 2025
Feb 9, 2024
SeatGeek sued in New York class action over fees shown late in checkout
Drip pricingRegulatory risk