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RedBall Acquisition Corp. has reached a deal to make the SeatGeek ticketing platform public, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
SeatGeek is a ticket retailer that offers both primary and resale ticket sales, and has formal partnerships with organizations such as the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Cowboys and Manchester City FC. The company was founded in 2009 as a mobile ticketing platform. Among its venture capitalists are Causeway Media Partners, whose executives include the owners of the Boston Celtics, Wyc Grousbeck and Mark Wan; Eli and Peyton Manning; and Melo7 Tech by Carmelo Anthony. Other investors include rapper Nas and Elysian Park Ventures, owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
RedBall is a special purpose acquisition company formed by RedBird Capital founder Gerry Cardinale and baseball manager Billy Beane. PSPC raised $ 575 million in an IPO last year.
Gerry Cardinale declined to comment. SeatGeek executives did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The valuation of the transaction was not immediately available. Vivid Seats, a competitor of SeatGeek, goes public as part of a merger by SPAC Horizon Acquisition as part of an agreement valuing the company at $ 1.95 billion.
RedBall warrants jumped 65%, to $ 1.22 on Friday morning, believing a deal was imminent. Noon trading volume was around 1.8 million warrants, more than 1,000 times the volume of RedBall warrants traded on Thursday. PSPC warrants generally rally to rumors as traders rush to profit from trades. RedBall shares rose 1% more modestly to $ 9.92. Bloomberg News first reported on the deal rumor on Friday.
RedBall, the first sports-focused blank check in over a decade, had already struck a deal to bring Fenway Sports Group to the public in a deal valuing the Red Sox and Liverpool FC owner at around $ 8. billions of dollars. That deal collapsed due to issues with valuing PIPE’s investors – additional investors were forced to enter into PSPC deals to help bring liquidity to close the deal. RedBall and Fenway Sports never officially acknowledged they had a deal.
With assistance from Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams.
(This article has been updated to include more information on RedBall and information on the market reaction.)
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