Australian Ice Hockey League

See how the biggest ice hockey league in the Southern Hemisphere used TryBooking to sell tickets to their games.

Background

The Australian Ice Hockey League is the biggest ice hockey league in the Southern Hemisphere, with eight teams from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the ACT. During the course of the hockey season, April - September, each team plays approximately 28 games culminating in the Finals. Four teams play on the final weekend with two games on Saturday and the Grand Final played on Sunday.

Prior to 2008, tickets were only available at the door and all seating was general admission. 

The problem

The Australian Ice Hockey League needed an online ticketing platform that offered:

• The ability to promote and sell reserved seats.

• Flexible seating plans that could be custom-built for each game venue since every rink had a different layout and capacity.

• Flexible pricing structures and multiple day tickets so spectators could purchase tickets for one game or all three. 

• A cost-effective solution.
   

The change

The volunteers at Australian Ice Hockey League began to use TryBooking to run their games, and for the following purposes:

• Sales/marketing to promote events and sell tickets.

• Sales/marketing to review which platforms refer ticket sales and revenue.

• Sales/marketing to extract/load their EDM database.

• Finance for inputs into profit and loss statements.

• Finance for input into event budgeting.
   

Useful features

Australian Ice Hockey League found the following features on TryBooking to be the most helpful:

• Sections - the ability to sell specific seats at varying prices in order to maximise revenue.

• Custom ticketing - the ability to sell advertising space on the ticket and event homepage to sponsors.

• Booking windows - the ability to sell tickets to teams and season ticket holders ahead of public sales.

Says a staff member, "Pre-selling online was helpful to make sure our season ticket holders had the ability to buy tickets before the public sale."

Other benefits included:

• The sales and marketing reports offered in the system, which gave AIHL a better idea of how their event was selling. The reports also helped with their planning, investment decisions and communication with stakeholders (internal and external). 

• The ability to provide discount codes to sponsors and free entry to the media.
   

Customer service

TryBooking offer dedicated local support and account management to sports clubs of all sizes across Australia. 

"It was probably a bit late in the day, towards the end of August, when I contacted TryBooking," says the staff member. "But they couldn't have been more helpful. I was impressed with their service and problem-solving. They worked on every issue I had until we found solutions."

The results

There was a lot less work to do on event day, and ticket sales for the game were up on previous years with about 1,700 people attending the Finals series. Most of the tickets were sold online, reducing work for AIHL and also the time it took spectators to enter the arena on game days.

Overall, AIHL rated TryBooking satisfactory in all experiences. They use the service because it is easy to set up, the fees are competitive and they enjoy outstanding service and support.

AIHL recommends that other clubs and leagues take the time to learn about the complete service, beyond basic ticketing. Extra revenue can be generated from donations, advertising on tickets, and cross-selling merchandise at the point of sale. 

They recommend this service to friends and other leagues.  

Robert Bannerman
Commissioner of The Australian Ice Hockey League