January 18, 2017 (Tampa, FL) | Beginning today, Tampa Bay Lightning fans and other event goers visiting AMALIE Arena, will enjoy a new mobile experience that allows them to personalize their visit; pay for concessions and merchandise from their handheld device; and access a range of services that make planning and enhancing their experience at the arena much easier. The Lightning and AMALIE Arena have selected Venuetize, a mobile technology company dramatically improving the customer experience at shopping, entertainment, and sports venues. The Venuetize platform will provide a turnkey mobile experience for guests attending live events through a new AMALIE Arena app.
“We are committed to providing fans with a world-class experience at every game, concert and event,” said Steve Griggs, CEO of the Tampa Bay Lightning. “After extensive research, we chose to partner with Venuetize, because of the breadth of their platform’s functionality, their ability to integrate with other systems, and the flexibility they afford us to expand and incorporate future capabilities at a larger scale. With their platform in place, we can now deliver on our promise to ensure Lightning fans and guests to our arena enjoy the best fan experience available.”
One of the key, innovative features in the AMALIE Arena app is a feature-rich mobile wallet, which not only enables guests to purchase concessions and merchandise from their smartphones, but also allows Lightning Season Ticket Members enjoy their discounts or even transfer their discounts to other guests when they forward their event tickets, all without the need to use or have to deliver a physical discount card. The new mobile experience also offers visitors to AMALIE Arena an overall enhanced driveway-to-driveway experience, delivering the capability to search for arena events by event type; purchase, use, and forward event tickets; and discover and purchase upgrades and experiences at the arena.
“Forward-thinking organizations like the Tampa Bay Lightning and AMALIE Arena realize that mobile is the best platform for enhancing and personalizing their guests’ experiences,” said Karri Zaremba, Co-Founder & COO of Venuetize. “We are thrilled to be part of their next-generation mobile strategy, to help them achieve measurable, operational cost savings, and to power their ability to deliver the services their guests demand and expect.”
The Lightning are among professional sports teams incorporating new technologies to engage with their fans in fresh and innovative ways that create a comprehensive approach to fan engagement. At the same time, the Lightning are leveraging Venuetize’s platform to pioneer creative and compelling use cases that incorporate their partners.
“Venuetize’s mobile platform will allow us to continue to move our operations into the digital world while also offering our fans added value and convenience right from their smartphones,” said Sean Walker, VP, Innovation & Technology Services at the Tampa Bay Lightning and AMALIE Arena. “At the same time, Venuetize was able to deliver a unique experience for one of our primary partners, JPMorgan Chase, through the app – when users add a Chase credit or debit card to their mobile wallet, they automatically receive $25 in arena cash to enjoy at concessions and merchandise outlets. That’s a win-win for us, since it adds real and immediate value for our visitors as well.”
The AMALIE Arena mobile app is now live in stores and is available for iOS and Android users.
About Tampa Bay Lightning / Amalie Arena
The Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as the leasehold rights to AMALIE Arena, were purchased by Jeff Vinik in March 2010. Vinik has executed a plan over the past seven years that has seen the organization go through a comprehensive brand transformation, while also making a significant positive impact in the Tampa Bay community. Since acquiring the Lightning, Vinik has made the organization a world-class franchise, created an unrivaled fan experience for guests of AMALIE Arena, and has put together a team of which Tampa Bay sports fans are proud of both on and off the ice.
About Venuetize
Venuetize is a mobile technology company that allows shopping, dining, entertainment and sports venues to deliver an innovative and personalized consumer experience. The company’s mobile platform, delivered via a Mobile Software as a Service (MSaaS) model, integrates with existing venue infrastructure to deliver mobile wallets, contextual advertising and information, and other applications that improve and innovate the fan experience. The platform empowers businesses to acquire, retain, and monetize users by creating a comprehensive approach to fan engagement. Founded in 2014, Venuetize works with leading sports teams, arenas, municipalities and destinations throughout North America. For more information, visit www.venuetize.com
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