NO TICKET REQUIRED — The Veritix Blog

This year’s March Madness has been the epitome of the classic struggle – big vs. little, underdog vs. favorite- and has led to one of the most surprising and exciting NCAA tournaments in recent history. Now that the dust has settled after an intriguing Elite 8 weekend, the field of four is set for Houston and Reliant Stadium on Saturday.  #11 VCU will square off with #8 Butler while #3 Connecticut will face #4 Kentucky and as we learned last year when Butler nearly stunned Duke in the championship, never count the underdogs out!

Despite all of the surprises on the court over the past few weeks and some of the favorites to win exiting the tournament early, all four remaining teams are expected to have a strong showing of support from fans traveling to Houston this weekend for the games. Reliant Stadium has added extra seating to accommodate the more than 75,000 fans that will pack the home of the NFL’s Houston Texans and through the NCAA’s continued partnership with Veritix®, we will once again be utilizing our patented Flash Seats® digital ticketing platform to ensure that each school’s allotted student sections are filled with cheers from their most loyal fans.  The student tickets are being offered for $25 electronically and students will only need the credit card used upon purchase to swipe in and enter the stadium.

It is an honor to provide our services to the NCAA and all four schools that have advanced to one of the greatest weekends in sports.  Through our advanced and convenient paperless ticketing platform, the students will have both the luxury of experiencing the future of ticketing as well as rooting on their respective school first hand.

We are looking forward to watching the drama unfold on the hardwood.  Good luck to the Rams, Bulldogs, Huskies and Wildcats!

While sports fans continue to wonder if there will be a 2011 NFL season, they can satisfy their appetite for high scoring and highly entertaining football games indoors as the Arena Football League kicked off their 24^th season last weekend. The 18-team AFL’s mission is to be the most fan-friendly, fan-engaging entertainment option in sports. After seeing highlights from the Cleveland Gladiators season opener, (where they defeated last year’s ArenaBowl champs, the Spokane Shock, 65-51) we’re even more excited for the home opener at Quicken Loans Arena on April 2^nd.

In addition to the Gladiators, this year Veritix® is also the exclusive ticketing platform for the Utah Blaze, who play their home games at EnergySolutions Arena. We’re excited to be able to offer Blaze fans a convenient and secure venue entry, ticket transfer and resale option via our digital Flash Seats® product.

Although it’s still early in the season, both the Gladiators and the Blaze are undefeated (1-0) and showing promise for successful 2011 campaigns. We’re looking forward to July 22^nd the Gladiators host the Blaze in the last game of the season where we, of course, will be rooting for a tie.

Welcome back AFL.

Yesterday was Selection Sunday…a day that either brings hope or breaks hearts for many collegiate athletic programs across the country.

Over the weekend, Division I college basketball teams found out if they are going to be “dancing” starting Tuesday, March 15^th in the NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament. For fans of college basketball, the Big Dance is the best time of the year. 68 teams, an expansion from the previous years of 64 teams, will square off in games throughout the country and for a three-week period, college basketball will dominate the headlines.

Around the offices at Veritix®, we take particular interest in the Tournament.  This year our client Texas A&M, will be sending their team to the dance. They are the number seven seed in the Southwest and will face the Florida State Seminoles in the first round. Congrats to the Aggies!

Additionally, our ticketing partnership with the NCAA has us preparing for the Final Four in Houston where once again this year, our Flash Seats® technology will ensure that students can conveniently enter the games by simply swiping their student ID’s to cheer on their school to the championship.  We have previously provided these same services in the last two Final Fours in Indianapolis and Detroit.

There is a passion and a purity found in college basketball and a certain spirit associated with the NCAA Tournament that is contagious. We wish all the teams in the tournament luck and look forward to seeing the best of the best in Houston!

March Madness Printable Bracket

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/bracket

Spring is coming. We promise. For all of our friends in the Northeast and the Midwest, we guarantee that the snow is going to melt, the sun is going to shine and the grass will be green.  How can we be so certain? Well, we see that one of first signs of spring will be happening two weeks from now.

The Major League Soccer (MLS) season will be kicking off its 17^th season. We are watching the Colorado Rapids – the defending MLS Champions, by the way – and Real Salt Lake – the 2009 MLS Cup Champions — because they have been working with Veritix over the last couple seasons.

In the league opener, the Seattle Sounders host the Los Angeles Galaxy on Tuesday, March 15^th. This match-up is a great early season match-up with the Sounders backed by their 40,000-member fan base rooting against Galaxy star forwards Landon Donovan and David Beckham. The game will be televised on ESPN Deportes as a way to showcase the star power of in MLS and grab some national attention.

The rest of the league, including Colorado (http://www.coloradorapids.com/) and Real Salt Lake (http://www.realsaltlake.com/), will start the 2011 season the following Saturday, March 19th.

Last season, the Rapids shocked more than a few experts with their MLS Cup title. Avoiding injuries, timely goals down the stretch and playing well in big games, put them in a great position last season to bring the first MLS Cup title to Colorado. This year’s early scouting reports say the Rapids are deeper than last year and will make a run at defending their title.

Early predictions say that Real Salt Lake is coming off their best season last year after winning the MLS Cup in 2009. They are the favorite to win the CONCACAF Champions League, the annual international club football championship for teams from the CONCACAF regions of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The winner of CONCACAF is granted a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup.

Of course, we’d like to see an MLS Championship Final featuring Colorado and Real Salt Lake. Good luck to both for the 2011 season!