Sefi Donner is the Chief Executive Officer of Sports Events 365, an international sports and shows ticket broker based in Tel Aviv, Israel. In this interview, he speaks to WALE EMOSU on sports and shows ticket broking and the prospects for Nigerians.
What did you have in my mind when you decided to establish Sports Events 365?
The idea, at the beginning, was to be the Google of sports events, a search engine that people go to in order to find events according to location, or club.
Is it just about finding the events to location or club?
At the beginning we sent people to other sites to purchase tickets and other related services, but after some months, we realised that we were making very small commissions. On the other hand, people were really eager to purchase tickets from us and not from sites we were referring them to.
So we decided to make the change in the business model and to start selling tickets by ourselves. This change was crucial. We started to make revenues and after a couple of months, we were able to break even, a great moment for every company.
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Deciding just on the strength of that singular experience suggests that the capital was not a problem at all?
Capital was a problem. I was only able to raise 100,000 dollars.
So how did you shore it up later?
Without the change in the business model, the company would not have made it.
After breakeven, we started moving forward in many directions. We started translating into additional languages. We started the B2B activity, meaning, giving commissions to travel agents, building password protected sites with net prices, etc. B2B in our business is selling to the travel industry, travel agents, OTA’s, airlines, hotel chains, activities sites, bank beds and more.
And the major one, you are into the season to season ticket agreements with football clubs across Europe, can you just highlight your activities here for the benefits of laymen?
We try to have tickets to as many events as possible that our customers are looking for. It means football in many countries, basketball, rugby, cricket, motor sports, American sports, concerts and more.
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We always prefer to purchase directly from the source, so our prices will be competitive. Sometimes it is impossible, so we purchase from others. Manchester City is a good example of the teams we deal directly with.
That means not all sports are covered?
You are right.
Why is this so?
We should add more sports, no doubt. We are very careful in choosing suppliers. We work only with suppliers who are willing to sign an agreement, committing to supply even at the risk of a loss.
The belief is that the English Premiership is the most popular football league in the world, now 13 years into football business, which football league would you say is the toughest in the world?
As a sports fan or as a ticket broker?
You can place both side by side, the two perspectives could have different submissions.
The Premier League is very interesting because you have about or six teams running for the title. In Germany, France and Italy, almost every year it is the same team. Spain, only two rich clubs. This is a clear advantage of the English league.
I don’t want to take your answer for granted, can you mention those two clubs in Spain?
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FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain. Paris Saint Germain, Juventus and Bayern Munich in France, Italy and Germany respectively.
You just signed a deal with Manchester City in England and you are into talks with some other Premiership sides, would you love to mention their names?
I prefer not, because you never know until the last minute if you are going to sign or not.
In Nigeria, for example, quite a large number of people follow European football clubs, have you really been thinking about expanding your market to Africa?
We have quite a few customers in Africa.
From Nigeria and or across the continent?
They live in South Africa, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and more.
We are happy to cooperate with additional travel agents from Nigeria. We met some agencies in London in November during the WTM Fair (World Travel Market). I also met an agency called 1860. We are just about to start working together. They are nice people from Lagos. I am sure we can do more in this large market. Every travel agent in Nigeria will find it very easy to use our database in order to create sport packages and market to their customers. We did business with Wontra in 2018 and we should renew the contract.
So can you just talk briefly about the football culture in England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France?
Football is number one in these countries, everyone knows football, supports a team, etc.
What would you want to see happen before you can say Sports 365 Events is, indeed, fulfilled?
We wish to add more content – golf, UFC, boxing and more. We wish to sell dynamic packages, ticket plus hotel tourism. Dynamic means you choose a match, you choose a quality and location of hotel and we give you 10 offers for a package, one price for a package that includes two products.
What is causing the delay for now?
Money is stopping us. When you have more money you can run faster. We are only 50 people. We need to grow.
You have had cause to handle match tickets of football clubs with super stars like Messi and Ronaldo, do you have any particular experience involving these players or their fans that still amuses or amazes you anytime you remember?
In the past we sold a package to fly with the team to away games and people came back and said this was the experience of their lives.
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How?
They spoke with the players, took photographs, etc. It was with FC Barcelona.
What can you say about Nigerian players in Israel?
John Ogu is very good. I will never forget (Vincent) Enyeama, he was an excellent goalkeeper and a great personality.