As electronic tickets have taken off in the event industry, physical tickets have started to become a thing of the past, a development that has saddened some people.
For many fans, physical tickets used to serve as souvenirs that they could keep forever. These days, those types of tickets are much harder to come by.
Fortunately for fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns, all isn’t lost. The two teams will be adopting a concept this season that will allow fans to receive physical tickets in the mail.
The catch is that the tickets won’t be valid for game entry. Instead, they’ll just be valid as mementos — at a cost.
The Cavs and Suns are partnering with printing company Weldon, Williams & Lick to make it all happen through a platform called Direct Souvenir.
Last season, Phoenix collaborated with WW&L to produce post-event commemorative tickets for a couple of their games, and Cleveland gave it a shot during the 2024 NBA Playoffs, making the option available to fans for home playoff games. The reaction was positive.
As such, the Cavs retroactively gave fans a chance to buy physical tickets for two very memorable games from the 2023-24 regular season: the game in which Max Strus nailed a 59-foot shot at the buzzer to beat the Dallas Mavericks and the game in which the Cavs pulled off a massive comeback against the Boston Celtics with Travis and Jason Kelce sitting courtside.
“Every Cavs digital ticket in 2024-25 can be morphed into a premium, ‘Super Bowl quality’ hard copy for $20, arriving in the mail roughly a week and a half later,” wrote Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. “It can be personalized if, for instance, it was a parent taking a child to a game for the first time, or if there perhaps was a marriage proposal in the stands. Or, if there’s another game like the Strus shot or the Celtics comeback, a fan can say, ‘I was there,’ and prove it.”
It’s an interesting concept that could catch on.
“The Cavaliers, in the meantime, appear to be the template,” wrote Friend. “They already have a commemorative ticket planned for the 30th anniversary of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse this season, along with Emirates NBA Cup games and City Edition uniform nights. And they’ll be ready if the Kelce brothers come back.”
While this initiative may not be exactly the same as old-fashioned tickets, there are certainly fans of the Cavs and Suns who will appreciate the chance to get their hands on physical tickets. There is also clearly some money involved on the business side of the equation, so WW&L and the teams involved will benefit from the idea as well.
In the future, perhaps more NBA teams will adopt something similar, and in an alternative universe, maybe electronic tickets will eventually fizzle out, making way for physical tickets to come back as strong as they once were.
