As we head into the midseason break of another wild major-league baseball season, even America's favorite low-tech pastime is learning some new-economy tricks.
Last night, Travelocity parent Sabre (NYSE:TSG) announced that it was hooking up with TicketsNow to provide travel packages complete with choice seats for a ballgame.
I live in Miami, where securing primo field seats to a Florida Marlins game is as simple as showing up at the stadium. However, that's obviously not true in some of the hotter venues. Unless you want to deal with ticket scalpers, good luck on your way to Yankee Stadium; all of this season's remaining New York Yankees games are sold out.
The Internet has already helped empower baseball fans; sites like StubHub.com sell hard-to-get seats at reasonable prices. Now the major travel portals are moving to cash in on the power of sports travel.
Travelocity is starting out in the appropriate markets. Its baseball packages key in on 240 games in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Even if you're not a fan of the sport, it's an event-driven experience, and who knows if we're nearing the day when tourists crave baseball seats as much as they do theater tickets to hot Broadway shows?
Travel portals have evolved. Pioneers like Expedia (NASDAQ:EXPE) and Travelocity started out offering basic airfare and overnight lodging, until they honed in on the bigger paydays waiting in booking complete travel packages. These days, even Priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN) is offering complete packages and tickets to tours and attractions. Low-cost carriers like JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU) and Southwest (NYSE:LUV) will also hook you up with travel packages.
In every sense of the expression, it's a whole new ballgame.
Priceline and JetBlue are Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. Want to learn why? Check out Stock Advisor for free with a 30-day trial subscription.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz still relies on the portals to get basic travel information, but then he runs off to see if better deals can be had directly with the provider. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
