Sports fans can buy tickets directly from the US Open’s mobile site. The tournament has partnered with resell marketplace TicketsNow to power the technology.

“We know when consumers come to the US Open Web site from Google, about 20 to 25 percent of the time the searches originated from mobile devices,” said Julie Vander Ploeg, general manger and senior vice president at TicketsNow, Rolling Meadows, IL.

“So we developed the mobile site so consumers can easily find what they are looking for,” she said.

Mobile sports
US Open’s mobile site went live in July and marks the company’s first dabble into the space.

Through the mobile-optimized site,  consumers can buy and sell US Open tickets.

Before buying their tickets, consumers  can view seating assignments and check prices.

When consumers are ready to buy their tickets, they  can choose to have them  sent via FedEx or email.

“We started with a mobile site in order to be as accessible to be possible to sports fans,” Ms. Vander Ploeg said.

“This initial start into mobile will determine where our strategy will go from here,” she said.

Picky tickets
The US Open runs from Aug. 29 through Sept. 11 in Flushing Meadows, NY.

“Mobile is ideally situated for this kind of tournament where there are multiple matches over two weeks,” Ms. Vander Ploeg said.

“In order to decide if you want to go to the next tournament or not, you have to be plugged into the event and mobile is a quick way to get tickets while the games take place,” she said.

Mobile ticketing is huge and sports events are the perfect area for marketers to catch sports fans on the fly.

Most recently, ticketing giant StubHub partnered with the San Francisco Giants to let consumers use mobile ticketing (see story).

“Mobile lets sports fans who are at events with multiple games, matches or rounds – such as tournaments – keep tabs on which events they want tickets to based on who is winning,” Ms. Vander Ploeg said.

“The U.S. Open demographic is very plugged into mobile devices for all things commerce-related already, so the audience is prime for selling tickets to,” she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York