DTI Management attacks “bullying” Vivid Seats

DTI Management, a developer of inventory-management software for ticket resellers, has accused Vivid Seats of attempting to lure brokers away from its platform in revenge for refusing to give the site a pricing discount.

DTI, whose clients include AEG and several sports teams, says Vivid Seats demanded DTI and its resellers provide a 7% discount on their fees in order to retain access to the site. “They are trying to force us and [our] brokers to cave in, or lose access to their platform,” CEO Curtis Cheng tells Ticket News.

Cheng (pictured) says DTI “does pretty decent business with Vivid, around 18% of their sales”, which he says amounts to more than US$9 million a month, but isn’t willing to back down: “Even though they may be the third or fourth largest exchange, there are 1,800 sites doing the same thing.

“They are trying to force us and our brokers to cave in or lose access to their platform”

“We will protect and defend ourselves from Vivid’s bullying tactic. But who is going to protect those smaller brokers?”

A spokeswoman for Vivid Seats did not respond to a request for comment.

CVC Capital Partners, the London-based private-equity firm which in September agreed to sell its controlling interest in Formula 1 to Liberty Media Group, recently invested $75m in DTI, which it hopes to turn into “the global leader in live entertainment ticket distribution”.

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