We think of open developer communities; and ecosystems; and platforms a lot in the Internet industry.

Names that spring to mind are Microsoft; Google; Facebook; Apple; American Express; Visa; and Amazon. They all utilize scale; network effect; open API’s; and third parties. They all capitalize on technology infrastructure; large customer bases; and innovation by many to serve many. Apps are hot. He who has the most developers wins!

When I read this article, I started to believe even more that a sports team and building - such as the Washington Capitals and the Verizon Center – are also platforms and developer communities with thriving third party building businesses off our platform.

Think about it.

There is now a secondary ticketing market. The Washington Capitals are essentially building consumer demand by selling out because we have invested and made a great team that fans love. We have now basically ventured capitalized small businesses too - thousands of them - to resell tickets and make a profit online and outside our building. As a note, I am making sure our building is scalper free! So beware Mr. Scalper. You are breaking the law.

But all of this sales activity is being done without significant economic benefit to our franchise.
In some instances and at some games, the secondary market generates as much or more revenue for third parties as it does for us at the Washington Capitals by selling directly to our fan base.

This is quite frustrating to me. We sell tickets to fans directly at a face value discount as season ticket holders. And the #1 complaint to me is the cost of tickets. Even though our tickets are priced fairly in the lower half in the NHL in terms of season ticket holder pricing. I have great empathy for consumers complaining to me about costs associated with attending a game.

Yet every game, there are perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 tickets that get resold at a very high price to new customers because we have built demand. These tickets get sold to customers that don’t seem to complain about price.

A season ticket holder resells these tickets at a large mark-up and pockets the margin from us -the difference between our sale price and the face value of the tickets as a benefit of season ticket sales - and then adds additional mark-up to new consumers. The reseller platform also makes money by taking a piece of the action be it eBay or StubHub etc. etc.We don’t see any of that revenue although we do see some of it through our Ticketmaster Reseller program. Yet we have to service the customer that paid a very high marked up price. I will never forget a customer coming up to me after our Game 7 playoff loss against Montreal and screaming at me, “I paid $6,000 for 4 tickets on the glass and I didn’t get any free beer and you guys lost! I want my money back!! AARRGGHHH!!!!!!!” As if I didn’t feel bad enough already.

I remember thinking that we didn’t get $6,000 for those tickets. We sold them for about $1,000. I don’t know who you are as a customer, sad to say, but someone else made $5,000 profit and you get to yell at me. Not the person who sold you the tickets. Let no good deed go unpunished.

And then there is the thriving market in knock-offs. People that create and sell Caps counterfeit merchandise and take our brand and logo and slap it on T- shirts, hats and jerseys etc. etc. I am not happy about this and have to warn folks against buying counterfeit stuff. Again, once I was at a game meeting fans and a mom came up to me and said, “You should be ashamed at the quality of these t-shirts. The color runs badly when I wash them.” Of course, the t-shirt was a burgundy color and dark reddish in hue. It wasn’t an official NHL licensed t-shirt. We didn’t get any dollars from the transaction and yet it reflects badly on our brand and franchise and I was the one that heard from the unhappy mom.

I could even make a case that the blogosphere that has been created is a third party developer community. Many bloggers get to come to games for free. They generate pixels. They sell ads around the pixels. They raise venture capital funding by saying they have a large and growing audience which of course is our audience.

And let us NOT forget the cable sports networks that buy our rights and then arbitrage them at a much higher price to cable companies making huge profits.

And then the community that has sprung up around Verizon Center.

I once heard our Mayor say that more than $250 million of tax revenue was being generated by our building and the local merchants that are now around Verizon Center. Every year.

A quarter of a billion dollars each year. A good trade for the city. They didn’t pay for the mortgage on the building yet they get the revenues from taxpayers and us on all business and transactions that we create by bringing in more than 2.5 million people per year into Verizon Center. This is why I am not shy about demanding the area around the building to be safe, clean and secure and paid for by the city.

And our customers come into the city to eat; drink; shop at the local mall and local dining establishments. Bars hold Caps Happy Hours, etc. The mall now is a media company selling advertising on signs to reach our fans. The Capitals did receive a plaque though as the Business of the Year from the Chamber of Commerce. That was nice.

I also believe that the local business communities are really app developers around our platform.

They pay a tax to the city. I wish they would at least pay a “thank you Abe” homage in some way. Donate some monies to a charity with the Pollin family name on it?

I wish there was a way for us to get cut into these transactions like a platform, too. Could these folks advertise with us? Buy some tickets? Most don’t – sad to say – as they don’t need to be successful.

My point is lots of people, companies and the city are making money from our building and our franchise.

We are our own stimulus package for our community.

We are great corporate citizens.

We are an open developer community and an eco system with third party developers working off of our platform.

Sports teams and buildings are going to have to find ways to tap into these revenue streams on a more formal basis if we are to grow and all become profitable.

For the time being though I do think we have to think of ourselves as much more than a hockey team or a basketball team and a building.

We have a much higher calling.

We are much more important to the business community than we are given credit for these days.

We are a platform and an economic ecosystem.

We are in it together.