Yoonew
Encyclopedia
yoonew, Inc. was a start-up
based in New York City
, USA, that ran an online exchange
specializing in championship sports tickets
and ticket derivatives
. Since being founded in 2004, Yoonew provided tickets and ticket derivatives for large sporting events such as the Super Bowl
, the World Series
, the Stanley Cup
, the UEFA European Football Championship
, the Final Four
and the US Open.
Sloan
students Gerry Wilson and Hagos Mehreteab in hopes of creating a method by which die-hard fans without thousands of dollars to spare could get their hands on cheap tickets to major sporting events. The idea was born when Wilson was unable to obtain affordable tickets to the 2003 World Series
. After the idea fared well in a couple of business-plan competitions, Wilson and Mehreteab, a longtime friend, launched the company.
The company experienced difficulties early as co-founder Wilson was forced to liquidate his 401(k)
in order to provide customers with 2005 NCAA Final Four college basketball tickets in 2005. After struggling initially, Yoonew was able to raise $2 million in investments and began to grow. In October 2007, yoonew changed its interface to provide real-time price plotting similar to that seen on Yahoo!
and Google
. A point of contention raised regarding the new interface was that it was too heavily geared towards traders
, which reduces usability for the average user.
To make the site more accessible for the average user, yoonew launches on July 2008, yoonew direct a new interface in Adobe Flash
which complements the existing interface (yoonew exchange). Users having an account on yoonew exchange can use the same account to log in yoonew direct and vice versa. In addition, products purchased on yoonew direct can be traded on the yoonew exchange.
At the same time, yoonew launched a new feature which allows users to place orders for exact seat(defined by a section, row and seat) unlike the other events where users can only choose the seating category (usually five). At the moment, this feature is only available for the US Open 2008
. This company is now out of business.
months in advance at a low prices which are market
-based. If the team actually makes it to the big game, the fan is guaranteed tickets. If the team is eliminated and the holder has not re-sold their contract, they lose their investment.
yoonew offers three types of contracts:
If Matchup Fantasy Seat are riskier than Team Fantasy Seat, they are also much cheaper.
During the playoff, the Fantasy Seats of eliminated teams get expired and are removed from their owner's portfolios. When a team becomes a finalist, the Team Fantasy Seat for the team is converted into a ticket. When both teams of a matchup become finalist, the Matchup Fantasy Seats are converted into tickets. The owners of such Fantasy Seats can choose either to sell the ticket on the exchange for a profit or keeps it to go to the game.
For example, in 2006, sports fan Joe Kocott bought 18 futures contract
s for the Pittsburgh Steelers
making the Super Bowl
at an average of $185 each. When the Steelers
eventually made it to the Super Bowl
, he was delivered the tickets, which were selling at around $2,500 each at the time.
In 2007, a systems analyst paid $537 apiece for two futures contract
s for the New England Patriots
for upper-deck seats at University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Since the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl
, he ends up with two tickets for the Super Bowl XLII.
For Super Bowl XLII
, a consumer could have had got a ticket for only $86 had he bought a team fantasy seat for the Giants one month before the big game.
More recently in 2008, Craig Cox, an Associate Professor at Texas Tech's School of Pharmacy bought two Matchup Fantasy Seats for the Steelers
and Cardinals
at the lower level for the Super Bowl XLIII
for only $29.70 apiece one month before the NFL playoff. As both teams made it to the big game, he received two tickets and went to the game with his brother.
On the other hand, if a trader believes that a team will unlikely make it to the championship game, she can short the Fantasy Seat. To make sure that the short is covered, yoonew required that the trader owns a ticket. With one ticket to the Super Bowl for instance, the trader can short up to 16 Team Fantasy Seats (one for each team of the AFC conference or one for each team of the NFC conference). If the trader shorts a Team Fantasy Seat for a team which gets eliminated, she earns the amount at which she shorted the Fantasy Seat. However in the "unfortunate" case the team makes it to the final, she loses her ticket.
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, USA, that ran an online exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
specializing in championship sports tickets
Ticket (admission)
A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...
and ticket derivatives
Derivative (finance)
A derivative instrument is a contract between two parties that specifies conditions—in particular, dates and the resulting values of the underlying variables—under which payments, or payoffs, are to be made between the parties.Under U.S...
. Since being founded in 2004, Yoonew provided tickets and ticket derivatives for large sporting events such as the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, the World Series
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
, the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
, the UEFA European Football Championship
UEFA European Football Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by UEFA . Held every four years since 1960, in the even-numbered year between World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the UEFA European Nations Cup, changing to the current...
, the Final Four
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
and the US Open.
History
yoonew Inc. was founded in September 2004 by MITMassachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
Sloan
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
students Gerry Wilson and Hagos Mehreteab in hopes of creating a method by which die-hard fans without thousands of dollars to spare could get their hands on cheap tickets to major sporting events. The idea was born when Wilson was unable to obtain affordable tickets to the 2003 World Series
2003 World Series
The 2003 World Series marked the 99th baseball World Series event. The Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees in six games, 4–2.-Background:...
. After the idea fared well in a couple of business-plan competitions, Wilson and Mehreteab, a longtime friend, launched the company.
The company experienced difficulties early as co-founder Wilson was forced to liquidate his 401(k)
401(k)
A 401 is a type of retirement savings account in the United States, which takes its name from subsection of the Internal Revenue Code . A contributor can begin to withdraw funds after reaching the age of 59 1/2 years...
in order to provide customers with 2005 NCAA Final Four college basketball tickets in 2005. After struggling initially, Yoonew was able to raise $2 million in investments and began to grow. In October 2007, yoonew changed its interface to provide real-time price plotting similar to that seen on Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
. A point of contention raised regarding the new interface was that it was too heavily geared towards traders
Trader (finance)
A trader is someone in finance who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities and derivatives. A broker who simply fills buy or sell orders is not a trader, as they are merely executing instructions given to them. According to the Wall Street Journal in 2004, a managing...
, which reduces usability for the average user.
To make the site more accessible for the average user, yoonew launches on July 2008, yoonew direct a new interface in Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
which complements the existing interface (yoonew exchange). Users having an account on yoonew exchange can use the same account to log in yoonew direct and vice versa. In addition, products purchased on yoonew direct can be traded on the yoonew exchange.
At the same time, yoonew launched a new feature which allows users to place orders for exact seat(defined by a section, row and seat) unlike the other events where users can only choose the seating category (usually five). At the moment, this feature is only available for the US Open 2008
2008 U.S. Open (tennis)
The 2008 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 128th edition of the US Open, and the fourth and final Grand Slam event of the year...
. This company is now out of business.
How it works
If a fan believes his favorite team will reach the championship game, he can purchase ticket futuresFutures contract
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract between two parties to exchange a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed today with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts are traded on a futures exchange...
months in advance at a low prices which are market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
-based. If the team actually makes it to the big game, the fan is guaranteed tickets. If the team is eliminated and the holder has not re-sold their contract, they lose their investment.
yoonew offers three types of contracts:
- A Team Fantasy Seat for a given team and a given event which entitles the owner the ticket to the event if the team makes it to the event;
- A Matchup Fantasy Seat for a given matchup and a given event which entitles the owner the ticket to the event if both teams of the matchup makes it to the event;
- A Ticket for a given event.
If Matchup Fantasy Seat are riskier than Team Fantasy Seat, they are also much cheaper.
During the playoff, the Fantasy Seats of eliminated teams get expired and are removed from their owner's portfolios. When a team becomes a finalist, the Team Fantasy Seat for the team is converted into a ticket. When both teams of a matchup become finalist, the Matchup Fantasy Seats are converted into tickets. The owners of such Fantasy Seats can choose either to sell the ticket on the exchange for a profit or keeps it to go to the game.
For example, in 2006, sports fan Joe Kocott bought 18 futures contract
Futures contract
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract between two parties to exchange a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed today with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts are traded on a futures exchange...
s for the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
making the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
at an average of $185 each. When the Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
eventually made it to the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, he was delivered the tickets, which were selling at around $2,500 each at the time.
In 2007, a systems analyst paid $537 apiece for two futures contract
Futures contract
In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract between two parties to exchange a specified asset of standardized quantity and quality for a price agreed today with delivery occurring at a specified future date, the delivery date. The contracts are traded on a futures exchange...
s for the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
for upper-deck seats at University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Since the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
, he ends up with two tickets for the Super Bowl XLII.
For Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII
Super Bowl XLII was an American football game on February 3, 2008 that featured the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League champion for the 2007 season...
, a consumer could have had got a ticket for only $86 had he bought a team fantasy seat for the Giants one month before the big game.
More recently in 2008, Craig Cox, an Associate Professor at Texas Tech's School of Pharmacy bought two Matchup Fantasy Seats for the Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
and Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
at the lower level for the Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
for only $29.70 apiece one month before the NFL playoff. As both teams made it to the big game, he received two tickets and went to the game with his brother.
On the other hand, if a trader believes that a team will unlikely make it to the championship game, she can short the Fantasy Seat. To make sure that the short is covered, yoonew required that the trader owns a ticket. With one ticket to the Super Bowl for instance, the trader can short up to 16 Team Fantasy Seats (one for each team of the AFC conference or one for each team of the NFC conference). If the trader shorts a Team Fantasy Seat for a team which gets eliminated, she earns the amount at which she shorted the Fantasy Seat. However in the "unfortunate" case the team makes it to the final, she loses her ticket.