WebProNews

Ticketmaster has partnered with the National Football League to launch a Web site next year where people can resell tickets to pro football games.

The multiyear deal with the National Football League includes branding and promotion for the site, according to Ticketmaster. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Ticketmaster currently runs separate ticket exchange sites for 18 NFL teams where fans can resell their game tickets online.

Ticketmaster trails other online ticket resale outlets such as StubHub, which is owned by eBay, and auction sites like eBay. "It's fair to say we're an underdog in the category right now," said Eric Korman, Ticketmaster's executive vice president. "We need to really aggressively compete to win dollars and grow ahead of the competition."

Ticketmaster will guarantee the resold tickets, which are sent to buyers through email, the same way it does with regular ticket sales. The company is relying on that security feature and the NFL branding to attract potential ticket buyers and sellers.

"It's going to be safe, it's going to be reliable, it's going to be efficient," Korman said. "When you show up at the gate, you're ensured that ticket is going to be valid."