Is It Time to Bring Back the Ticket Stub?

The case for a commemorative ticket post-event to balance the convenience of the modern world with the nostalgia of the past

You walk up to the door with a small piece of cardstock in your hand. It’s unassuming and small, yet you clutch it with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. You hand it to the person working at the door, and they let you in to finally watch your favorite team play live. You look at what remains of the cardstock, your ticket stub, your eternal memory. This experience is an endangered idea in today’s sports ticketing landscape, as digital purchases and mobile wallet transactions have become the standard. They are a reminder that convenience has eclipsed memorabilia and memory.

Buying a ticket to a game in 2025 is an almost exclusively digital experience. Fans log on to Ticketmaster or another ticket selling app or website, they pick their seats, pay with their phone, and scan a code when they enter the arena. It’s a fairly seamless experience that is certainly convenient. The only flaw is the lack of a physical remnant a fan can hold to commemorate the game that they attended. It’s another example of the fleeting nature of our digital world, a reminder that experiences are not designed for memories but as a simple holdover until the next purchase.

Why Digital is King