AXS Partners with Grand Ole Opry & Ryman For Exclusive Ticket Sales

The Opry Entertainment Group has partnered with global ticketing company AXS to become the country music company’s exclusive ticketing partner moving forward. This means that all ticketing for the Grand Ole Opry and the Opry House venue, the historic Ryman Auditorium, as well as the Opry’s “Ole Red” Blake Shelton-themed venues in Nashville, Gatlinburg, Orlando, Oklahoma (Tishomingo), and soon Las Vegas (2023) will now run solely through the AXS platform.

AXS is the ticketing arm of AEG Presents—one of the largest live promoters in the world. It is a similar relationship to the one between Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The Opry Entertainment Group hopes that partnering with AXS will also facilitate greater collaboration with AEG Presents.

“This partnership with AXS will allow us to deepen our relationship with our customers across our venues and provide them a secure, safe and convenient way to access all of their OEG tickets in one place,” says Scott Bailey, President of Opry Entertainment Group. “This partnership was created with our future in mind and opens doors for us to collaborate with AXS and AEG on a deeper level as we expand our offerings and continue to grow our business.”

Bryan Perez, the President and CEO of AXS adds, “The Opry Entertainment Group is the jewel in the crown of one of the greatest music cities in the world. AXS will super serve these landmark venues and their customers with our suite of state-of-the-art technologies and marketing solutions, enabling each property to tailor their ticketing experiences and maintain the individual identities which make them so iconic in Nashville and beyond. We’re thrilled to partner with such a seminal brand as we build out our presence in the city.”

AXS is promoting that the new deal will give fans the ability to access the company’s “AXS Official Marketplace,” where tickets can be bought and sold on the same platform. It is this platform that recently drew the ire of fans of the Turnpike Troubadours and others as buyers were unable to purchase face value tickets at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, only to see tickets immediately appear back on the AXS platform through resellers at exorbitant markups. Fans also attempting to purchase ticket to Zach Bryan’s Ryman Auditorium performance on February 10th, 2022 faced similar frustrations.

It is not clear at the moment if the AXS deal will ultimately extend to the Moody Theater in Austin as well. The Grand Ole Opry’s parent company, Ryman Hospitality Properties, is currently under contract to purchase the “Block 21” development in Austin for $260 million, which includes the 2,750-seat Moody Theater where Austin City Limits is taped and ACL Live events happen weekly.

Though tickets are regularly available for face value to Grand Ole Opry presentations, The Ryman Auditorium—similar to Red Rocks in Colorado—is considered a destination venue, drawing fans from around the country to see marquee performers in an intimate and historic setting, creating a premium for tickets. Music fans will now be using the AXS platform to secure these tickets.

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