Dave's Blog

I TOLD YOU SO! StubHub’s Earnings and Stock Crash!

About a year ago, I wrote about StubHub’s S-1. I spent days reading through it, analyzing it. I came away skeptical…if I’m being nice. Yesterday, the market caught up to me. StubHub’s stock fell 12.8%. Q4 revenue fell 16% to $449 million. Full year loss? $1.9 billion. I told you so. Let me recount the […]

$1.7 Trillion and the Question No One Asked…

Strategy is everywhere. In the arts. Sports. Government. Even finance. The quiet decisions that make an organization thrive or drift. Most people saw Blue Owl’s recent headlines about a $1.4 billion loan sale and halted redemptions and thought…liquidity. I saw strategy. Or, the lack of one. A $1.7 trillion industry that hasn’t answered the only question […]

February 25, 2026
wakemanconsulting
No Comments

The Unthinkable Is Now Possible Tottenham Hotspur is in a relegation battle. This isn’t hyperbole. It is a genuine mathematical possibility. A 2019 Champions League finalist. A club with a £1.2 billion stadium. State-of-the-art training facilities. Global reach. A brand that says, “Big Six.” That club is 16th in the Premier League. Five points from […]

February 25, 2026
wakemanconsulting
No Comments

Hey! Last week, I wrote about the state of the ticket business and gave my State of the Union address called “Ticketmaster Won. Everyone Else Lost.” I made the case that the ticketing ecosystem is broken not only because of bad actors, but because of broken incentives. A system that has become about extraction, not […]

February 20, 2026
wakemanconsulting
No Comments

I’ve been watching the Metropolitan Opera’s situation for a while. The status of the organization is personal to me. I love New York and those huge cultural institutions. When I moved to New York City, I bought memberships and subscriptions to all of the major cultural institutions I could afford at the time. I sucked […]

February 18, 2026
wakemanconsulting
No Comments

Hi! This is a longer piece that I’ve been working on for a few days… Consider this my collected thoughts about tickets heading into 2026. If you like this one, share it! Share I started this piece thinking that everyone had lost. The ticket ecosystem was broken. No one was coming out ahead. I was […]

November 6, 2025
wakemanconsulting
No Comments

Good morning! Last week, we talked about “The Gap”. That’s the trap that too many strategies fall into between theory and action. You might be taking a lot of actions, but you aren’t making real progress. That’s “The Gap” in action. Vague busyness, but not impact. Last week, I described it. This week, I want […]

I TOLD YOU SO! StubHub’s Earnings and Stock Crash!

$1.7 Trillion and the Question No One Asked…

The Tottenham Way: A £1.2 Billion Stadium and Nothing to Show for It

David Marcus Replies!

The Met Opera’s Crisis Isn’t About Art. It’s About Strategy.

Ticketmaster Won. Everyone Else Lost. That’s Why Tickets are Broken.

“The Gap” Exposed: Scan Your Strategy in 10 Minutes or Less.

…