DW Stadium to oversee ticketing revamp for Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors fixtures

The move comes following last week's FA Cup third-round visit of Manchester United, when dozens of Latics fans reported problems with the current system - including duplicate tickets being issued and incorrect information being relayed, resulting in lengthy queuing, which caused many of them to miss out on the game altogether.

“We’re delighted to partner with Ticketmaster Sport as our new ticketing service provider," said Ben Goodburn, chairman of Wigan Athletic. "The transition to Ticketmaster represents a key strategic priority for the clubs and for our supporters.

"We hope this positive action demonstrates that we are listening to our supporters and implementing measures to take the club forward.

"While we know we have a transitional phase to overcome during the coming weeks, I’m confident all our fans will benefit from Ticketmaster’s world-class ticketing technology in the long term”.

Kris Radlinski, chief executive of Wigan Warriors, said: “We are excited to be launching a new ticketing system.

"The new system is well suited for our wider aspirations for the DW Stadium and Robin Park Arena to support our non-matchday objectives to deliver a wider range of community-focused events on the Robin Park campus”.

Fans will be offered the opportunity of a free account for each club that will allow straightforward ticketing transactions to take place for both home and away games.

There will be a focus on tickets being fulfilled digitally, either via digital tickets or print-at-home tickets which will significantly reduce the need to queue on a matchday.

All existing season tickets and tickets purchased will remain valid and enable access to the stadium, and all current and valid tickets will be transferred to our new system.

For Latics’ upcoming home fixtures against Reading, Wycombe and Stevenage, a temporary version of Ticketmaster will be in operation.

Latics have also confirmed that, as part of the process of transitioning to Ticketmaster, all #BELIEVE FansFund subscriptions have been cancelled.

A new fans fund scheme is being launched in the coming weeks, following a consultation with fan groups.