Pats Revoke Freddie Smerlas' Season Tix!

[PatsWickedPissah]

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/12/03/patriots_play_tough/?page=full

Grinch stole Christmas for Freddie!

 

[PatsDeb]

Boy, I am surprised that they would go after Freddie. He is a big supporter of the Pats. He must be making a lot of $$ on the tailgating business; they probably asked him to stop; he said no and they called his bluff. He doesn't sound too upset in the interview.

 

[alamo]

they probably asked him to stop; he said no and they called his bluff. He doesn't sound too upset in the interview.

But stopping would mean folding his business and giving up his season tickets, so there's no way he would do that voluntarily. Unless the publicity hurts him he'll just raise the prices he charges for the tickets (since they will all be from scalpers) or make a little less money.

 

[patsgo]

Smerlas should be treated like any other fan and i commend the pats and krafts for doing that. Just because he picks the patriots to win every week shouldnt entitle him to any special tratment

 

[DarrylS]

Smerlas should be treated like any other fan and i commend the pats and krafts for doing that. Just because he picks the patriots to win every week shouldnt entitle him to any special tratment

I agree completely, I like Smerlas, but he has certainly violated the trust of the Patriots.. do not know how he could have gotten 40 season tix... this has been going on for a few years now.

 

[patchick]

Ex-player or no, 40 season tix that you turn into a business venture = professional scalper. Sorry, Fred and Glenn. (Who knew that all those promos for the tailgate parties weren't just plugs for a 3rd party but were to line their own pockets?)

 

[JoeSixPat]

Boy, I am surprised that they would go after Freddie. He is a big supporter of the Pats. He must be making a lot of $$ on the tailgating business; they probably asked him to stop; he said no and they called his bluff. He doesn't sound too upset in the interview.

Seems to me that Smerlas et all are doing what a lot of other companies have done and are doing. Credit to the Pats for hopefully cracking down on all of them.

"The basic tailgate ticket costs $250, although Smerlas said he offers two-for-one specials to some games. For $375 more, a customer gets a parking spot and a ticket for a seat in the lower level of the stadium with a face value of $125."

I applaud the Pats for cracking down on all forms of scalping, including this, but I wouldn't make Smerlas out to be a bad guy. Companies like these wouldn't be in business if people didn't buy what they are selling - and if the organization isn't interested in cracking down, they'll just keep up with business as usual.

The Patriots clearly don't want to be accused of giving Smerlas any special treatment as they crack down on scalping - nor should they - and the more tickets they revoke from scalpers the more can go to real fans.

Great move! Should be interesting to hear Ordway and Smerlas on Patriots Monday with BB this afternoon.

What are the Las Vegas odds we hear the comment "It is what it is" from Smerlas and/or Ordway today?

 

[denverpatsfan]

I also applaud the Pats for doing this, but this is not enough. Be aware that the Pats have resold tickets to travel agencies.

Case in point in the last few Superbowl years, they have taken tickets that should have gone to season ticket holders and sold them to these agencies. They claim since you are buying a travel "package" it is not re-selling. Total BS IMO. They may be doing this with regular season games as well.

Untill they stop this practice they are still hypocrites IMO. These tickets ought to go to season ticket holders!

BTW those prices for Smerlas's tailgate are obscene!

 

[Michigan Dave]

I think it's a good move, and I applaud the Pats for doing the right thing. One of my biggest pet peeves is the average person being priced out of sporting events. I hold several Michigan season tickets, and routinely either give my extras away to friends, or at worst, charge face value to strangers for the tickets to recoup the cash I paid out. I would rather enjoy the game with friends than make a large profit. Due to a ticket shortage, I had to miss my first UM-OSU game in a decade, and when I tried to pick up tickets online, I was shocked at the prices I was seeing ($1-2K/seat).

For the Pats, standing room tickets to last week's Bears game ran me $125/ea, a hefty increase over face value. I hate it when the people who live and die with a team are forced out because they can no longer afford the price of admission. These 40+ tickets going to people on the waiting list that really want to be there is great.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I also applaud the Pats for doing this, but this is not enough. Be aware that the Pats have resold tickets to travel agencies.

Case in point in the last few Superbowl years, they have taken tickets that should have gone to season ticket holders and sold them to these agencies. They claim since you are buying a travel "package" it is not re-selling. Total BS IMO. They may be doing this with regular season games as well.

Untill they stop this practice they are still hypocrites IMO. These tickets ought to go to season ticket holders!

BTW those prices for Smerlas's tailgate are obscene!

If that's the case they should end those practices as well.

A travel package doesn't have to be scalping, as long as the profit margin comes in the travel package itself. The ticket price should remain face value.

This gives travel agenencies a lot of gray area in that they can charge a premium for vacation packages that might be available cheaper elsewhere. They'd better watch out or some lawyer might jump on them for abusing that.

However in Smerlas case, the fact that they were offering tailgate packages with and without tickets -and the price with tickets were clearly well in excess of the face value of the ticket, is part of their undoing.

You can't claim NOT to be scalping when the price for the tailgait WITH a $125 ticket goes up by $375.

Travel agencies engaging in the same practice should be dealt with in the same way.

 

[marty]

I also agree with the Krafts for cracking down on the scalping especially a past player, much as I like Smerlas.

 

[Rob0729]

I am happy the Pats are cracking down on scalping too, but they seem to be going after the wrong guys. It is the ticket brokers who mark up the price by upwards to 500% per game who are the ones they should go after. Granted a lot of those guys sell them on Stubhub, but many more advertise in the Globe and Herald.

I have looked into Freddie's packages in the past. They are too expensive for my taste, but at least he is charging the same for a ticket, access to the tailgate, and even a limo ride to the game for what many ticket brokers are offering just for the ticket. They didn't mark up the tickets too much because I looked for pricing for a group of my firends with some of them having tickets and just wanting the limo ride and access to their tailgate. He isn't one of the worst violators of ticket scalping.

In the old stadium, my season tickets were behind a whole row of ticket broker's tickets and speaking to some of the people who sat in front of me, they rarely paid less than a 200% mark up on the tickets.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I am happy the Pats are cracking down on scalping too, but they seem to be going after the wrong guys. It is the ticket brokers who mark up the price by upwards to 500% per game who are the ones they should go after. Granted a lot of those guys sell them on Stubhub, but many more advertise in the Globe and Herald.

I have looked into Freddie's packages in the past. They are too expensive for my taste, but at least he is charging the same for a ticket, access to the tailgate, and even a limo ride to the game for what many ticket brokers are offering just for the ticket. They didn't mark up the tickets too much because I looked for pricing for a group of my firends with some of them having tickets and just wanting the limo ride and access to their tailgate. He isn't one of the worst violators of ticket scalping.

In the old stadium, my season tickets were behind a whole row of ticket broker's tickets and speaking to some of the people who sat in front of me, they rarely paid less than a 200% mark up on the tickets.

Reminds me of the old joke - supposedly told about George Bernard Shaw (some attribute it to Sir Winston Churchill).

Aristocratic lady and Shaw are talking at a party. Shaw asks if she would sleep with him for 1-million pounds. She agrees.

Then Shaw asks if she'd do it for five pounds. She replies, "What do you think I am?"

Shaw says, "We've already established what you are, ma'am. Now we're just haggling over the price."

Scalpers are scalpers - though some are worse than others. Smerlas was marking up $125 tickets to $375. Others ask even more.

All of them are making already expensive tickets that much more difficult for the average Joe to afford.

 

[dhamz]

I am happy the Pats are cracking down on scalping too, but they seem to be going after the wrong guys. It is the ticket brokers who mark up the price by upwards to 500% per game who are the ones they should go after.

Go after them for what? Licensed ticket brokers can resell tickets above face value. It is not illegal.

 

[alamo]

I also applaud the Pats for doing this, but this is not enough. Be aware that the Pats have resold tickets to travel agencies.

Case in point in the last few Superbowl years, they have taken tickets that should have gone to season ticket holders and sold them to these agencies. They claim since you are buying a travel "package" it is not re-selling. Total BS IMO. They may be doing this with regular season games as well.

It's legal for travel agencies to sell tickets at higher prices as part of a package.

But I don't remember hearing allegations the Pats were one of the teams directly selling to agencies. What's your source on this? When the Pats filed suit against Stubhub recently ProFootballtalk said it was making other teams nervous because of the potential scrutiny. I assumed at the time the this was confirmation the Pats were clean in this regard, or else if Stubhub fights them all the details could be dragged out in public.

 

[Harrison37]

I've noticed that Wrong Borges and the Curly-Haired Boyfriend both punked the Pats with Fred Smerlas ticketgate references in their columns today.

I just love those guys...not.