Did you sell your season ticket on StubHub?

[spacecrime]

I am a season ticket holder and I have never sold my tickets on StubHub (thank God). I think the Pats go way too overboard on this issue. I can see policing ticket agencies to make sure they don't have seats and are reselling them on a regular basis, but it annoys me to no end that they go after Joe Shmo, who's been a season ticket holder for many years, paid them thousands of dollars (including their outrageous parking charges and for pre-season games where the starters don't play), and now he is in jeopardy of losing his tickets because he had to go to Cousin Bob's wedding one weekend, put his tickets on StubHub, and is now in danger of losing them.

No, he is losing his tickets because he sold them above face value, not because he went to a wedding. He could have sold them at face value and gone to the wedding and still have his tickets.

 

[mgcolby]

Great post. I agree 100% and have had season tickets since 1992.

I've had people sitting in my section (who were not season ticket holders) telling me to sit down and be quiet during games. I can't say much for the fear that security may get involved and I would then lose my tickets.

I hope the counter suit by stubhub wins.

And people love to blame the "stadium design" for our sorry excuse of a home crowd.

I have contemplated signing up for the waiting list several times and almost did it during the 2006 pre-season. I live in VA now so I obviously wouldn't be able to make every game and due to the fact that season ticket holders can lose their tickets based on the actions of someone sitting in their seats, along with having the absolute worst experience I have had at a professional football game (Denver last year) convinced me to drop the idea.

I have a hard time siding with either party on this issue. The Pats have the right to control their product and season ticket holders agree to the terms when they purchase the tickets. But at the same time high ticket prices on the secondary market is crappy as well. But honestly if it wasn't for the ebay's, stubhubs etc... a lot of fans would not be able to attend games in many NFL towns.

 

[patsgo]

Sheesh, I bought 1 EBAY ticket in 2004 and I won a bid on EBAY for the season opener against the Raiders in 2005. Then the guy never came through with them. He gave me my money back but will my name surface for buying them on EBAY because they are owned by stub hub? By the way I've been on the waiting list since 1999. I would hate to lose my waiting status over those two transactions.

the issue is selling your seats if you buy them i dont think you have aproblem

 

[mgcolby]

Can people stop complaining about the cost of parking, food, Pre-season games etc.. because the Patriots are not the only team to charge "unreasonable" prices. But they are one of the few team's that have actually paid for their stadium with their own money. Kraft paid for the stadium, pays to maintain the stadium, paid to pave the parking lots and pays to maintain the parking lot.

Jacksonville had the city build their stadium and parking lots, and it cost $20 to park in a dirt lot away from the stadium. The Bengals have an agreement with a private company to use their lots on game day and they charge $30 to park. Every team in the NFL sells pre-season games at full price and most of them had their stadium subsidized by the tax payers and still pocket all of the profits. So lets quit with the Patriot bashing on these issues, because anyone who has traveled to a stadium other than Gillette realizes that they are not alone in any of these practices, but they are in a very small minority who actually are trying to recoup the cost of building their stadium.

 

[hallfamebrady]

I tried to sell my ex-wife on Stub Hub....got returned as defective

You may recall women were offering special "services" on Craig's List in order to get Super Bowl tickets in 2004. Will the Pats go after these people?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

If you want to complain about cost and parking cost in particular, complain about the parasites along Route 1 who charge $50 to park there. Talk about manna from heaven for something they had no hand in creating.

Rodman Ford donates the parking $ to charity. Good for them.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

You may recall women were offering special "services" on Craig's List in order to get Super Bowl tickets in 2004. Will the Pats go after these people?

Links please.
For the the Feb '08 SB I mean.

 

[QuiGon]

It's not a punishment. A negative action is not a punishment. You sound like my kid when I told him I wouldn't buy him certain CDs because of language. "Why are you punishing me because someone else swears?" It took until he was 14 years old to realize that I was not punishing him.

Oh boy... someone wants to have a semantic argument... how I love those...

Sorry, a ticket seller has the right to place conditions on tickets, whether airlines or football teams or cruise ships or whatever.

Sorry, but you're mistaken. I ain't going to further argue this point other than to tell you you're wrong. There are certainly some instances where state law forbids teams from punishing STHers for scalping (most notably NY). Right now that is not the case in Massachusetts but I bet you dollars to donuts that if the bill legalizing scalping passes, it will contain such a provision.

 

[QuiGon]

No, he is losing his tickets because he sold them above face value, not because he went to a wedding. He could have sold them at face value and gone to the wedding and still have his tickets.

Really..? Is StubHub handing over a database linking names to what their tickets sold for..? What I read in the articles was they are just handing over the names, but if you have some information the rest of us don't I would be very interested to hear it.

 

[denverpatsfan]

As a season ticket holder who is scared to sell our seats for a profit I applaud the Pats on this issue. They should go after all brokers and other scum that are making money off their seats. My family actually goes to the games and enjoys cheering for the Pats. We do not use are seats to supplement our income in order to pay for that boat or NH house on the lake. Occasionally we sell a seat to the people in our section at face value if somebody can't make it.

 

[Gainzo]

As a season ticket holder who is scared to sell our seats for a profit I applaud the Pats on this issue. They should go after all brokers and other scum that are making money off their seats. My family actually goes to the games and enjoys cheering for the Pats. We do not use are seats to supplement our income in order to pay for that boat or NH house on the lake. Occasionally we sell a seat to the people in our section at face value if somebody can't make it.

I don't agree with your endorsement of what the Pats are doing but you are correct in saying that the Pats should go after the ticket brokers.

The ticket brokers, who own season tickets, are the villains here not the regular fan.

The Pats should go after Ace Ticket and the rest of the "licensed" ticket brokers in Massachusetts.

I just went to aceticket.com and looked at the prices they are charging for the upcoming Skins game

1 ticket in Section 335, Row 19 is listed for $225. I sit in 135 and the face value of my ticket is $125.

 

[RyanTheColtsFan]

If anyone wants a game ticket to the Colts/NE game, don't search stubhub. What a joke that place is.

Ebay is so much cheaper.

 

[spacecrime]

Oh boy... someone wants to have a semantic argument... how I love those...

It's not semantics. It's the English language. Words have meanings. You can pretend otherwise and use words improperly to spin an argument, but it doesn't change the facts.

Sorry, but you're mistaken. I ain't going to further argue this point other than to tell you you're wrong. There are certainly some instances where state law forbids teams from punishing STHers for scalping (most notably NY). Right now that is not the case in Massachusetts but I bet you dollars to donuts that if the bill legalizing scalping passes, it will contain such a provision.

No I'm not mistaken.

You may not like the policy, but that is only your opinion. You are entitled to your opinion, but don't confuse what you want with what is legal and illegal.

You keep referring to the upcoming law which may or may not be passed, but you never read past the first paragraph of the article describing it.

Read this:

The House this month passed a bill that would eliminate the cap on ticket resale prices, allowing licensed ticket brokers and fans to sell tickets for any price. One provision in the bill would bar a team that gets into the business of reselling tickets above face value from restricting where its season ticket holders can resell tickets. The provision is designed to prevent sports teams from monopolizing resale of tickets.

But a team that does not get into the business of reselling above face value would be allowed to restrict what its customers do with their tickets, according to the provision in the bill.

Senator Michael Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat who is the point person in the Senate on ticket issues, said the Patriots have indicated to him they would not facilitate the resale of tickets above face value and would continue to enforce the team's no-resale policy.
"That's what their position is," Morrissey said. "I find it a bit refreshing."

It's a bad law that allows price gouging, IMO, but regardless of what I think, the Pats are within their rights. The StubHub case was appealed and lost. Seasons ticket holders who sold their tickets in excess of face value will lose their tickets, as they agreed to when they bought them. The legislation will change nothing. Ticket holders will still be able to sell tickets at face value. They just won't be able to rip others off any more.

The article goes on to say:

In most other states, fans are allowed to resell tickets for any price and professional sports teams have jumped into the business to earn money by facilitating the resales.

So which is better for ticket buyers? To live in a state where you can buy a re-sale ticket at face value? Of where you must pay hundreds over the face value?

I know my answer, but I'm not a ticket broker. If I had no scruples and was getting rich ripping off Pats fans, I would agree with you. But that is why I will never be a ticket broker.

 

[bigrig1]

I see no reason not to go after the season ticket holders that sell their tickets as we do have a 50,000 waiting list.

I live in St. Louis and read about this B.S. in the paper here and had to come see what you guys thought about it. - As for the comment quoted above, every team has a high pecentage of FAIR WEATHER FANS and someday when your team is not doing as well,(like the Rams right now) that waiting list will not be quite that long.- The patriots managment just made themselves look like a bunch of A**holes. Good luck on Sunday!-

 

[fgssand]

I live in St. Louis and read about this B.S. in the paper here and had to come see what you guys thought about it. - As for the comment quoted above, every team has a high pecentage of FAIR WEATHER FANS and someday when your team is not doing as well,(like the Rams right now) that waiting list will not be quite that long.- The patriots managment just made themselves look like a bunch of A**holes. Good luck on Sunday!-

I had my tickets when there were only 26,000 STH - so I know all about fair weather fans.

 

[BrianPat]

I still can't believe the judge ruled that the Pats could have the names of all sellers and buyers on stubhub.

The sellers I can see, but the buyers?

It makes sense to me !! Their trying to isolate scalpers from the fans. I'm sure there are season tickets holders that never attend a game, but sell every ticket for high profit. They'll also try and buy tickets low and resell them at a higher profit later.

How many times have I heard people complain about the lack of real fans at the games, just people who sit there not really understanding what's going on. This is a result of the ticket prices forcing out the serious fan that can't pay the asking prices of tickets today !! If the Pats can force tickets to be sold at the face value, they'll sell out fast, but more average income people and their FAMILIES will be able to go too games. You can resell the tickets at face value and avoid the hammer. I think the excuse of selling tickets to make up the cost of buying season tickets is weak, if you can't afford them, don't buy them !

JMTC

 

[h0c2000]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/02/01/fans_forced_to_tackle_big_markup/

 

[PatriotsReign]

Scalping is legal here in Florida, and I think it's great. That's what the free market is all about.

Actually, you're wrong. Our economy is based upon the principles of free-market. But if a professional sports organization says "these tickets are not to be re-sold" ... then, they are not to be re-sold. It doesn't matter that scalping is legal in certain states, the team can still pursue violators of this agreement.

Teams have the right to have total control of who attends their events and maintain the right to revoke a ticket or tickets at any time. I am a huge fan of this policy.

I love what Kraft has done with eliminating the "unwanteds" from attending Pats games. To maintain the "quality" of the fans attending Pats games, he needs to maintain control. To that, I say AMEN!

Otherwise people can sell everyone of their season tickets just to make money. To me, that's just Loserville.

 

[PatriotsReign]

It makes sense to me !! Their trying to isolate scalpers from the fans. I'm sure there are season tickets holders that never attend a game, but sell every ticket for high profit. They'll also try and buy tickets low and resell them at a higher profit later.

How many times have I heard people complain about the lack of real fans at the games, just people who sit there not really understanding what's going on. This is a result of the ticket prices forcing out the serious fan that can't pay the asking prices of tickets today !! If the Pats can force tickets to be sold at the face value, they'll sell out fast, but more average income people and their FAMILIES will be able to go too games. You can resell the tickets at face value and avoid the hammer. I think the excuse of selling tickets to make up the cost of buying season tickets is weak, if you can't afford them, don't buy them !

JMTC

I agree with you 100%. I like your opinion because it's the right opinion!

 

[PatriotsReign]

I live in St. Louis and read about this B.S. in the paper here and had to come see what you guys thought about it. - As for the comment quoted above, every team has a high pecentage of FAIR WEATHER FANS and someday when your team is not doing as well,(like the Rams right now) that waiting list will not be quite that long.- The patriots managment just made themselves look like a bunch of A**holes. Good luck on Sunday!-

The truth is, the Patriots management continues to show they are the best. We have great fans attending our games. Kraft does not want 1,000's of corporate types attending games. He wants "Real" avid fans and not someone entertaining their customers who don't give a crap who wins.

He also doesn't want to lose control over who is attending "HIS" stadium that he paid for with "HIS" money to watch "HIS" team...

Kinda get the pic now?