Did you sell your season ticket on StubHub?

[fgssand]

Yes, when I get e-mails from the Sox telling me to buy from StubHub I get a little perturbed they're encourage me to engage in illegal activity.

Exactly - how in the world is a fan supposed to know it is illegal to buy tickets from Stub Hub anyway?

Teams email and encourage buyers as you say. Stub Hub advertises like crazy in this market.

It's not as if one is buying from someone on a street corner, talking out of the side of his mouth only taking cash. Stub Hub guarantees satisfaction so a buyer has every right to believe they get their tix legitimately.

 

[AStack75]

The Patriots are complete hypocrites. Look no further than their dealings with PrimeSport to see how the Patriots feel about scalping.
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/02/01/fans_forced_to_tackle_big_markup/

 

[QuiGon]

The Patriots are complete hypocrites. Look no further than their dealings with PrimeSport to see how the Patriots feel about scalping.
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/02/01/fans_forced_to_tackle_big_markup/

You hit the nail on the head here The Patriots aren't looking to do away with scalping and this isn't some holy crusade on behalf of the "average fan"... they just want to monopolize the secondary market themselves... which, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, is why legislation legalizing scalping will also forbid them from punishing scalpers.

 

[PatsDeb]

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.

I also had a very bad taste in my mouth for the Patriots when they revoked varous people's season tickets because some idiot there as a guest used the ladies room. Six tickets of a company that had them for years revoked because of this isolated incident. Give me a break.

If Bob Kraft loves the fans so much, he shouldn't spit on ones that have stuck with him for years. Someday when the team is bad again it will come back to haunt him.

I know what they are doing is enforcing their "rules" but the way they steamroll the little guy bothers me.

 

[PatsWSB47]

I bought tickets on Ebay, which is owned by stub hub , does this make me a bad person

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.

 

[RichardHead]

Just a few general comments to add (really just restating what everyone else is saying). I can't believe the judge allowed for the release of the names of buyers, the only possible explaination is the Patriots want to see if these people then went on to resell the tickets again, but even then it doesn't seem like it's worth the effort. We're not going to have any problems with our season tickets, as we've never sold them on either Stub Hub or Ebay, but I'm glad when I bought our tickets to the Patriots at Buffalo the last few years on Stubhub I used my name and not my friend who has our Patriots tickets in his name.

 

[rodrust]

So would the names be a mater of public record then ?

 

[Mack Herron]

You hit the nail on the head here The Patriots aren't looking to do away with scalping and this isn't some holy crusade on behalf of the "average fan"... they just want to monopolize the secondary market themselves... which, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, is why legislation legalizing scalping will also forbid them from punishing scalpers.

Bingo! We got bingo! File this one on the other side of the Kraft ledger.

 

[SpiderFox53]

And that's why, once scalping is legalized in Massachusetts, the Patriots will be forbidden by law to punish STHers who scalp via other means. The Patriots will not be allowed to establish a monopoly on the secondary market, so if they want to dabble there, it will be open competition.

That's wrong. Ticketmaster is not part of the secondary market, they are a service used by the Pats to sell thier tickets, they do not buy them and then resell them, so the Pats agreement with them will have no effect whatsoever on what they do to scalpers.

 

[SpiderFox53]

Just a few general comments to add (really just restating what everyone else is saying). I can't believe the judge allowed for the release of the names of buyers, the only possible explaination is the Patriots want to see if these people then went on to resell the tickets again, but even then it doesn't seem like it's worth the effort. We're not going to have any problems with our season tickets, as we've never sold them on either Stub Hub or Ebay, but I'm glad when I bought our tickets to the Patriots at Buffalo the last few years on Stubhub I used my name and not my friend who has our Patriots tickets in his name.

He had to release all the names if he was going to release any of them. You can't pick and choose who you are going to protect and who you aren't. Ruling as he did that they had the right to the sellers names means they also had the right to the buyers names.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Boston Herald has front page headlines about the Pats "Spying" on their fans. Not the best PR for the Kraft empire.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Does this include buying on e-bay?? i am on the waiting list

 

[QuiGon]

That's wrong. Ticketmaster is not part of the secondary market, they are a service used by the Pats to sell thier tickets, they do not buy them and then resell them, so the Pats agreement with them will have no effect whatsoever on what they do to scalpers.

The Patriots have a service on their own website whereby season tickets holders can list their tickets for sale for face value. That is, by definition, the secondary market. It doesn't matter who facilitates the transaction nor does it matter that those are "face value" sales. The Patriots do participate in the secondary market and are sure to get their cut.

Even if you don't accept the above, you need look no further than the person who posted the article about how the Patriots "Travel Service" scalps tickets.

Bottom line is the Patriots make money off the secondary market. I have absolutely no problem with that fact (in fact I like it that way), but it is that fact which will make it illegal for them to yank seats from STHers who scalp if (when?) this legislation passes.

 

[QuiGon]

FWIW, I think the Patriots have overplayed their hand here. With the MA Legislature considering lifting the ban on scalping, the Pats just bought themselves a truckload of bad P.R. Seems to me that Pats fans are equal parts worried and pissed.

Their actions are, IMHO, a great way to ensure the legislature takes the side of people who don't want to be punished for having listed or bought tickets once or twice.

 

[BadMoFo]

Saw this on the AP version of the story. Everyone wants a videotaping comment.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington D.C.-based advocacy group, said the court order to turn over the names infringes on the privacy rights of Patriots fans.

"The Patriots, just at the beginning of the season, were filming opposing teams and accused of surveillance and given a slap from the National Football League about that. Now they're turning the cameras on their fans, so clearly there is a lack of understanding about what privacy is," said Ari Schwartz, deputy director of the center.

StubHub parent eBay is a member of the center's working group on free speech online.

 

[Joker]

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

 

[PatsWSB47]

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

That was your wife???:agree:

 

[Truck]

The other thing I don't understand is why teams/shows do underprice their tickets. Like the currently ongoing red sox playoffs. If you're either lucky or crafty enough to get tickets at face value, they can be immediately flipped for substantial profit. And that is a known fact, not because of unexpected demand.

Why not just sell the tickets auction style (& at the same time maximize team revenue)? Use stubhub/whatever-online-site as your primary market.

Or you can have 2 classes of tickets: 1. "Affordable For Fans" Tickets that can only be used by the buyer (id required for entrance), and 2. "Fair market" tickets that can be sold to whomever/for-whatever.

If the team is getting full market value for the tickets, then the idea of scalping becomes non-existent.

 

[LiveShot]

The Patriots scalp tickets if you use their "travel" plan. Price of tickets, air fare hotel is a very high number. New England Tailgate does the same thing but the price of the ticket is hard to determine as it's all wrapped up in an expensive package.

 

[spacecrime]

I am not sure what part of the constitution addresses the idea of a team not being allowed to punish STHs for engaging in a legal activity...

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.

If someone says, "I will sell you tickets, and let you renew them every year under the condition that you don't resell the ticket for more than the face value or viiolate stadium rules," and you violate the rules or sell the tickets above face value, then there is no punishment, only the enfrocement of a contract.

And remember, every season ticket holder is free to sell their tickets for face value.

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