OT: Broncos strip season tix from holders who didn't attend a game

[Pats2000]

Screw ST holders who use their seats as a financial asset. Let folks who want to attend in person go to games.

Folks who want to see games are getting to see them. The people buying the tickets. That's capitalism baby

 

[Mike the Brit]

I sold two games last year on stubhub....

I couldn't go or give them away and felt better selling them for a small profit than giving them away for nothing (to the Krafts) on the ticketexchange.

Now I'm not sure if I should feel guilty or not.

You should feel guilty for not giving them to me ...

 

[BTTA]

(Which reminds me -- I don't want to see a single penny of taxpayer dollars being spent to enforce anti-scalping laws. There shouldn't even be any anti-scalping laws. If a team/artist/venue/etc. doesn't want its tickets scalped, then let them do the enforcement themselves (such as I just mentioned) and let them sue scalpers for violating the terms of the ticket license if they care as much as they claim to.)

I get what you are saying about putting laws on the books, but let's not overlook the fact that the conducting of lawsuits, and the enforcement of their outcomes, require taxpayer money.

 

[IllegalContact]

I understand, but ticket resale helps fans who want to attend a game but cannot afford season tix or for whom not practical (I live in SC). It is not like the seats are mostly unused.

1st.....it was those who did not attend a game

based on the waitlist the pats have they should do the same

 

[bormio]

1st.....it was those who did not attend a game

based on the waitlist the pats have they should do the same

I don't think there should be season ticket holders who just sell all their tickets - I would want those season tickets to go to people who want to go to the games. However, I think season ticket holders selling some tickets is not a bad thing, as it helps people who want to go to a single game have access to tickets. Better than just the season ticket holder sitting home and no one be in the seats.

 

[Urgent]

I thought the Patriots were doing this pretty aggressively years back. They had a tough stance against re-selling, and then opened the ticket exchange.

I had season tickets from 1986 until about 1994. I was there for the one-win 1990 season (but, hey, that got them Pat Harlow!) and the two-win 1992 season. We had two babies, I was traveling internationally a lot, and it just didn't make sense with that lifestyle to go to all the games. It was no problem getting tickets to two or three games a year. Then Brady happened, and we've been on the wait list 15 years.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Folks who want to see games are getting to see them. The people buying the tickets. That's capitalism baby

Or you just revoke the season tickets from the "capitalists" who literally don't give a **** about the games like the Broncos are doing and problem solved.

Capitalism is not some blanket thing that you can just slap into any situation and have it be a good thing or a positive outcome... like anything else, it can get out of hand and become extreme

Its nothing more than people who have money use some of it to make more money, but they produce nothing in the process.. they just use assets to buy up and hoard other assets, then turn around and sell them for huge profits... **** those people, they shouldn't be season ticket holders

 

[XLIX]

I have no problem with what the Broncos did because I have no horse in the race, but let's be honest here. Despite their claims, this is not altruism or giving the season tickets to "true fans."

The reason why such scalpers exist in the first place is because many teams (including NE) charge less for season tickets than market forces dictate. The scalper makes a profit by exploiting that difference. The teams want that profit for themselves.

As such, more and more tickets are funneled to the "Official Ticket Partner" of the team. I did a check. Denver's official partner is PrimeSports. You can get nosebleed seats to the Cowboys game for $495 each. This same section costs STHers $52 each. (Yes you get access to a "tailgate" if you buy a pair from PrimeSports but you certainly aren't getting $886 worth of food).

Believe me, PrimeSports is getting plenty of tickets directly from the team and they are paying the team a premium price for the premium games.

You can check the website right now and see the same seats in section 524, Row 8, available for all home games. So the "Official Ticket Partner of the Denver Broncos" is doing the exact thing the team claims they want to stop.

 

[Nunchucks]

As a season ticket holder, I think the policy sucks. Stuff comes up in life and football has to take a back seat. Going to games is a huge time commitment. Some years, I can barely make it to 2 games. Heck, I only go to games that I believe will be most competitive.

Teams should at least season ticket holders know in advance.

 

[PatsDeb]

I don't think there should be season ticket holders who just sell all their tickets - I would want those season tickets to go to people who want to go to the games. However, I think season ticket holders selling some tickets is not a bad thing, as it helps people who want to go to a single game have access to tickets. Better than just the season ticket holder sitting home and no one be in the seats.

Agreed. However, with the internet it's become difficult to police. Say a scalper (or just an ordinary joe who renews his tix every year but then sells most or all of them (I actually have a friend who does this and wonder if he'd be a "victim" if the Pats started revoking tix)) owns two season tickets. That ownership gives him the right to buy up to 4 seats on the ticket exchange at face value (with a little juice, but not much) for each game. So, he can actually buy (and in my experience in the last two years, as someone who used to buy extra tix a lot on the exchange, DOES buy with a fast computer that bumps out all the average joes) six tickets at face value, jack up the price several hundred dollars for each, and make a nice profit, on every single home game. The Pats should start doing something about this, IMO.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

As a season ticket holder, I think the policy sucks. Stuff comes up in life and football has to take a back seat. Going to games is a huge time commitment. Some years, I can barely make it to 2 games. Heck, I only go to games that I believe will be most competitive.

Teams should at least season ticket holders know in advance.

There is a big difference between not being able to make it to all the games and buying up tickets for the sole purpose of flipping them for profit

I think longevity should certainly be factored into the equation, but if they can prove that people are just selling all their tickets as another source of income in their portfolio and not attending games, then screw those people.. pull their tickets and give them to someone more deserving on the 15 year waiting list

Season tickets are not property that you own

 

[Darrone]

Yea, I immediately thought about my friends dad who missed a season due to surgery one year, and sold most of his tickets after failing to find local interest. It does sound like they listened to those cases, and made exceptions, but the data speaks for itself. If you're missing the majority of the games, year after year, you need to give up those seats.

It's a small bummer to you, and a HUGE happiness boost to someone else who's been waiting for 15+ years. (I'm on year 12 which was the first year I could scrape together $100 for the deposit and still eat that week).

 

[zoostation]

The Donkeys biggest concern is those tickets getting into non-Donkey fans hands. That organization is always paranoid about the tickets getting into Patriot fans in the playoffs. Bad flashbacks of Ghost missing that extra point. 3 out of 4 will be sweet though. Elway is a dushbag.

Oh yeah I digress , the ticket scandal...

 

[jmt57]

In regards to this topic, there seems to be several distinct scenarios.

1.) When a team (such as the Patriots) has demand exceeding supply, resulting in some enterprising people seek making a profit by selling to the highest bidder - and thus leaving 'true' fans on the outside.

2.) When a team seeks to exclude fans of opponents from purchasing tickets by various methods, such as excluding ticket sales to certain zip codes or by limiting ticket resales.

3.) A true die-hard fan who can't justify or afford season tickets but buys them regardless, seeking to lower that cost by selling some of those tickets.

4.) Less popular teams that rarely sell out attempting to maximize profits, by curtailing resales so that they can boost single-game ticket sales (with the side affect that season ticket holders are unable to unload tickets to games they cannot attend, or otherwise wish to sell).

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

Let me clarify.
I don't object to ST holders selling some seats. Stuff happens.

While I do get angry with the STH's, I think the bigger problem is the NFL as a whole.

The NFL have bloated and hyped the games to the point that it has become a "Major event and investment".

How mush is a hotdog, beer now?

The average working man can't afford to take himself and his family to games.

I think the NFL is more worried about other people profiting from the games.
The tix are already expensive.

Then they blame the STH's for profiting from their hefty investment.

The whole thing stinks. Screw the NFL.

It's TV for me anymore, sadly...

 

[convertedpatsfan]

This is impossible, but would love to see it happen.

When a new stadium gets built, almost always the best seats go to the richest people. Maybe not the loudest or most dedicated, but the ones who can afford it. As a result, most newer stadiums get knocked for crowd noise.

It would be great if the first few rows were reserved for the loudest of fans. You could still sell tickets in say rows 6+ for a lot of money, but why not have a rowdy crowd close to the action?

But how could this work? Well, Kid Rock reserved the first few rows for a lottery style upgrade for fans who bought tickets far away. And I was thinking, it would be great to rotate in fans, especially longtime season ticket owners. So make a lottery, give every season ticket holder 16 chances to sit up front. Maybe you have to attend the week before to be eligible. That would encourage more to go to the games. Single ticket sales could then be sold for the empty seats left behind by those who got upgraded.

Better crowd noise, encourage season ticket holders to come out, and reward some every week while also making more single tickets available. Downside is a loss of some revenue from those upfront rows. So it will never happen. But love the concept of it.

 

[Bill Lee]

1.) When a team (such as the Patriots) has demand exceeding supply, resulting in some enterprising people seek making a profit by selling to the highest bidder - and thus leaving 'true' fans on the outside.

Indeed, since you quote 'true', I find it kind of ironic that Krafty Bob will be making a call on who is a 'true' fan or not, after choosing the 31 over the 1.

While I do get angry with the STH's, I think the bigger problem is the NFL as a whole.

The NFL have bloated and hyped the games to the point that it has become a "Major event and investment".

Yes, I too see the irony of an organization like the NFL who will do anything to make a buck, like screwing season ticket holders by putting games in London and Mexico City where in the case of MEX the air is just plain unhealthy, blowing off 'true' fans in STL, SD and OAK because they can make more money in LA and LAS, moving a team to LAS whose stadium will largely be paid for by hotel taxes on gamblers, etc, being so concerned about some fans making a buck off them. I guess it takes one to know one, but still, the NFL has no grounds to complain.