Across the nation, legislators, live event fans, consumer advocates, academics and business leaders are calling for a stop to the monopolistic practices of Ticketmaster and others who are seeking to expand their control into the secondary market by forcing consumers to purchase restrictive paperless tickets:
“As a New York Giants season ticket holder, I believe that I own the tickets I purchase. If I want to give away my ticket as a gift, or sell my ticket to a game I cannot attend, that’s my right as a consumer. Paperless tickets give large ticketing companies complete control of the market which leaves consumers with higher prices and fewer choices. Ticket issuers already charge consumers so-called ‘convenience fees’ and have directed fans to subsidiary ticket brokers who charge outrageous prices for their tickets. Fans and local businesses dependent on local venues deserve better than unfair and restrictive ticketing practices.”
— Joel Brizzi, New Jersey Councilman, Ticketmaster’s Paperless Ticket System Has Few Fans, North Jersey.com, July 2011.“I do know a lot of my fellow Jets fans who continue to be season ticketholders of the jets would not be season ticket holders of the Jets if it weren’t for the fact they can sell those tickets on a place like StubHub.”
— Mark Weprin, New York City Councilman, Blogs with Balls and Fan Freedom Panel Discussion, July 19, 2011.“Paperless tickets are a bold gambit by millionaire artists, billionaire sports team owners and Ticketmaster to eliminate competition in the resale market and wring every last dollar out of consumers. Ticketmaster claims that paperless ticketing provides more convenience for consumers. However, paperless tickets have inconvenienced many more fans because they limit transferability and erase the secondary market.”
— John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud for the National Consumer League, Consumer Groups Stand Up for Minnesota Music and Sports Fans, May 2011.“Consumers frequently turn to the online ticket resale market because it is competitive, transparent, and often offers consumer protections that rival or exceed those of original ticket sellers. I can understand why teams and event producers want to shut off fans’ access to the secondary market. But why should our elected representatives permit this? Haven’t taxpayers already funded stadiums, road, mass transit and others ways of supporting teams and event producers? Must we really give up our resale ticket rights too?”
— Linda Sherry, Director of National Priorities, Consumer Action, Consumer Groups Stand Up For Minnesota’s Music and Sports Fans, May 4, 2011.“There’s a place in the world for a secondary ticket market. It’s much better to have it operate than not, for the benefit of both primary and secondary ticket sellers, so whoever puts their rear end in the seat has been treated fairly in the process
— William M. Rubenstein, Commissioner of Consumer Protectio, Ticket Scalping Bill Dies in Legislative Session, Connecticut Post, April 25, 2011.“When you buy a ticket it is yours.It is not Ticketmaster’s or some corporations’. You buy a ticket, you own it. What I do with a ticket I bought, it is my business.”
— Rep. Pat Garofalo, Minnesota State Representative, Lawmakers Debating Ease of E-Ticket Transers, South Washington County Bulletin, March 22, 2011.“Paperless tickets devalue the ticket itself and create unnecessary and unfair restrictions on the consumer. If the consumer is unable to use the ticket, he or she cannot resell it or give it to a friend. This “use it or lose it” issue is particularly apparent with respect to season tickets to sporting events, which are often purchased, both by corporations and individuals, with the intention that they will be shared with clients, children and friends.”.
— Joanna F. Sandolo, Meiselman, Denlea, Packman, Carton & Eberz P.C. Attorney’s at Law, Are Ticket Agencies Employing “Paperless Tickets” to Restrict Consumers’ Rights? Class Action Blog, March 22, 2011.“From Ticketmaster’s standpoint, of course, restrictive paperless tickets make great business sense. It already controls around 80% of the primary ticketing market… Through prohibition of ticket transfer, it can make sure that no one can buy a ticket in the secondary market for cheaper than any remaining tickets unsold by Ticketmaster.”
— David Indiviglio, The Atlantic, February 27, 2011.Seems great to have a liquid, safe, competitive, consumer-driven secondary market for tickets, doesn’t it? Sure does if you’re a fan who wants to buy or sell tickets to sporting events or concerts, but probably not so great if you’re a ticket monopolist like Ticketmaster, which has recently tried to introduce new paperless ticketing. If successful, that would effectively kill the secondary market for ticket resales on websites like StubHub, and even possibly end ticket re-selling (or gifting) among individuals, including family members.”
— Dr. Mark J. Perry, Professor of Economics and Finance, University of Michigan, Who Owns Your Concert Tickets: You or Ticketmaster?, February 26, 2011.“The secondary ticket market is supply-and-demand in the purest sense, as a ticket becomes worth exactly what someone else is willing to pay for it. There’s still a perception that tickets are so expensive, but it’s just not necessarily the case.”
— Rich Krezwick, president of Devils Arena Entertainment, Bergen Record, Oct. 27, 2010.“[The secondary ticketing market] is a remedy for anyone who has ever seen tickets sell out in five minutes. People’s only choice for live entertainment shouldn’t be knowing someone in the business or shelling out big bucks for tickets.”
— Gary Schaer, New Jersey State Assemblyman, The Trentonian, June 11, 2010.“Consumers should have the right to own their tickets and should not be prevented from transferring them as they see fit. They also should not be precluded from entering an event just because they are not the original purchaser of the tickets.”
— Joan Lewis, Connecticut State Assemblyperson, Connecticut General Law Committee Hearing (PDF), February 25, 2010.“Ticketmaster dominates the relevant market of online concert and event sales. It has market power. It controls prices and raises prices with impunity without improving service; consumers have no choice in the marketplace. The only relevant market analysis is that Ticketmaster controls the market.”
— Edmund Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director, US PIRG, U.S. House Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy (PDF), Feb. 26, 2009.
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