As fans, when we buy a ticket, we own it. We have the right to do what we choose with our ticket.
That’s true whether we go online to buy a $1 ticket to an NBA game, or spend hundreds of dollars on premium seats to see our favorite teams or bands.
Some people want to change that. Some sports teams, event producers and ticketing agencies (likeTicketmaster) are introducing restrictive paperless tickets that eliminate or severely restrict our choices of how we can buy, share or resell event tickets.
Have you ever given away tickets when you couldn’t make an event? Or scored tickets online to a sold-out show? Your buying and selling choices will be severely limited – if there is any choice at all – if Ticketmaster and others have their way.
Are you a season ticket holder who attends only half the games? Even nosebleed seats may be unaffordable if restrictive ticketing stops you from selling your extras.
Can you imagine if a car manufacturer like Honda told you the only way you could sell your Honda was with their permission and through one of their dealers? That could be the future of ticketing if restrictive paperless ticketing spreads further.
Ticketmaster and others selling paperless tickets claim to be protecting fans from the free market, but as season ticket holders who sell our extras and who purchase $1 seats to NBA games and $5 seats to NFL games, we know the free market is our friend.
As fans, restrictive paperless tickets mean less control, more hassles, no price competition and more fees paid to paperless ticketing companies like Ticketmaster.
Here’s what’s at stake:
