Ticket Profiteers

by Picky on May 6, 2008 1:32 PM EDT Comment 5 comments

I saw my first-ever, live NFL game on December 18th, 2006: Colts vs Bengals, MNF. I went home that night and put my name on the waiting list. That spring (after the Super Bowl), I was notified that I wouldn't be getting any seats. They did have some single seats available, however. I thought, well, one seat is better than none. I grabbed one on the upper level, as close to the 50 yard line as I could get. I sat on the 20 yard line all last season.

So this year, I understood that there were gong to be an additional 5000 seats available in the new stadium, and I, as a season ticket holder, would get my seat request filled before anybody on the waiting list. Hoo-ray! There's no way I won't get my extra seat now, I thought.

Then I get a letter this spring that tells me, "Due to the continually high renewal rates and increased demand for season tickets, we were not able to fulfill your request at this time." This makes me mad. Am I mad at the Colts? Naah. I'm mad because I know for a fact that people buy season tickets for the express purpose of selling them for 2-3x face value. I know of a guy who lives in California and has two seats. My friend sits next to these two seats. He told me that in the 12 years he has been going to Colts games, those seats have always been filled by people who bought their tickets on stubhub.com. The guy hasn't sat there in 12 years!

I am sure that some of the seats purchased were done so for new people in families that want to go to the games. I have no probem with that. If you were a season ticket holder longer than me, and you want to take your kids now, or whatever, fine. What ticks me off is the people that are buying tickets just so they can profit.

Dare I say we should imitate the Patriots in this area: prohibit season ticket holders from selling their tickets for greater than face value? If the Colts did that, the people buying tickets just for profit would give up their seats. There would be two benefits to this change:

1. More Colts fans would be able to come to the games

2. Fewer tickets would be sold on stubhub.com, etc. to fans of the opposing team.

Maybe then I could take my son to a game without paying $200 for a $64 seat.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.

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I doubt they can control it

Honestly, I think a lot of people have to sell a few games above market price to help pay for the package. The NFL is expensive. But yes, I do think they should atleast put a minimum on games attended or something. Still there is not a perfect way to control it. I guess it is what it is.

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by MixFMKyle on May 6, 2008 3:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I had an interesting conversation...

With a Colts fan at the RCA Dome last season. The seats I bought for the Jaguars game were through stubhub, and the “season ticket owner” told me that he’d never seen the owner in over 6 years.

What happened, according to this friendly Colts fan, was that when demand was lower (in the pre-Manning days, I assume), ticket speculators bought many, many season tickets. Now that the Colts are a consistently top performing team, they’re making money hand over fist.

Ticket Speculators, frankly, take the fun out of going to games. They’re entrenched though, unless the teams make it harder to resell tickets, the practice is going to continue.

-Chris

Big Cat Country!:: The Official Home of the Unofficial Blog of the Jacksonville Jaguars!

by River City Rage on May 6, 2008 4:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

That's Funny

The people I bought the tickets from off stub hub for the Jacksonville game had done the same thing. The seats were in the player’s family section, which was cool. The people live in Florida or something.

I would go with the Patriots thing where there is no sale over face value. Notre Dame does the same thing, although it has been done ($800 per seat for FSU-ND in 1993). That would keep the absent season ticket holders away and bring in the true fans.

coltshomer.blogspot.com

by Colts Homer on May 6, 2008 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Report it

I have season tics as well, and there are 2 seats right above us that are continuously sold on StubHub. Guy who sits next to me called the front office, and they claimed if he saw the seats consistently sold to please notify them of the seat number(s) and they would consider taking action. Not sure if they really did anything or not, but it made him feel better.

by raynman on May 6, 2008 7:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Interesting

“He told me that in the 12 years he has been going to Colts games, those seats have always been filled by people who bought their tickets on stubhub.com. “

Interesting considering stubhub has only been around for about 5 years.

by HungryHunter on May 10, 2008 1:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs