Teams Should Not Punish Their Season Ticket Holders

Sports is a big part of my life, both professionally and personally. I’ve represented athletes as an agent and I have long held season tickets to my favorite teams. One of things that I will never understand is why some teams allow their distaste for ticket resale to cloud their better judgment. This is especially true when teams cancel the accounts of season ticket holders when they learn the customer resold some of their tickets during the season. I hope your beloved team doesn’t fall on this naughty list. This is an unfair practice that the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB) and the Protect Ticket Rights program takes very seriously. We want teams to stop this practice. Make no mistake, resale is not a bad thing and considering the handsome investment it takes these days to buy season tickets, the team should be happy you are making the purchase. Their objective should be to ensure someone is in your seat for the games you can’t make. Fans in seats gives the players an audience, and the concessions selling food, beverage and souvenirs some taxable patronage. It’s a win-win. What the team should really focus on is ensuring the in-stadium experience is so amazing that the fan will consider coming back for more. I am no marketing wiz, but the point here is that the team should focus on converting this fan into a repeat customer – the next season ticket holder – instead of pushing season ticket holders away. It defies logic why the team would decline the repeat business of these dedicated fans and turn their money away.

Prior to Game 1 of the MLB World Series, a number of Cleveland Indians season ticket holders reportedly had their tickets cancelled after the Indians said they had previously resold too many of their tickets. These devoted fans were shocked since the team had never made it clear to them that their tickets would be at risk if they resold tickets for the games they could not attend. Even more outrageous is the fact that the season ticketholder account webpage made it easy to list and resell tickets – it didn’t prevent resale or flash an urgent message when the fan tripped over the team’s arbitrary cap. Instead, the team waited…and then nixed their tickets. This is just plain wrong.

The teams have a tired message about all of this. They say it’s about price integrityof their seats. The fact is these specific seats have already been paid for – full asking price – when the season ticket holder purchased them. They also say that it makes it difficult for the team to unload unsold tickets. The fact is if there are unsold seats, it’s not the season ticket holders’ fault. In fact these fans have the most money invested into the team and should be celebrated with a parade for their love of the team and sport. They should not be punished.

Sports teams like the Indians are restricting the purchase, sale and transfer of tickets, an action that lacks transparency, harms open market competition, and punishes the most vested ticket holders. And the situation is even more unacceptable when the teams play in stadiums that were financed with taxpayer money. That’s why our initiative, Protect Ticket Rights, aims to ensure the secondary ticket market remains free of unfair restrictions and protects the fans and serves as a resource for fans and ticket holders.

If you haven’t already, please sign up on our email list and encourage others to do the same.

Gary Adler is Executive Director and Counsel of the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB). 
www.ProtectTicketRights.org