Investigation Uncovers New York’s ‘Rigged’ Ticketing System For Concerts, Sporting Events

Had a hard time getting a ticket to a concert or sporting event?

Schneiderman has released the findings of a wide-ranging investigation into the alleged abuses of the concert and sports ticket industry.

“It uncovers what was a shadowy network, or has been up until now, a shadowy network of middlemen, brokers, ticket vendors and more who really used any means they can, some legal and some illegal, to jack up the price of tickets and squeeze money out of fans”, said Schneiderman.

The investigation showed some brokers also use illegal “ticket bot” software to gobble up tickets when they go on sale to resell at a significant markup.

The attorney general also has reached settlements with two ticket brokers – MSMSS, LLC and Extra Base Tickets, LLC – operating without a re-seller license.

One broker, the report says, bought 1,012 tickets on December 14th, 2014, to a U2 performance at Madison Square Garden, even though the vendor had posted a four-ticket limit; within a day, that broker and a colleague had racked up more than 15,000 tickets to the band’s shows.

For example, tickets to see Bruce Springstreen in April at the Barclays Center don’t go on sale until Friday.

“The ticket industry is now on notice that our investigations are continuing and will continue until all New Yorkers can get a fair deal on tickets”, Schneiderman said. Also, 38 percent of available tickets were held for “pre-sales”, usually through credit-card-company promotions by American Express, Citibank and others; Fleetwood Mac held back 61 percent of tickets for a 2013 MSG show this way, as did Jay Z and Justin Timberlake with 71 percent of tickets for a 2013 concert at Yankee Stadium.

Schneiderman and several other states attorneys general are investigating the NFL and its teams that encourage, and sometimes require, ticket holders to use Ticketmaster’s “NFL Ticket Exchange” platform to re-sell tickets they want to dump.

The report urges the state legislature to draft stricter laws (ha), most specifically in ending a state ban on non-transferrable paperless tickets. “We applaud Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s effort to combat this issue, and we support a system that is more equitable for those who wish to experience the arts”.

“Price floors may make it impossible to obtain tickets on the team-promoted Ticket Exchange platform for below face value when demand decreases”, like during games at the end of a sports season between teams not headed to the playoffs, the report said.

“I’ve worked with artists to make ticket prices affordable, only to see those same tickets on sale on the secondary market for much more than face value”, David Taylor, an independent promoter with Empire State Concerts said. “With the good has also come the bad and the ticket bots are a very real problem for both producers and consumers”, said Donny Kutzbach of Funtime Presents/Town Ballroom.