Patriots Win Suit to Get Ticket Sellers' Names from StubHub

It's pretty amusing that a country essentially built on people buying things and selling them for more is thinking of legislating doing exactly that. I will never cease to be amazed how blind the public is when it comes to supporting big-time sports.

 

Capitalism is a wonderful thing--as long as the megacorps are in charge.

.

 

OK, obey the law, I get it. It's a crappy law, and virtually everbody on here knows it. I can empathize with people who feel they've been locked out of seats because the brokerages buy them in huge chunks and then mark them up, but the US is a free marketplace. Once they made the initial sale, the Patriots got theirs. Who the fuck are they to say what people do with those tickets once they've been sold?

 

Back at home in good ole KY, I believe the law is that scalping is legal as long as its face value or an acceptable markup (or like the Pats in Mass, $2 per ticket).

I wouldn't be surprised if many states had similar laws.

I don't think the Pats are going after StubHub, Ebay, etc., to completely get rid of them. But I do think the Pats want to ensure that no one is making a gross profit off their service (and it appears they are within their legal rights to do so).

I've seen scalpers busted at Louisville and Kentucky football and basketball games for the same thing. Sell them for straight up, a little more or a little yes, you're fine. Try to rip off someone and you're getting kicked off the premises and going to jail.

Shouldn't StubHub be at fault for allowing tickets to be sold for far more than they acceptable rate?

I'm not sure of all the specifics, but my guess would be the Patriots saying this: If you give up your clients, we won't go after you for allowing this unlawful activity to happen on your turf. So instead of being arrested for helping the fugitive, StubHub told the Pats where the fugitive was hiding.

StubHub saves its ass, Patriots protect their product and some folks (maybe who didn't know the law in Mass) are going to get in trouble.

 

Shouldn't the market determine the acceptable rate?

$600 face value for a Super Bowl ticket is unacceptable in my book. The NFL should be forced to lower the cost.

 

Bingo. The idea of the little guy buying and selling what he owns for profit offends them. Gouging the sports ticket consumer is supposed to be their game. Amazing how anti-capitalist the ultimate capitalist entities can get whenever a little guy seeks to compete instead of work for them.

 

I hate to go all Ayn Rand here but shouldn't the market dictate what's an "acceptable" mark-up?

If I want to be an complete idiot and shell out $800.00 for a pair of Leafs tickets, that's my business.

If someone is willing to pay it, no one is being "ripped off".

Sports conglomerates want to make sure they get every last cent out of their bread and circuses operations. They don't want others honing in on their turf.

 

You're paying to watch the Leafs. You're being ripped off...

 

JR, Armchair_QB,

Don't get me wrong: I DO think the market should determine the acceptable charge/cost/price.

However, that's not the case in Massachusetts (for now). If the franchise sets the price at $75 per ticket per game, I'd say at most, you could sell it to someone else for $85 ($2 markup, $8 shipping/handling).

And for those who want to do that, great.
It's those who ask for $200 that are in trouble.

If I got a pair of Kentucky-Louisville basketball tickets this season for $50 and I thought I could get $250 for them on Ebay or a message board, I'd do it.

Doesn't make it legal if it was in Massachusetts, however.

 

The team's argument completely ignores the opposite scenario. Think folks are scalping Saints tickets this year for big profit? What if the Patriots team buses got in accidents going to the final preseason game, seriously hurting no one but breaking everybody's non-throwing arms and knocking them out for the season? They have to field a replacement squad that promptly goes 0-16. How much are those eight home game tickets worth and will they give a refund?

Didn't think so.

 

Can't we all just agree that the Patriots are just trying to enforce existing law, and that even though what they're doing is within their rights, it's lame?

 

Hey! What if I want to post-pad a little!?!