Demand for NHL Tickets

NHL Ticket demand to decrease?
NHL Ticket demand to decrease?

The NHL is back in full swing, as players have returned to their respective cities to pick-up the play-offs.
The 2010 Winter Olympics piqued a lot of new interest in hockey, and revived interest from longtime fans.
According to TicketNews.com, all the recent excitement may not convert into a sales boost for NHL events. In an interesting article posted yesterday, McWilliams asserts. “History certainly isn’t on the side of a post-Olympics bump in ticket sales.” He uses the U.S.A.’s gold medal win in 1980 as evidence that hype doesn’t necessarily equal higher ticket sales.
The article is worth a read, but I can’t say I entirely agree with McWilliams. With support of the sport at an all-time high, I think people will want to be in the arena. Read More

Ticketmaster faces class action lawsuit

Two proposed class-action lawsuits have been filed against Ticket Master recently, as two seperate cases of “misconstruing” customers has led to users of Ticket Master seeking damages against the site, including actual and punitive damages, injunctive relief and attorneys’ fees.
The first case arose when a man from New Jersey who had attempted to purchase tickets to The Dead, but was redirected to TicketsNow, a secondary ticket seller subsdiary of Ticket master. However, the problem persisted as the man was charged $830 for four tickets, and was not aware of the face value of the tickets ($99) until they arrived in the mal.  The man seeks action on behalf of Ticket Master users who were redirceted to TicketsNow from Ticket Master after January 15th.
“Within literally minutes of tickets going on sale by Ticketmaster, and often less than one minute later for high-demand events, those tickets are being offered for resale in the secondary market by TicketsNow at greatly inflated prices,” the suit says.
The second case occurred in Massachusetts when a man claimed Ticket Master and TicketsNow engaged in fraudulent misrepresentation, conspiracy and unjust enrichment, after the man had been redircted to TicketsNow in a similar fashion to that of the first case. This time it is alleged that the man had purchased two tickets from TicketsNow for $455.50, but later received an email stating he had purchased 9 tickets at a $90 face value, yet charged for $2,064.25.
The validity of these claims has yet to be established, however, we will update the story as news comes in.

TicketMaster & Live Nation Combine!

Big news in the ticket industry today; TicketMaster and Live Nation officially announced their merger to create Live Nation Entertainment Inc. The entertainment super-company Billboard refers to as “the most powerful and influential entity the music business has ever known,” will have an enterprise value of about $2.5 billion.
Live Nation Entertainment Inc will touch every aspect of the entertainment industry. Live Nation is already the largest producer of live entertainment, owning most venues and producing over 16,000 concerts per year in 57 countries. Recently, they have started signing exclusive deals with major artists like Madonna and U2 that include touring, merchandise, website and other ventures.
TicketMaster not only brings their ticket technology as the largest ticket seller, they also own TicketsNow a major ticket re-seller, as well as Front Line Management, an artist management firm that represent major acts like Miley Cyrus and the Eagles.
The companies are assuring concert fans that the merger will improve “access and transparency” and that they will be able to develop new strategies that will benefit the customer, improve attendance at events and support a healthier live entertainment industry.

STT Discusses 2010 Tickets in the Globe and Mail

My $27,000 dilemma
December 19, 2008
Globe and Mail
2010 Winter Game ticket lottery winners are faced with the dilemma to keep tickets or sell them for huge profits. “They’re all scared about the Visa bill,” Murray Pratt of ShowTimeTickets.com said. “What’s transpired economically over the past few months, I think a lot of people are just not willing to carry that on their credit cards. We’re hearing from some people in a little bit of a stress.”

HAYLEY MICK
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
December 19, 2008 at 5:50 AM EDT
The e-mail popped up like an early Christmas present in Jennifer Orr’s inbox.
A month ago, she had applied for $20,000 worth of 2010 Winter Olympic Games tickets through the official lottery system, praying above all else to get just one ticket to the opening ceremony.
Last Tuesday came the official notice saying that Ms. Orr, who loves the parade of athletes more than any other Olympic moment, had received enough tickets for her family of four.
But her emotions soon yo-yoed between delight and desire. Since then, the resale value of those tickets – worth $1,118 each at face value – has skyrocketed, and now Ms. Orr, a mother of two and a clerk typist at a Calgary elementary school, stands to make up to $27,000 if she sells the lot on the Internet.
“It is tempting,” she said.
Ms. Orr is among the chosen ones: people who entered a lottery with tens of thousands of hopefuls and emerged last week, when the selections were announced through e-mail and Visa statements, with a fistful of tickets.
Now, like Charlie in the children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, ticket holders for the most coveted events face a dilemma: hold on to the experience of a lifetime or be wooed by those who, like real-life Veruca Salts, are determined to get their hands on a ticket – even if they have to barter, beg or pay through the nose. And in the midst of a recession, that’s an increasingly attractive option.
Dozens of appeals from ticket seekers have appeared on websites such as Craigslist and ShowTimeTickets.com, where tickets to the men’s hockey gold-medal match are selling for up to $5,900, more than seven times face value.
On Craigslist, other spoils are also on the table: One person has offered to trade a week-long time share in Kelowna, B.C., for tickets to the men’s hockey gold-medal match.
Vancouver contractor Sean Stuart is offering to trade his services – build a bathroom, say, for plum hockey tickets. After all, Mr. Stuart said, in Vancouver the only thing rarer than gold medal hockey tickets is a contractor. “I know people who’ve waited a year,” he said.
Most of the ticket sellers are people trying to offload some debt after having an unusual dose of good fortune, said Murray Pratt, vice-president of operations and business development for ShowTimeTickets.com, a Vancouver-based ticket resale company that has hundreds of Olympic tickets up for grabs.
Like Ms. Orr, they applied for more tickets than they could afford, assuming that their odds of getting everything they asked for were slim. But some got a little too lucky – and wound up with a giant Visa bill just in time for Christmas during tough economic times.
“They’re all scared about the Visa bill,” Mr. Pratt said. “What’s transpired economically over the past few months, I think a lot of people are just not willing to carry that on their credit cards. We’re hearing from some people in a little bit of a stress.”
Lance Montgomery is selling two tickets to the men’s hockey bronze-medal match because he’s decided he doesn’t “want to be here during the craziness” of the Olympics. Already he’s had offers of Canucks tickets and up to $1,800 cash.
Right now, nosebleed seats to the gold-medal hockey game with a face value of $350 are posted on ShowTimeTickets.com for $3,850. Prime tickets to the opening ceremony, worth $1,118 at face value, are posted for $6,725.
Several tickets have been sold at those prices, Mr. Pratt said. But he also warned that the ticket values are guaranteed to change as the games approach – and especially once they begin. For example: What happens to the ticket price if Canada’s men’s hockey team doesn’t make the finals?
Mr. Pratt says buyers and sellers who go through his website are protected by a contract, but Vancouver Organizing Committee ticketing officials have warned that buyers of resold tickets face a terrible risk because they won’t know until they arrive at an Olympic event whether their tickets have been invalidated.
It’s not illegal to resell tickets in British Columbia, but VANOC has legal language on its tickets that says they cannot be sold for more than face value. To discourage scalping, the committee has vowed to track down tickets sold for profit and invalidate them.
Of course, not everyone is willing to sell or trade.
“My kids would never forgive me,” said Ian Haysom, news director of Global News in British Columbia, who got tickets to the opening ceremony, men’s hockey gold-medal match and preliminary rounds, as well as bobsleigh, in the lottery.
That’s an incredible dose of good luck, considering more than 140,000 tickets were requested for the men’s hockey gold-medal game, which will take place at the 21,000-seat General Motors Place. More than 84,000 tickets were requested for the opening ceremony, which will take place at the 55,000-seat B.C. Place Stadium. (Olympic organizers say that at least 30 per cent of the seating for premier events, such as the opening ceremony, were available to the public, and the rest will go to the so-called Olympic family: sponsors, Olympic committees and other partners of the Games.)
In the end, Ms. Orr said, she couldn’t stomach the thought of denying her children, ages 9 and 7, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Her tickets are going under the Christmas tree.

2010 Winter Games Tickets Released

With the release of the 2010 Winter Games tickets this past week, ticket reselling has been a hot issue! Mario Livich, Founder & CEO of ShowTimeTickets.com and Murray Pratt, VP of Business Development & Operations have been busy answering everyone’s questions. Check out the articles below from this week – or visit our News Room to see a full-list of stories we have been featured in!
VANOC to invalidate tickets sold by unauthorized vendors
December 12, 2008
Vancouver Sun
VANOC says they will use “secret shoppers” to ferret out unauthorized ticket resellers and invalidate their tickets; however, Mario Livich of ShowTimeTickets.com says, “We’re connecting buyers and sellers in a legitimate transaction. It’s not illegal to resell tickets in British Columbia.”
Read Full Article


Missed out? Choose your scalper online
December 12, 2008
The Province
Sold-out Olympic tickets are already selling through ticket brokers online. Mario Livich of ShowTimeTickets.com says, “We will sell thousands and thousands of tickets. We sold our first Olympic ticket today.” Livich is not concerned about VANOC officials trying to shut down the reselling of tickets while Caley Denton of VANOC says he fully expected this to happen.
Read Full Article


2010 tix for sale on web
December 12, 2008
Metro Vancouver
Hundreds of Olympic tickets are available online as lottery winners are selling tickets only hours after VANOC notified them which tickets they have received. Murray Pratt of ShowTimeTickets.com says, “Some people aren’t comfortable making the decision (to buy) right now.”
Read Full Article

STT Presents: The Ticket Re-seller World

Last week, I attended BC AIM’s second Luncheon of the season, where Showtime Tickets’ very own Murray Pratt was featured as a guest speaker.
Murray discussed the secondary ticket market’s history, emergence, major players and future. He also gave the crowd some tips, fan to fan, for not only securing tickets for highly-desired events, but doing so at the lowest possible prices. Here are a few of Murray’s PowerPoint slides to give you a better idea (Click on a thumbnail for a bigger image):

Text Format:

Role of Ticket Re-Seller

  • Provide ‘ACCESS’
  • Connect buyers and sellers – ‘market facilitator’
  • Expertise in knowing what, how, when, where, and how much to buy
  • Matching product to customers’ interests and passions

Text Format:

Needs Served: Ticket Re-Sellers

  • Avoid Standing in line-ups
  • No need to alter schedule to buy online
  • Watching for new tickets as they become available
  • Obtain desired seat location & numbers
  • Provide predictability and planning – travel
  • ‘You Social concierge’ – quality of life – experience
  • Monetize your ticket investment

Text Format:

What can a FAN do?

  • Sign up forFan Clubs – straight to the band
  • Buy in groups – ticket limits are often 4
  • Know what you want -move fast – be prepared
  • Apply to contests – radio promotions
  • Location ‘arbitrage’ – travelling?
  • Utilize all the avenues – distributors, brokers, exchanges
  • NATB Broker -‘do the work for you’

After finishing his presentation, Murray tackled the crowd’s toughest questions-here is a little taste:
Question: VANOC said that they are refusing to co-operate with ticket brokers. How is that going to impact ShowTime Tickets?
Murray’s Response: Well, VANOC’s position on this issue is that they are worried about fraudulent tickets getting into the market. We understand the concern because we have absolutely the same concern. We have a vested interest in making sure fraud is avoided with tickets, because everyone suffers – especially the consumer who may have had their dreams of attending an Olympic event dashed. I think it is in everyone’s best interest in the ticket industry to work together to stamp out fraud. We are willing to cooperate with VANOC in this regard.
Question: What can a promoter do to keep tickets from leaking into the secondary market?
Murray’s Response: There’s really nothing you can do that will completely shut down the secondary market-the market will be there as long as people want to buy and sell their tickets to further their own economic benefit. However, a Promoter has every right to further his/her economic interests – their tools lie in how 1) they price the tickets, 2) when they sell or distribute the tickets and 3) the volume of tickets they sell — and I would argue how transparent they want to be in the process The sheer fact that the ticket often gets sold well in advance of the event ensures that you have a secondary market. The ‘market value’ of a ticket fluctuates over time—for instance the value of the Gold Medal Hockey game at the Olympics will be determined 2 days in advance at the semi-finals where we will see if Canada is playing for Gold or, god forbid, the Bronze medal. People decide to sell or buy a ticket for a variety of reasons – one you saw earlier where someone was moving out of town and couldn’t attend a show that they had bought a ticket for. You have to remember though-the market moves up and down. As I mentioned earlier, people have been known to get into a Maple Leafs game for just $5.
Follow up: But aren’t bands implementing paperless systems and other initiatives because it is them, and not the promoters, who want the resellers stopped? I mean, with a secondary market, prices can potentially increase to a point where the real fans, who want tickets but can no longer afford them, suffer.
Murray’s Response: Well first of all, it’s hard to define a real “fan”? It’s a bit of a slippery slope – is it the ardent follower who listens actively to their music or the person who is willing to pay significant dollars because they really love the band – some fans don’t have the time to get on line, wait on the phone or lineup for tickets because of responsibilities such as work or taking care of kids. What are they supposed to do? Are they not fans too? Secondly, while paperless tickets are one of the tools that may be used to control the resell market it’s unlikely that it will become the norm, or expand to any great degree, due to the fact that ‘paperless tickets’ are hard on the venue itself – verifying ID and Credit Cards at the gate can be very onerous on the venue. The big question to ask is – how is that in the interests of the consumer? Remember the woman who had to sell her tickets because she was helping her daughter move out of town as she heads to medical school…..what is she to do now, especially when she bought a paperless ticket that may now be worthless to her. In terms of the bands’ wishes, I understand it and I respect it, if the band wants it. But at the end of the day, it seems to be serving their interests in fighting the re-sale market …..With consumers getting caught in the ‘crossfire’
Question: In terms of the speed of tickets selling, such as AC/DC selling out in 4 minutes in Vancouver, does it cut the fan out? I mean do people go to ticket resellers not because they want to, but because it’s basically like “well there’s not even a point of trying to get tickets-I’ll use a reseller…I guess”.
Murray’s Response: Well, as I said, there are different definitions of fans. Some fans are too busy-they have three kids, a job, and no time to lineup- I would argue that’s a fan too. I understand the concern however –the market and the industry addresses the issue in a number of ways – for instance, bands such as Coldplay will hold the front section for fans who originally bought seats in the balcony and in the venue. Their manager goes up to the high sections and brings them down to the front rows in order to create an atmosphere that the band wants – they have every right to do so. As I mentioned in my presentation there are a number of things a fan can do to get tickets on the original sale – one of them is to join a fan club. I am a member of the Elton John fan club myself for that very reason.