Broncos rescind season tickets

[eball]

How did you sell the tickets you didn't use?

 

NFL Ticket Exchange, StubHub, SeatGeek.

[JohnC]

 

NFL Ticket Exchange, StubHub, SeatGeek.

I don't want to get too personal so if you don't want to answer that's fine. What is the reimbursement rate? Does it vary for games? If it is a game where there isn't much appeal and the tickets can't be sold by the exchange are you still reimbursed or not? And how late can you go on the exchange before the game? Is there a cut off time?

 

I'm asking these questions because I am amazed at the number of out-of-towners who have season tickets. It's a testament to one's loyalty to invest so much money and time to get to games.

[NoSaint]

I don't want to get too personal so if you don't want to answer that's fine. What is the reimbursement rate? Does it vary for games? If it is a game where there isn't much appeal and the tickets can't be sold by the exchange are you still reimbursed or not? And how late can you go on the exchange before the game? Is there a cut off time?

 

I'm asking these questions because I am amazed at the number of out-of-towners who have season tickets. It's a testament to one's loyalty to invest so much money and time to get to games.

If they don't sell you get nothing

 

If they do sell you get the money minus the fees associated

[eball]

If they don't sell you get nothing

 

If they do sell you get the money minus the fees associated

 

This. I adjust the price based upon the opponent/time of year/etc. You can keep them listed right up until kickoff.

[jimmy10]

I don't want to get too personal so if you don't want to answer that's fine. What is the reimbursement rate? Does it vary for games? If it is a game where there isn't much appeal and the tickets can't be sold by the exchange are you still reimbursed or not? And how late can you go on the exchange before the game? Is there a cut off time?

 

I'm asking these questions because I am amazed at the number of out-of-towners who have season tickets. It's a testament to one's loyalty to invest so much money and time to get to games.

We first bought ours while living out of state. This was back when there was a real question about the future of the team, so we viewed it as our way to "invest" in keeping the Bills in WNY. If the prices were exorbitant, or had PSLs attached, we probably wouldn't have. So I sold most of my tickets then, for a profit when I could, because I knew I'd likely end up taking a bath on the late-season games. And I would donate my preseason tickets to the Boys and Girls Club so I could at least count the full face value as a charitable deduction. So even though I could make a buck on the home opener and other "premium" games, I almost certainly lost money on the whole thing.

 

Anyway, we moved back to WNY several years ago, hung on to the tickets and make it to almost every game.

 

I get why people hate scalpers. But I also get why people would want to try make a few bucks selling what's rightfully theirs.

 

What bugs me about this story with the Broncos is that they didn't really do much of anything to curb aftermarket sales of tickets. They took away 400 seats from supposed individual "offenders" (again, a fraction of a percent of the 75k waiting list) while surely maintaining relationships with large-scale ticket brokers, as Kirby alluded to upthread, and I know he's got a good amount of knowledge in this area.

 

It's a nonsense, puff PR story, just piss in the ocean.

Edited May 7, 2017 by jimmy10

[Koko78]

We first bought ours while living out of state. This was back when there was a real question about the future of the team, so we viewed it as our way to "invest" in keeping the Bills in WNY. If the prices were exorbitant, or had PSLs attached, we probably wouldn't have. So I sold most of my tickets then, for a profit when I could, because I knew I'd likely end up eating a good part of the cost for the late-season games.

 

Anyway, we moved back to WNY several years ago and hung on to the tickets.

 

I get why people hate scalpers. But I also get why people would want to try make a few bucks selling what's rightfully theirs.

 

What bugs me about this story with the Broncos is that they didn't really do much of anything to curb aftermarket sales of tickets. They took away 400 seats from supposed individual "offenders" while surely maintaining relationships with large-scale ticket brokers (as Kirby alluded to upthread, and I know he's got a good amount of knowledge in this area).

 

It's a nonsense PR story, just piss in the ocean.

 

The problem is that the tickets aren't "rightfully theirs". The seats always belong to the team; all a ticket holder is doing is buying permission to use the seat for a few hours.

 

If season ticket holders are trying to use the team to make money, they really have no cause to complain when the team decides to drop them in favor of fans who will actually use the tickets. Why should scalpers have priority to buy and overcharge to resell tickets over the 75,000 people who are on the waiting list and will actually use those tickets? The team should, and has every right to, control the revenue being generated by their product.

 

I don't find the people in the article who are claiming sob stories terribly persuasive, especially since they have no real answer as to why they didn't use their tickets in the preceding years.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Koko78

[jimmy10]

 

The problem is that the tickets aren't "rightfully theirs". The seats always belong to the team; all a ticket holder is doing is buying permission to use the seat for a few hours.

 

If season ticket holders are trying to use the team to make money, they really have no cause to complain when the team decides to drop them in favor of fans who will actually use the tickets. Why should scalpers have priority to buy and overcharge to resell tickets over the 75,000 people who are on the waiting list and will actually use those tickets? The team should, and has every right to, control the revenue being generated by their product.

 

I don't find the people in the article who are claiming sob stories terribly persuasive, especially since they have no real answer as to why they didn't use their tickets in the preceding years.

I totally get what you're saying, and respect your point. But again, assuming the Broncos still have relationships with large-scale brokers, that's the real "problem" not 100-some odd people just trying to hustle a few bucks.

[Bill_with_it]

I agree with every bit of it. This simple statement right here:

The season-ticket policy states that every account is a revocable license issued annually.

The Broncos were doing what is in the interests of fans, removing people that literally had no intentions of going to all the games or in some cases a minor amount of the games(resellers of tickets); replacing those with fans that have been waiting for quite some time who weren't trying to sell their tickets (upgrade) or fans simply on the waiting list. If they dont like it they should have read the terms and conditions.

[jimmy10]

This is really messy and a curtain that they don't want to pull back. It can be a slippery slope. Most teams have partnerships with the larger ticket brokers in the country. One of the groups is actually in Denver. Some of these groups have over 1,000 season tickets. As a rough estimate your "partner brokers" probably account for maybe 5-7.5% of your season ticket base. You can certainly replace them with regular fans but they are committed regardless of record and opponent (which is why teams embrace them). They also help control the market and provide valuable data as to what the market will pay.

Just quoting Kirby here to re-emphasize the point. It's good PR for that "gotcha" moment with the one dude who lost his tickets and got caught in a lie about why he didn't use them. But he's a drop in the ocean. Isn't a big ticket brokering company the real "bad guy" here, keeping literally thousands of people from moving up that waiting list?

 

A similar thing happens in the concert industry. Ever wonder why tickets for hot shows are now gone before you can even refresh ticketmaster's website 30 seconds after the on-sale time? The promoters and/or venues simply hand gobs and gobs of tickets to aftermarket brokers. The performers turn a blind eye to it largely because a. They already got paid by the promoter and b. it's bad PR to set prices at what the market actually dictates.

Edited May 7, 2017 by jimmy10

[Koko78]

I totally get what you're saying, and respect your point. But again, assuming the Broncos still have relationships with large-scale brokers, that's the real "problem" not 100-some odd people just trying to hustle a few bucks.

 

The difference is that the Broncos still control the revenue from any large-scale brokers they do business with. I would wager there's some agreement to split the extra money from any upselling of the tickets. That's assuming that the Broncos actually have relationships with them (which they may not.)

[jimmy10]

 

The difference is that the Broncos still control the revenue from any large-scale brokers they do business with. I would wager there's some agreement to split the extra money from any upselling of the tickets. That's assuming that the Broncos actually have relationships with them (which they may not.)

So if the issue is profiteering, then yeah, maybe the Broncos are keeping the money in house. OK, I guess?

 

But if the issue is keeping "real fans" from being able to get their own season tickets, then the beef should be with these faceless companies. But it's much easier to pin that beef on one scapegoat lying about his illness.

 

And that's my problem with the whole thing. Not the facts, but how it's being presented. The papers don't want to write the real story here and piss off the team/league/sponsors/partners, so it's much easier to write the "LOL, f*ck this one guy and his fake illness, right?!" story.

 

Like Kirby said, it's a messy curtain to look behind.

[That's No Moon]

 

Do you know they are using it or just pretending you do to bash them?

Prove they didn't. This works both ways.

 

Even if they didn't they are, almost by default, attacking StubHub users, and collecting data on their own season ticket holders throughout the year for the purpose of excluding them without telling them they are doing it. If they are getting the data from StubHub as to which tickets are sold through them each week I wonder how happy StubHub is with this and if they'll be open with the data in the future.

[Meathead]

the real story is the broncs dont want the extreme profiteering on their tickets

 

i think its a good policy. i hope it spreads to other teams with forever waiting lists that do the same thing

 

i dont even go to games anymore. i just like the idea of fans not getting overcharged via entrenched scalpers

[Billsmovinup]

Hopefully there comes a day when stadiums are half full and these a-holes are scratching there heads wondering why

[Kirby Jackson]

Hopefully there comes a day when stadiums are half full and these a-holes are scratching there heads wondering why

As bad as it sounds it really won't matter. It means very little in the NFL. They'll care some because no one wants to look like an idiot but from a revenue standpoint it will have little impact.

[Go-Bills]

i'm sure there are some legitimate fans that for some reasons or another could not make it for a season, the team should have a review and not strictly impose this policy.

[PromoTheRobot]

Prove they didn't. This works both ways.

 

Even if they didn't they are, almost by default, attacking StubHub users, and collecting data on their own season ticket holders throughout the year for the purpose of excluding them without telling them they are doing it. If they are getting the data from StubHub as to which tickets are sold through them each week I wonder how happy StubHub is with this and if they'll be open with the data in the future.

 

And yet some teams official reseller deals with StubHub. All NFL teams have NFLTicketExchange as their official reseller. Mixed messages?

[cba fan]

 

The problem is that the tickets aren't "rightfully theirs". The seats always belong to the team; all a ticket holder is doing is buying permission to use the seat for a few hours.

 

If season ticket holders are trying to use the team to make money, they really have no cause to complain when the team decides to drop them in favor of fans who will actually use the tickets. Why should scalpers have priority to buy and overcharge to resell tickets over the 75,000 people who are on the waiting list and will actually use those tickets? The team should, and has every right to, control the revenue being generated by their product.

 

I don't find the people in the article who are claiming sob stories terribly persuasive, especially since they have no real answer as to why they didn't use their tickets in the preceding years.

As other have pointed out. Why come down on these few when they are doing the same as ticket brokers? Which teams actively sell to and allow.

 

Either allow it or ban it for everyone. Why doesn't the team just take some tickets they planned on selling to brokers themselves, and sell them to the waiting list?

 

PS: I do find satisfaction for the idiot who sold all his games for about 4 yrs and now trying to claim medical excuse for 2016.That is the kind of lowlife person this "sting" should be intended to weed out.

 

I do agree it is very unrealistic to expect a season ticket holder to be able to attend every game in their package every year.

Edited May 7, 2017 by cba fan

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

...Jesus, waiting list of 75,000?....tough position to be in and I guess you don't have to worry who you piss off...........

[Curt]

I moved to Vancouver BC Canada in 2010. I have no fear of losing my Bills tickets because more than 50% of the games are attended by my friends still living back east. One of them keeps my cards all season long and manage them on my behalf. I can't attend more than one home game per season and this year unfortunately it will be zero and I am also losing a bit of money every year with my Bills tickets. Huge loses on every preseason games and December games.

My problem is with the Seahawks. Since Seattle is located only 2hours- 2 hours and a half south I decided to buy tickets and I was able to get a pair of Seahawks seasons about 5 years ago. I literally make a little fortune with them. Just with the profit of a pair i can fully paid my 4 seats in Buffalo. I guess that I will be soon targeted but a lot of people are doing the same thing down here. Seattle is a crazy market.Quite frankly I have no problem with the new Broncos policy even if I could possibly become a victim quite soon.