Sports Ticket Stories

Hot on the heels of their Olympic wins, the United States’ greatest gymnasts will head home from China for a 34-city sports and music tour.

The Tour of Gymnastics Superstars kicks off on September 7 in Reno, NV, and ends November 16 in Kansas City, MO. The nationwide trek pairs gymnastics routines with live music provided by some of Disney's biggest tween stars.

Bruce Springsteen fans will have a front row seat -- in front of their TVs -- when The Boss and his E Street Band perform as the halftime entertainment at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, FL, on February 1, 2009.

Springsteen & The E Street Band have reportedly signed on as the headline talent, according to The New York Post. A source also told the paper that E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt already rented out the Hard Rock Café for a Super Bowl party.

On June 24, the PGA Tour took a big hit when the incomparable Tiger Woods went through reconstructive surgery to his left knee that cost him the remainder of the golf season. It was immediately following one of the greatest performances in golf history at the U.S. Open as Woods outplayed the field on one leg, the game had never been more popular.

Now with Woods out of the picture, the overriding consensus among many is that everything surrounding golf would suffer including interest in this weekend's PGA Championship. Already considered the most forgotten of the four major tournaments, this year's PGA Championship was sure to be a down one for ticket sales. But on the secondary ticket market, the numbers may point to a different conclusion.

For die-hard football fans, nothing can quite compete with the experience of heading to the stadium on Sunday to see their favorite NFL team battle on the field. That experience will now be under stricter guidelines, as the NFL announced a new fan code of conduct policy as well as launched their official secondary ticket market.

"The National Football League and its teams are committed to creating a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable experience for all fans, both in the stadium and in the parking lot," the policy says. "We want all fans attending our games to enjoy the experience in a responsible fashion."

As the 2008 Summer Olympic Games begin in Beijing tomorrow, August 8, Chinese officials have worked hard to prevent the resale of Olympics tickets by banning resales and adding security features to tickets. Just last week, China announced that approximately 40 individuals had been detained or fined for reselling Olympic tickets. However, China can only control what sorts of transactions take place within the country, leaving the Internet's secondary ticket market wide open. Even before the competitive games sold out, many would-be attendees turned to Web-based brokers for their Olympic tickets.

On the Internet marketplace Craigslist.com, individuals from around the world have posted requests for tickets on the site's Bejing-specific forums. One site member, looking for tickets to certain gymnastics and swimming sessions, noted that he was "willing to pay a very generous price" to anyone who could fill his requirements. Another seeker punctuated his request: "Willing to pay top $!"

The Cincinnati Police Department's Financial Crimes Squad is currently investigating the cyber theft of about 400 premium tickets for Cincinnati Reds games at the Great American Ball Park.

Police Lt. Mark Briede confirmed to TicketNews that the investigation is underway, which is centering on stolen credit card numbers which were used to illegally buy the tickets online from various unnamed Web sites. The tickets were for the team's Diamond Club section directly behind home plate, and carry face value prices in excess of $250 each.

With the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing only days away, reports have surfaced of massive amounts of online ticket fraud that has left dozens of Americans and others stuck in China without tickets to the events.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), U.S. Olympic Committee and other officials, including the Attorney General in Texas, are working feverishly to weed out scammers who are erroneously listing Olympic tickets. One of the companies in the crosshairs is Ticket City in Texas, which is being investigated by the state's Attorney General Greg Abbott, according to KXAN-TV, for allegedly reselling tickets it didn't have. The company is still listing tickets on its Web site.

Only five seasons removed from making consecutive NBA Finals appearances, the New Jersey Nets have begun a transition to a new era in the franchise's history.

During last season, the team traded the face of the franchise in Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks at the trading deadline. Now they have traded Richard Jefferson this off-season to the Milwaukee Bucks, and have stockpiled more young talent and more cap room. The team is also expected to relocate to the New York City borough of Brooklyn in two seasons after spending the last 30 years in New Jersey.

As changes continue, one thing never changes, the team needs to sell tickets. Not only for the Izod Center in New Jersey, but also to their new arena in Brooklyn.

The New York Mets might be a year away from moving into their new stadium, but that's not stopping the fat cats from snapping up luxury suites.

Of 49 available suites, all but one have been sold as of late last week, according to Crain's New York Business, and the last one is generating a lot of interest. The team is betting on increased demand for suites and premium seating when Citi Field opens, having eliminated about 12,000 seats overall compared to the team's current home, Shea Stadium, which holds 57,000.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South African – the first ever World Cup on that continent – will be remembered for a landmark gesture of giving 120,000 ordinary African soccer fans free tickets to all games during the tournament, including the World Cup Final itself. There are also plans to offer cheaper priced tickets to the true soccer fans living in the region.

World Cup 2010 tickets go on sale in early February 2009 and will be offered in a succession of "phases," designated by categories. Low number categories correspond to higher-priced tickets and there are 4 categories. Category 4 tickets will comprise 15 percent of total World Cup tickets and will be sold only to low-income residents of South Africa. The 120,000 complimentary tickets will be drawn from the Category 4 inventory, enabling unprecedented numbers of South African residents to attend the mammoth event.

"TicketNetwork.com Hits Ticket Prices Out of Ballpark for Baseball Fans"

VERNON, CT (Marketwire) July 9, 2008 - TicketNetwork.com, the leading source for the ticket industry's most comprehensive inventory, today announced it is offering the lowest priced tickets to American and National League baseball games. Savvy consumers who compare prices on the internet will find that similar seats are available on other ticket Web sites for at least 5-10% more.

"At TicketNetwork.com, we consistently offer tickets priced well below those found on competitor Web sites," said Don Vaccaro, CEO, TicketNetwork. "Our lower mark-ups, excellent service and 100% customer satisfaction guarantees are unmatched by any other ticket Web site," said Vaccaro.

A glitch in the ticketing system for the upcoming PGA Championship golf tournament in Michigan apparently led to hundreds, and possibly thousands, of ticket buyers receiving invalid tickets, according to published reports.

Just how many invalid tickets were erroneously issued is unknown. The PGA quickly sent out an email to ticket buyers today apologizing for the mix up, and the text of the email was published by the Detriot Free Press:

For any stadium, arena or theatre to have a fan conduct policy is nothing new. Fans must always remember to avoid using foul language or fighting with fellow fans, but those who buy tickets to see the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium this season must also remember to refrain from doing something commonplace at sporting events, standing.

According to the Kansas City Chiefs "Fan Guide", the team asks those in attendance to not be, "standing and/or obstructing the view of other fans." The rule, which is just one of 13, is listed between no foul language and no intoxication. Fans that choose not to follow the provisions are subject to ejection without refund.

"MLB sets new Interleague attendance records"

New York, NY (Major League Baseball) July 1, 2008 - Major League Baseball (MLB) has set new records for total and average attendance during Interleague Play (8,893,312 and 35,573, respectively), eclipsing the previous marks (8,795,939 and 34,905) set last season. It marks the third straight season that MLB has set new highs for attendance during Interleague Play and the fifth straight year that the total Interleague attendance has increased. One Interleague game still remains (the July 10th make-up of the June 26th NYY-PIT rainout).

The 2008 Interleague average of 35,573 per game is 15.9 percent higher than this season's current intraleague average of 30,689 per game. Since its inception in 1997, Interleague Play has drawn 12.5 percent more fans than intraleague games; Interleague Play has averaged 33,250 fans per game, compared to the intraleague average of 29,563 fans per game during the same span.

The Super Bowl champion New York Giants announced this week that they will implement a Personal Seat License program for season ticket holders at their brand new stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, which is set to open before the 2010 season.

"At a cost of over $1.6 billion, the new stadium development is the largest 100 percent privately-financed stadium project in the United States," team president John Mara and executive vice president Steve Tisch said in an open letter to season ticket holders. "As with the other NFL cities that have recently opened new or significantly renovated stadiums, we cannot build these new facilities without the sale of "PSLs" (Personal Seat Licenses) to Giants season ticket holders. The net proceeds from the sale of the PSLs will be used to pay for the construction of the new stadium."

This week, TicketNews examined some interesting differences in price for the upcoming baseball game between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium on July 1, 2008.

A web search conducted on Friday, June 20, found Field Championship tickets (boxes 1-52) available on Yankees.com via Ticketmaster priced at $325, plus convenience and shipping charges. Similar Yankees tickets (Field Box 41) on TicketLiquidator were priced lower, at $170, plus convenience and shipping charges. Face value for a full season ticket holder is $250, plus convenience and shipping charges for a similar ticket. The game day price is $400, plus convenience and shipping, according to Yankees.com. See the screen shots below.

Few subjects in the ticketing industry have been able to hit the nerves of fans and brokers alike, but one of them is the idea of artists, promoters or sports teams scalping their own tickets. Now comes word out of Chicago that their beloved Cubs may be doing just that.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that they were told by a "legal ticket broker" that many of the seats being sold on StubHub to the upcoming Cubs-White Sox series, came directly from the Cubs box office.

It comes as no surprise that this year's NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Lakers have garnered much more attention than any of those in previous years. With a rivalry over 50 years deep, die hard fans have made it one of the most difficult tickets to get in sports. Even though ticket prices in Los Angeles dropped over the weekend, the amount of money paid by fans to attend the games have grown overall.

Information from the TicketNetwork inventory showed that the average order size is more than $1,500. That is an increase of almost 50 percent over last year's finals which saw the San Antonio Spurs sweep the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games.

If you have watched even a minute of this year's NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, you have heard all about the history as well as all about the great players and games of the past. You've seen the celebrities from Denzel Washington to Jack Nicholson, Spike Lee to Steven Spielberg. And if you have tried to get tickets to the Staples Center to see a game in person, you have definitely seen the huge prices they are going for.

"I've seen nothing like this in the nine years since we've opened," Lee Zeidman, general manager for the Staples Center, told the Los Angeles Daily News. "Because of the history of these two teams ... the demand is phenomenal."

Earlier today, thousands of New York Yankees fans, who are eagerly awaiting their All Star Game tickets, received a scare when an automated telephone "blast" notified them that their All Star tickets had not been paid for.

The notifications prompted armies of irate fans who had paid for their tickets to call the team, jamming phone lines and tying up access on Yankees.com. The Yankees are hosting this year's All Star Game on July 15 in what is the team's final season at Yankee Stadium, and tickets for the event have been an extremely hot commodity.