This article which appeared on the front page of the Sept. 8 Business section and on Page One of the Sept. 9 early Sunday edition incorrectly referred to Joseph Freeman as general counsel for Ticketmaster. He is assistant general counsel. Also, negotiations to extend a partnership between Ticketmaster and concert promoter Live Nation were halted by Ticketmaster, not by Live Nation.
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Many sites are taking steps to ensure security. Ticketsnow.com, for example, doesn't allow individuals to sell tickets on its site. Licensed ticket brokers, who obtain blocks of tickets from a number of sources, are among the site's primary sellers, and they are screened and certified so that consumers know tickets are legitimate, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Swanson.
But StubHub, which partners with the Redskins for ticket resales, is trying to attract the individual seller, often a season ticket holder who cannot attend an event. The site doesn't sell tickets itself. Instead, it serves as an intermediary, promising to take risk and uncertainty out of each transaction.
"We don't want someone to get to the site and wonder if he's going to get the tickets," StubHub president Chris Tsakalakis said. "We want them to feel secure that they're going to get the tickets they ordered and not be out any money."
But there have been some pitfalls. In November, the New England Patriots sued StubHub and former season ticket holders for reselling season tickets on the site instead of using the team's resale service managed by Ticketmaster. StubHub countersued, accusing the team of engaging in illegal price-fixing by not allowing tickets to be sold at market prices, even if they go for less than face value. A major sticking point was the question of ownership. Is a ticket owned by the team that issued it or by the person who paid for it? Ticketmaster's Freeman argued that a ticket is a revocable license issued by a venue to allow the holder to attend an event.
"Having a ticket doesn't give you the right to come into a venue, drink too much, and spew profanity and act inappropriately," he said. "Different teams and different venues choose to attach different conditions on the terms of the sale of that ticket."
Massachusetts is one of only a few states that hasn't revised its anti-scalping laws. New York, by contrast, revised its law to prohibit sports teams from punishing ticket holders who resell them, a longstanding matter of contention between the New York Yankees and their fans.
By partnering with resale sites, an increasing number of sports teams are stripping away some of the stigma of scalping. Major League Baseball announced a partnership last month with StubHub. And Manchester United, the professional soccer team in England, has given exclusive resale rights to Viagogo.
"That does more than just sell Manchester United tickets," said Baker, Viagogo's chief executive. "When you market to those fans, if they know you're in business with Manchester United, they know you're a legitimate and trustworthy company. It validates the entire sector."
