StubHub sues Warriors, alleging monopoly

[navy]

In what could prove to be a landmark case in the sports ticket marketplace, StubHub filed a lawsuit against the Golden State Warriors and Ticketmaster in the northern district of California on Sunday, accusing the two of conspiring to create an illegal resale market by telling season holders to only resell through their platform.

The suit alleges that the team has informed season ticket holders that should they resell their tickets through anything other than Ticketmaster's exchange, NBATickets.com, they will have their ticket privileges revoked. This included not being offered playoff tickets to the season in which they had already purchased season tickets or not being invited to purchase season tickets for next year.

The threat has apparently worked. StubHub claims that listings for Warriors tickets, which is currently the hottest ticket in the NBA, are down 80 percent in the last year.

"If the anticompetitive actions complained herein are not stopped, Ticketmaster is likely to seek to replicate them with other teams," the suit said. "As a result, millions of Americans will be held captive to a monopoly secondary ticketing exchange."

The Warriors and Ticketmaster have had a relationship since 2012 whereby they share fees from the team's resale market. But sources told ESPN.com that the team got more restrictive and adamant about selling outside of their platform this season, as the Warriors have been one of the best teams in the NBA.

"We're not trying to be the industry pariah, but when actions like these are associated with the business impact that we've seen, and the outcry comes from fans who are saying 'our hands are tied,' we are left with no choice," said StubHub's general counsel Michelle Fang.

At the heart of the antitrust case, StubHub's legal representatives write, is the fact that the Warriors and Ticketmaster are in control of both the primary and secondary markets.

Besides taking part in what StubHub claims is an illegal restraint of trade at the federal level, the eBay-owned reseller also claims that the setup violates unfair business practices in the state of California, where StubHub, Ticketmaster and the Warriors are all based.

Warriors spokesperson Lisa Goodwin said late Sunday night that it was team policy not to comment on legal matters. A representative for Ticketmaster also said the company would have no comment at this time.

Earlier this month, the Warriors clinched a playoff spot for the third consecutive year, the first time they've accomplished that feat since 1975-1977. On Saturday, the team clinched the top spot in the West.

With the favorite for MVP, Stephen Curry, the Warriors have maxed out their season ticket base at 14,500 seats. The team, which has sold out 118 straight home games, currently has more than 10,000 people on their season ticket waiting list who have paid $100 non-refundable deposits to be on the list.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12...eging-monopoly

[Siemens]

The suit alleges that the team has informed season ticket holders that should they resell their tickets through anything other than Ticketmaster's exchange, NBATickets.com, they will have their ticket privileges revoked.

Lawsuit seems legit to me if that is what is happening.

[gts]

Not going to cry too much about poor stubhub, went to buy Lakers tickets a couple years ago and they wanted to charge a $120 service fee, plus another 10 for electronic transfer.....lol

they've been ripping people off for years, I bet we find out the reason the Warriors are cutting them out is because they overcharge

[SpecialQue]

Not going to cry too much about poor stubhub, went to buy Lakers tickets a couple years ago and they wanted to charge a $120 service fee, plus another 10 for electronic transfer.....lol

they've been ripping people off for years, I bet we find out the reason the Warriors are cutting them out is because they overcharge

The fvck??? I've never had a problem with StubHub. How good were those seats?

[NugzFan]

Stubhub is a million times better than ticket master.

I want ticket master to die.

[Knicksfever2010]

Stubhub is a million times better than ticket master.

I want ticket master to die.

[gts]

The fvck??? I've never had a problem with StubHub. How good were those seats?

Sh*ti didn't buy them... I called Barry's and got basically the same thing (mid level 100s across from the Lakers bench) with a 12 dollar fee per ticket something like that... stub hub was like 40 bucks per plus the electronic transfer, they just nickel and dime you to death..

course this season you just go straight to the lakers, they got lots of tickets... lol

[warriorfan]

set up a half decent racket and what do you know, the haters come in full force, that's life

[Joyner82reload]

Not going to cry too much about poor stubhub, went to buy Lakers tickets a couple years ago and they wanted to charge a $120 service fee, plus another 10 for electronic transfer.....lol

they've been ripping people off for years, I bet we find out the reason the Warriors are cutting them out is because they overcharge

Uh...how much were those seats? $2000?

[ABfor3]

Stubhub is where I buy all my tickets, never had trouble with them

[gts]

Uh...how much were those seats? $2000?

oh god no...lol I like the Lakers but i'm not going to go nuts, those tickets are usually about 280- 290 ish...

Honestly i usually do the 300s, the cheapies it's usually a last minute thing, grab my 10 year old and off we go... She loves going to the game, we eat a bunch of stuff, stay until the kid starts getting sleepy looking and head on home.. we go maybe 5 times a year

edit: rephrase that. i can't afford to go nuts... haha

[Joyner82reload]

oh god no...lol I like the Lakers but i'm not going to go nuts, those tickets are usually about 280- 290 ish...

Honestly i usually do the 300s, the cheapies it's usually a last minute thing, grab my 10 and off we go... She's loves going to the game, we eat a bunch of stuff, stay until the kid starts getting sleepy looking and head on home.. we go maybe 5 times a year

edit: rephrase that. i can't afford to go nuts... haha

Stubhub only charges 15% for fees...I don't understand how yours was so expensive. Are you sure that wasn't through vividseats? They will charge around $100 for every $300 spent

[BlazerRed]

Not going to cry too much about poor stubhub, went to buy Lakers tickets a couple years ago and they wanted to charge a $120 service fee, plus another 10 for electronic transfer.....lol

they've been ripping people off for years, I bet we find out the reason the Warriors are cutting them out is because they overcharge

Pretty sure Stubhub's thing is that they don't charge any fees etc.. What you see for the ticket price is what you pay. I've never payed any fees through them.

[Abd El-Krim]

Pretty sure Stubhub's thing is that they don't charge any fees etc.. What you see for the ticket price is what you pay. I've never payed any fees through them.

What you see is what you pay, yes. But what you see already has a fee in it.

When you sell tickets on stubhub, you set a price for your ticket which is then inflated 15%, and that is the price the buyer sees. Then, after the ticket sells, they take 10% out of the price you set and pay you out.

So I listed tickets over the weekend at $90 each. The buyer saw these listed as $103.50, and I actually got paid out $81. At low costs this isn't a huge deal but if you are selling tickets worth hundreds of dollars, stubhub is making a killing.

I prefer ticketmaster because they only take the service fee. There isn't an additional inflation going on that makes the seller feel like money is just being taken. Of course ticketmaster's nba resale site doesn't have near the traffic, so your average resale price is lower which mitigates stubhub's inflated price.

[ZMonkey11]

Both sites ripping people off. One figured out a way to keep the other from ripping people off so they can continue to rip people off. Second company crying because they can't rip people off anymore.

Where's my violin?