Skins sell ticket straight to scalpers

[freddyg12]

btw, expect JJ & his cowpoke stadium to experience all of this in the coming years. The novelty of the new digs will wear off & he'll be trying to sell high end tickets to pay the financing on 1.2 bill.

[CRedskinsRule]

Well, one thing JJ did that was "clever" was he made the technical capacity around 80000, but it can be expanded to 100000, so he does not need to really sell out 100000 seats, unless the event calls for it. Not quite sure of the mechanics of it.

[Trample the Elderly]

I get my tickets from Marion Barry at a discount.

[BrunellMVP?]

I really feel like this robs the season ticket holders of the stadium experience. this never happened in RFK. Now I understand why there always seems to be an army of opposing team supporters. very frustrating.

I'm also annoyed by the terrible menu options associated with the Tailgate Club. Why does it feel like the skins are always trying to fleece the fan?

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

I think the issue is there are people (loyal fans) on the waiting list for years that were passed up in favor of selling many of the highly sought after 100 level seats to brokers, who in turn sell to anyone including Steelers fans.
If true then what is the point of the waiting list? The whole ticket broker business seems crooked. There must be a lot of secret handshake deals. How is that the brokers get all the good seats for most events?

This article was more disturbing:
Selling to Brokers, Suing Fans (washingtonpost.com)

The billion dollar Redskins sue a guy who can no longer afford to pay for his tickets? WTF? This guy gave the Redskins a heads up that they would like to cancel. Not very good PR.

I'm not sold on the 160,000 people waiting for season tickets. I have received around 5 things from the Skins to get back my season tickets I gave up over a year ago. If they had so many people on this waiting list why are they waisting so much money trying to get back people who gave up their season tickets and I only had mine for one year? It just does not make sense. For the guy the sued he did sign a 6 year deal and signed a contract so they had every right to sue the guy. It also probably points out that if they had such a waiting list why not just sell the tickets to the next guy in line? It probably because they don't have anyone else in line for tickets. They sell these things to brokers because it guarantees that they will sell the ticket. I'd rather see them hold on to more of these tickets and sell them off for each game and not as a season package deal. I know I would buy tickets to a few games every year but I do not want to buy a full season. Also with season ticket sales they also force you to buy the preseason games which they would take a big hit on if they did not package them into the season ticket package.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by souperbad

Correct, the article is not about the Redskins engaging in an illegal practice. Nothing they are doing is illegal...its their tickets and they can do whatever they want. But the article is not blaming this on a couple of rogue ticket sellers...the intent of the article is to blame the Redskins Organization as a whole. The article points out that these sales to brokers where handled by the Vice President of Premium ticket sales.

Really, the article is just saying the famed Redskins waiting list is pointless and meaningless.

I disagree- not with your point about the legality- surely the redskins are acting within their rights. However, I do believe its disingenuous to sell to brokers rather than directly to fans (who have reportedly been waiting for years for tickets). I see no reason why they can't set up a site that affords waiting list members the ability to buy individual game tickets according to their rank. The sheer number of opposing team fans present at FedEx each and every week speaks volumes about the pervasiveness of the system (i know regular owns sell their tickets too). Moreover, for all the Hoopla the redskins try to sell us about the "12th Man" our stadium isn't that loud, and we aren't THAT supportive (subjective I know). There is certainly something unsettling about the skins bragging and encouraging the crowd to get loud (best fans in the NFL!), yet at the same time not doing all they can to ensure an overwhelming Pro-Redskins environment. I'm not against the skins making money (i'm a capitalist) but for years i've lamented the loss of RFK's je ne sais quoi, and now i know why.

[DynamiteRave]

Originally Posted by Trample the Elderly

I get my tickets from Marion Barry at a discount.

Crack rocks for tickets? Sounds like a deal to me.

[sandtrapjack]

Originally Posted by DCtoAZ

between EBAY and STUBHUB .. isn't everything scalped these days

Spot on there.

Sort of unrelated, but familiar territory. I have a little girl at home who simply had to go see the Cyrus kid in concert. So as soon as ticket go on sale I try and get some. Well they sold out 2 shows in 8 damn minutes. 8 MINUTES! Tickets were a couple hundred bucks a piece.

Then looked at eBay and the same seats I was looking at were selling for 4 figures each.

And that is what happens a lot, brokers buy huge masses of tickets in one fatal swoop, then offer them through other outlets (such as eBay) at 300-400 percent profit.

There needs to be a law, seriously.

[sandtrapjack]

Originally Posted by freddyg12

btw, expect JJ & his cowpoke stadium to experience all of this in the coming years. The novelty of the new digs will wear off & he'll be trying to sell high end tickets to pay the financing on 1.2 bill.

Are there any $29 admission fees at FedEx?

Because in the new stadium at Dallas you can get a "party pass" for 29 bucks. See the game, drink some brew for just under 30 dollars. Not too shabby.

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by firstdown

I'm not sold on the 160,000 people waiting for season tickets. I have received around 5 things from the Skins to get back my season tickets I gave up over a year ago. If they had so many people on this waiting list why are they waisting so much money trying to get back people who gave up their season tickets and I only had mine for one year? It just does not make sense. For the guy the sued he did sign a 6 year deal and signed a contract so they had every right to sue the guy. It also probably points out that if they had such a waiting list why not just sell the tickets to the next guy in line? It probably because they don't have anyone else in line for tickets. They sell these things to brokers because it guarantees that they will sell the ticket. I'd rather see them hold on to more of these tickets and sell them off for each game and not as a season package deal. I know I would buy tickets to a few games every year but I do not want to buy a full season. Also with season ticket sales they also force you to buy the preseason games which they would take a big hit on if they did not package them into the season ticket package.

I see this argument and my question is this: Are you sure they're trying to get you to buy general admission tickets? Not Club Tickets. There's a difference. Club tickets aren't sold as season tickets.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by sandtrapjack

Are there any $29 admission fees at FedEx?

Because in the new stadium at Dallas you can get a "party pass" for 29 bucks. See the game, drink some brew for just under 30 dollars. Not too shabby.

Sure there are- you just need to buy two club level seats for the next 10 years. Should you opt out of that plan, try stub hub, I think that $30 package goes for $100.

[Skinny Tee]

Originally Posted by sandtrapjack

Spot on there.

Sort of unrelated, but familiar territory. I have a little girl at home who simply had to go see the Cyrus kid in concert. So as soon as ticket go on sale I try and get some. Well they sold out 2 shows in 8 damn minutes. 8 MINUTES! Tickets were a couple hundred bucks a piece.

Then looked at eBay and the same seats I was looking at were selling for 4 figures each.

And that is what happens a lot, brokers buy huge masses of tickets in one fatal swoop, then offer them through other outlets (such as eBay) at 300-400 percent profit.

There needs to be a law, seriously.

The demand needs to yield itself.

If the consumers decided the prices were too high the brokers would be stuck with tickets and the loss.

The unfortunate part is that the consumer never yields or shows good purchasing practices for entertainment. No price is too high and the market/brokers know that.

[saden1]

Simply don't go to the games. Problem solved. No need to thank me.

[BrunellMVP?]

Originally Posted by Skinny Tee

The demand needs to yield itself.

If the consumers decided the prices were too high the brokers would be stuck with tickets and the loss.

The unfortunate part is that the consumer never yields or shows good purchasing practices for entertainment. No price is too high and the market/brokers know that.

This is certainly true if we are talking about a pure market, I would argue that the redskins should not be selling into open market- at least not if they wish to maintain a legitimate home field advantage. I realize my point may make for an irrational economic argument, but if the Skins are concerned about providing a true 12th man advantage, does it not behoove them to fill the seats with their own fans? Selling to the people on the waiting list (in theory) would accomplish this goal all while improving waiting list/customer relations. In doing so, you are actually providing the fans with utility when they sign up for the list as opposed to just adding a name and waiting. While I certainly do not fault the redskins for making as much money as possible, I find it very disingenuous for them to brag about 12th man superiority (making FedEx the toughest place to play) and then turn around and sell tickets to opposing fans (and yes, I'm aware that skins fans have the right to buy from scalpers too). To me its talking out of both sides of the mouth, not to mention bad customer relations.

[souperbad]

Originally Posted by BrunellMVP?

I disagree- not with your point about the legality- surely the redskins are acting within their rights. However, I do believe its disingenuous to sell to brokers rather than directly to fans

Agreed. It is quite disingenuous....not just to the people on the wait list but the season ticket holders who have tenure and paying with the hopes of moving up to better seats.

This is my second year in the last row of the upper level. Theoretically I should have moved up. The ticket office called me and said I could move up if I bought 2 more seats. I asked why didn't I just move up automatically. The rep said the seats where a block of 4 and had to be take by a block of 4. I had a friend with 4 seats and he did not move up this year.