Stub Snub: A ticket sales monopoly?

Matt’s Take:

I’d have to say that most of us have sold something before. I’d go even further to say that we’ve all probably sold something we’ve spent our hard-earned money on, whether it was a car, an extra toaster oven or a PlayStation.

 I know that I’ve listed items on a variety of websites where folks who are looking to purchase goods would frequent. There are any number of sites available to peddle wares.

So say you want to sell your used car, how would you feel if the dealership you purchased your vehicle from tried to tell you that you could only use their “authorized” company.

Seems odd, right?

Well, that’s exactly what’s happening, or at least alleged, in California. Ticket re-seller StubHub claims that the Golden State Warriors have told their season ticket holders if they sell their tickets through any other service outside of Ticketmaster’s exchange, NBATickets.com, they could have their ticket privileges revoked.

We all know that one more layer of bureaucracy and interference is all we need. How about we let people make their own decisions?

Why should it matter to the Warriors who I sell my property to? Like I said, we don’t see Sony trying to dictate who I can sell my PlayStation to.

This may be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve read about in quite some time.

The Warriors are one of the hottest tickets in the NBA right now. How much sense does it make to alienate your fans, who, mind you, are spending their hard-earned money to attend your games.

Whether they purchase these tickets through Ticketmaster or StubHub, that’s nobody’s business.

StubHub may as well collect its winnings now, this case is a no-brainer.

Andrew’s Take:

The Golden State Warriors want you to do business with a guy who smells like a dumpster.

I haven’t said anything but “Nope!” to a scalper in a very long time, and I’d prefer to keep it that way.

I used StubHub last weekend, and it was great. I bought tickets to a Brooklyn Nets game at the Barclays Center, and sat eye-to-“I” with the newly installed New York Islanders banners.

I paid $32.50 per ticket. Steep for the barely-playoff-worthy Nets against the Kobe-less Los Angeles Lakers, but I love a basketball game, so I was happy.

The original price for these nose-bleeders was $75 per. No way was I dropping that kind of dough, but thanks to StubHub, every party involved in my ticket transaction was happy. I was able to watch a game for a reasonable price. A wealthy season ticket holder was able to make a few bucks back off an investment that was made for the witnessing of better competition. And the Brooklyn Nets got a few more butts in a few more seats; butts that were happy to purchase concessions and merchandise.

The Warriors told their season ticket holders that they could not resell with anyone else but Ticketmaster. And that is bull crap. So, this week, StubHub filed suit.

Golden State has a deal in place so that they can, basically, make more money off items they’ve already sold. By forcing transactions to go through one medium, they’ve secured a cut.

Toyota can’t dictate that I resell my Camry through a particular dealer. I sold that baby on Craigslist, because it was mine, and I could do whatever I wanted with it.

The same goes for game tickets. Once the purchasers have their property, they can do anything.

This one seems like a “slam dunk” for StubHub, and that pun wasn’t intentional.