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.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12584885/stubhub-sues-golden-state-warriors-alleging-monopoly
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.
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12584885/stubhub-sues-golden-state-warriors-alleging-monopoly
