Originally Published on December 27, 2005 at Foxsports.com.
The 2006 World Cup games will have a new anti-counterfeiting feature: you must buy the tickets in your name, and you must present identification matching the name on the tickets. Otherwise, you don't get access to the game.
In other words: no transfering tickets after they are purchased.
Why such a drastic measure? Apparently at the last World Cup games there were many counterfeit tickets, which didn't sit well with those who paid big bucks only to be turned away at the gate.
I think this will be a fairly novel experiment in ticket sales. It is particularly interesting given that professional soccer is not one of the religiously followed sports in this country, but watched with reverence around the world.
Does this system stomp on the American way? Would it work in America? Would we want it to work in America?
Prior to posting this, I checked on Ebay to see what kind of sporting event tickets were available. Over 23,000 listings for everything from the Daytona 500, the Cubs-Cardinal game in April, the Chili Bowl, the Cotton Bowl, NFL, NBA, NHL, and college games were for sale.
Is it possible that some of these tickets are counterfeit? I would have no idea what the tickets for the Sugar Bowl should look like, let alone the ticket for the Ford 400 in November 2006. Granted, before I'd buy, I'd be sure to check things out first. Let the buyer beware.
The more interesting thing was that some of the tickets for sale have not been offered to the public yet - I guess the seller has some sort of yearly subscription for the tickets. For example, I know I can buy my same tickets for some motorsport events for next year - even though the general public can't yet because I'm a prior ticketholder. Assuming I buy season tickets for the college football team or women's basketball team I support, I could sell the games I know I won't be able to attend.
While I appreciate the ability to transfer these tickets so easily (while complying with state law, of course), I sometimes wonder if we haven't let the system get out of control. There are events which are "sold out," where the tickets are sold to prior ticketholders. Those ticketholders may have no intention of using the tickets, but rather plan to sell them for a profit on Ebay or through the newspaper or whatever. The tickets are sometimes sold for 2-4 times the face value of the ticket. Most of the time the face-value of the ticket is rather steep to begin with. By allowing resale of tickets, are we pricing sporting events out of the realm of the average middle class sportsfan?
Do stadiums, colleges, or teams have an obligation to determine if the ticketholders plan to use the tickets? Or if they merely plan to sell them? I know that some racetracks promise to clamp down on people caught reselling the tickets (with promises not to sell to them any longer) - but I don't know of anyone ever being caught despite postings on Ebay, the newspaper or even on the sidewalk at the race.
How would such a system be enforced? The benefit the World Cup has is that most peole attending the games will probably need a passport to get into the host country. Such is not the case here, where in theory you could have people attending events who do not have driver's licenses (but presumably have some sort of identification).
Does it make a difference if the tickets are for one event or a series of events? How would you handle corporate ticket sales? Do organizations further exacerbate the problem when they sell tickets in a bundle - meaning you must buy the one event you want plus several events you don't want, thereby creating a season sell-out, not just a one event sell-out?
Given the variety of sports, leagues, commissioning bodies, ticket brokers, universities and individuals involved, I doubt a unified system will be developed or imposed. But the question does need to be answered, before only the rich or daring can afford to go to the games and the rest of us sit at home and watch on TV.
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