There has been much controversy recently about the club’s newfound partnership with online ticket marketplace StubHub. The site, which allows fans to sell tickets for whatever price they like, has widely been labelled ‘legalised ticket touting’. There are the ethical issues of encouraging fans to exploit each other, and to take advantage of a fellow […]
Out the Tout
There has been much controversy recently about the club’s newfound partnership with online ticket marketplace StubHub.
The site, which allows fans to sell tickets for whatever price they like, has widely been labelled ‘legalised ticket touting’. There are the ethical issues of encouraging fans to exploit each other, and to take advantage of a fellow supporter’s desire to watch their club; indeed these would be articles in themselves. But the reasons I hate this StubHub deal go beyond…
I feel, not for the first time, that my club is treating me like a mug. I received the email telling me it was time to renew my membership, which included a link to the benefits I can expect for handing over a £50 renewal fee. Amongst these ‘benefits’ was the addition of “Access to StubHub – The new Official Secondary Ticketing Service.” Having read the club’s FAQs on StubHub and the Q&A the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust conducted with them on the subject, I remain to be convinced how this deal is of benefit to any supporter. As football fans we’re used to being exploited, but the worst part is that the Club have the nerve to sell it to us as a benefit!
Also despite what the club say, anyone, Spurs fan or not, can buy tickets for home games on the StubHub market place. You only need an account with them. So while the Club states that only Spurs fans are allowed to purchase tickets, they have no reasonable way of checking the allegiances of anyone entering the stadium. The website simple states, “Any persons attempting to gain entry into the home enclosures displaying away colours will be refused entry.”
So if in real terms the service is not even exclusive to the fans of Tottenham Hotspur, merely people who are signed up to StubHub. But again, apparently this is a benefit to us.
In addition to this, the StubHub deal means the notion of picking up a face-value ticket through the club is done. In fact if the season ticket holder wants to sell his/her ticket and recoup ‘face value’ for that game Stubhub mark up means it must be listed above the actual value of the ticket. So while ticket prices haven’t officially risen this season, in some instances they actually have – according to the Supporters’ Trust Q&A with the club “StubHub charges a commission of 12% per-transaction to the seller and 15% per-transaction to the buyer. In order to recoup face value of £45.00 on a Category B seating the East Stand Lower, the seller would need to ask £51.15 for their ticket. The buyer would, therefore, pay £58.82 for the same ticket.”
[linequote]The club seems to happily accept that this ticket is more accessible to a person based on their wealth rather than their loyalty to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.[/linequote]
And imagine what it’ll be like when we play Woolwich or Chelsea. While the club play down the issues of massively inflated ticket prices for high profile games, there were examples at Everton, who used StubHub last year, where tickets were exchanging hands on through StubHub for vastly exaggerated prices – all legal, all above aboard, all approved by a Premier League club.
Think about the typical Spurs match day goer who buys a ticket in the Park Lane lower. These tickets, the cheapest in the stadium, remain an expensive outlay for this fan. And yet suddenly, this ticket for certain games suddenly are financially beyond them. The club seems to happily accept that this ticket is more accessible to a person based on their wealth rather than their loyalty to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
The Club will continue to shaft fans, that’s modern football for you, but don’t have the arrogance to suggest that we should be grateful, that this somehow makes following Spurs a better experience.
Some of you will have longer lasting memories than those that run the club. In 2006 the they launched a campaign to ‘Out The Tout’. A noble cause. They decried the selling of tickets for “up-to-seven-times face value” followed shortly by this gem, “We do care about how fans are consistently exploited by touts at White Hart Lane.” The hypocrisy.
So what can you do? For the first time it’s quite easy, just don’t use StubHub. Use whatever method you usually do to acquire tickets. Don’t allow the club to hide behind those that do use the system, and don’t believe the nonsense that this is service. It’s exploitation of a love for the club.
[author name=”Paul Head” avatar=”https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_images/1500524670/n532720102_2385269_1646.jpg” twitter=”PaulHead83″ tag=”PaulHead[/linequote]
All views and opinions expressed in this article are the views and opinions of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of The Fighting Cock. We offer a platform for fans to commit their views to text and voice their thoughts. Football is a passionate game and as long as the views stay within the parameters of what is acceptable, we encourage people to write, get involved and share their thoughts on the mighty Tottenham Hotspur.
8 Comments
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31/05/2013 @ 1:36 pm
This is outrageous. We need to do something about this. I am a bronze member and sometimes, the only way to get tickets to say, the Arsenal match, would be through the ticket exchange. This system is fair, works well and no one gets ripped off. This Stubhub system is further pushing us fans that find it hard enough to pay for tickets even further down the pecking order when it comes to buying tickets. Is there not some kind of fan based opposition to this new system? If not there should be.
I would gladly add my name to any kind of petition against this, I am sure that lots of others would too.
31/05/2013 @ 3:00 pm
I like you am a bronze member and agree with your comments about ticket exchange. I liked it, it worked… never managed to get tickets to a Woolwich game though. As for fan based opposition, you start it and you can add my name to your list.
I would like to know what you want to happen though. Do you want THFC plc to rip up it’s contract with stub hub, that would cost a few quid. Would you rather the club recouped some of those losses by taking a commission through ticket exchange?
31/05/2013 @ 6:48 pm
i know its of know consequence to you to blokes but as a season ticket holder i have sold tickets but to people i know and NEVER NEVER above the face value i have had my ticket [apart from a jump up charge] since the enclosure and would never ever sell tickets and if you ever wanted a ticket home/away i would do my best to help you both and this is not a wined up
coys!!!
31/05/2013 @ 6:48 pm
i know its of know consequence to you to blokes but as a season ticket holder i have sold tickets but to people i know and NEVER NEVER above the face value i have had my ticket [apart from a jump up charge] since the enclosure and would never ever sell tickets and if you ever wanted a ticket home/away i would do my best to help you both and this is not a wined up
coys!!!
01/06/2013 @ 6:15 pm
Other thing is if you buy through SH booking does not go on your membership card like with the TE. You have to collect a paper ticket on the day apparently. Progress or what. Standing in the rain to collect a paper ticket.
03/06/2013 @ 10:16 am
I have supported Tottenham for fifty years but worked away a lot and could not easily get to every home game so never applied for a season ticket. For the last five years I have been a bronze member and have used ticket exchange a lot. It was a good system and was fair to genuine fans like me.
This new stubhub system stinks.
I am too middle aged to work out how to use social media sites but would be grateful if you could explain (or do it for me) how to get this petition a wide circulation for other fans to sign.
Many thanks
Adrian Townsend
To The Directors and Fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
Stubhub boycott petition
We, true fans of Tottenham Hotspur, call upon the club to abandon it’s ticket selling agreement with Stubhub and re-introduce the ticket exchange system which respected and rewarded genuine Tottenham Hotspur fan’s support of their club.
We reject the idea that loyal fans of Tottenham Hotspur should be encouraged to exploit fellow supporters by selling tickets to make profit . We ask all season ticket holders who may need to re-sell tickets only to do so to other genuine Tottenham fans (members) and to sell at face value ticket price only.
Adrian Townsend
04/06/2013 @ 6:03 pm
“Any persons attempting to gain entry into the home enclosures displaying away colours will be refused entry.”
Well that’s good to know…
10/06/2013 @ 10:00 am
Whilst I appreciate and support the action taken – the deal is done, money paid and regardless of the size of the petition we are going to have to live with this for at least the season.
I am in 2 minds on this topic. I along with a few of the other comments above am a bronze member, and feel that it is the bronze members who are shafted the most by the introduction of stubhub. There is now a massive financial incentive into being able to sell every game above face value that will make the availability of season tickets now non existent. I am very interested to see how many new season tickets are issued this year. Does anyone know if you retain the loyalty points for games that you subsequently sell on via stubhub? My main issue with the relationship is that prior to this, the club have made it almost impossible to sell on tickets without using the exchange, which was not open for everyone to do. I bought the multi game packages at the beginning of the season, and numerous times these were unused and I was unable to sell them via the exchange. As I understand it Stubhub will only be available when a game is sold out; therefore it is not a tool for fans to be able to sell on lesser games (carling cup, Europa, Cat C games) but will just inflate the prices for the games in demand.
Having said all of this; I cannot count the amount of times that I have said that I would happily pay a lot more not to have to deal with the ticket office. Anyone who was with me for the all nighters to get Milan / Real Madrid tickets will agree. The ticket office staff are some of the rudest, most abrasive, corrupt employees and it is sad that I in some way embrace the agreement with Stubhub just so I no longer have to deal with the dolts employed to work in the office.
There is no perfect answer, I always favoured queuing at the ground, others felt this was disadvantage to fans across the country, loyalty points is self perpetual. One thing that is for sure, demand massively outweighs supply and the club can dictate policy. There is no consideration for rewarding loyalty or addressing the needs of the fans – it is a cold hard business decision and it would be naive to think otherwise.