Opposing Fan Problem

[ABuccs Fan]

I posted this in another thread, but decided to give it it's own thread to see if we can generate discussion on this topic instead of it getting buried.


 Opposing fans get tickets through ticket agencies. That's their business, and their livelyhood. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers orginization is responsible for this problem. Some teams out there only allow so many season tickets to be purchased by any particular person. These ticket agencies own hundreds of tickets, and sell them. If the Buccaneers put a limit as to how many tickets can be purchased with one account number, this would stop. It would also allow people on the waiting list to be able to purchase tickets. But why would the Buccs put a limit on them. Do they really care who is sitting in the seat? No, they only care that someone is sitting in the seat. Do you think that 10,000 fans don't renew their tickets when the team is bad and you jump 20,000 spots on the waiting list? No, it's probably 200 brokers who own 100 seats a piece, and now because said team is bad, it's no longer a lucritive business. Do you really think 30,000 Buccs fans just happened to sell their tickets to Bengals fans Sunday? Huh?? Really, do you believe that? Ticket brokers know they can get more money out of the opposing fan, because the ticket is worth more to them, because they are just happy enough to be able to get their hands on them, so they'll usually pay. One Bengals fan Scurvy, Prefer and I spoke with got tickets for $350.00 a piece. Why would a Buccs fan pay that, when they can sit at home and watch it for free. Ticket brokers know this, and that's why they sell to opposing fans. Seriously, get your head out of your Butts, if you really think 15,000 or so seperate fans who own tickets just happen to sell them to Bengals fans. Ebay has made it way too easy for ticket brokers to sell their tickets. It's up to the Buccs to limit ticket sales to each individual account. I may be wrong, but I believe a limit of 8 Chiefs tickets can be purchased per acount. Brokers would have to use multiple people to buy them for them, or use fake names. The Buccs could police this if they wanted too. But do they want to??

Good points

[mjs020294]

The system in the English Premier League is good.  The visiting team gets a set number of tickets in one section, and they sell them at face value to their own season ticket holders.   For a standard game they get between 5%-10% of the seats depending on the stadium, and for cup/play-off games they get 25% if they can sell them.  It makes for a pretty good atmosphere because all the visiting fans are in one block.  It also lets the visiting team reward their own fans because they control the ticket sales for that block.

[GrudenFan63]

I agree. Unfortunately, money is green, no matter which team you support. 

[BTownBucFan]

Support your BUCS!  Keep the Egal fans outta RayJay!  If we get the same number or even more Eagles fans as we did Cincy fans this past week, it could be trouble.

[rowdie]

I didn't get throug the whole message but your plan to stop ticket agents wouldn't work.  Net zero effect.

[DanTurksGhost]

FYI: As an expensive club seat holder and someone who has some "ins" at One Buc Place, I called my representative at the Bucs and inquired about this issue. The Bucs do not limit the number of tickets a single account holder can have, as noted above.

However:

1) There are NO account holders who own hundreds of season tickets;
2) The most number of seats owned by a single account is in the 20's (could not give me an exact number for business privacy reasons);
3) Account holders with ticket counts in the 20's are all long-time, well-established season ticket holders who have added seats one or two at a time as they came available over the years;
4) The seat deposit procedure and the method used for filling the current stadium essentially limited the number of seats that ticket consolidators were likely to reserve;
5) The waiting list now precludes any account holder from buying up "hundreds of seats";
6) The Bucs keep an eye out for potential abuse of their season ticket packages by checking into any requests about large blocks of seats, and while there is no policy against selling someone a large block of season tickets, the ticket officers can deny or limit the number of tickets sold to a single account at their discretion;
7) There basically aren't any season tickets to be had, so they don't expect it to bloom into a big problem.

And from personal experience:

Most of the ticket agencies that I know of buy their tickets in small groups from season ticket holders who sell of a game here and there, they don't own large blocks of tickets. But if they buy 2 tickets from 65 different ticket holders, they've got 130 tickets to sell at a profit.

Just thought you should know...

[rowdie]

FYI: As an expensive club seat holder and someone who has some "ins" at One Buc Place, I called my representative at the Bucs and inquired about this issue. The Bucs do not limit the number of tickets a single account holder can have, as noted above.

However:

1) There are NO account holders who own hundreds of season tickets;
2) The most number of seats owned by a single account is in the 20's (could not give me an exact number for business privacy reasons);
3) Account holders with ticket counts in the 20's are all long-time, well-established season ticket holders who have added seats one or two at a time as they came available over the years;
4) The seat deposit procedure and the method used for filling the current stadium essentially limited the number of seats that ticket consolidators were likely to reserve;
5) The waiting list now precludes any account holder from buying up "hundreds of seats";
6) The Bucs keep an eye out for potential abuse of their season ticket packages by checking into any requests about large blocks of seats, and while there is no policy against selling someone a large block of season tickets, the ticket officers can deny or limit the number of tickets sold to a single account at their discretion;
7) There basically aren't any season tickets to be had, so they don't expect it to bloom into a big problem.

And from personal experience:

Most of the ticket agencies that I know of buy their tickets in small groups from season ticket holders who sell of a game here and there, they don't own large blocks of tickets. But if they buy 2 tickets from 65 different ticket holders, they've got 130 tickets to sell at a profit.

Just thought you should know...

I wonder how they count it.  I know folks with more then 20 tickets.  How did they count a box?  Not at all would be my guess.

[DanTurksGhost]

I know folks with more then 20 tickets.

20's not "20".

[JavaBuc]

If you notice, there are very few fans of the opposing teams when the Bucs are doing well.   But when the Bucs are not doing well, there are alot of fans of the opposing teams.   I personally think it's the Buc fans themselves selling off their tickets that allow the opposing fans into the stadium.    2 of the guys who work for my company sell their season tickets to ticket brokers as soon as they consider the season the have gone downhill.   They have already sold the rest of their tickets this season.   They did that after the Panthers game.  They are as bandwagon as they come.   

Since the Bucs lost their first 4 games this year, I expect to see alot of opposing fans the rest of the year. 

[rowdie]

20's not "20".

Not counting the guy's box, I'd say he has about 50 tickets throughout the stadium.  Is that more then 20's? 

Now I don't know that they're all under one account. It's very possible that there's personal(doutful) and multiplle corporate. 

The only real point here is trying to limit tickets per account would not stop ticket brokers.

[DanTurksGhost]

Not counting the guy's box, I'd say he has about 50 tickets throughout the stadium.  Is that more then 20's? 

Now I don't know that they're all under one account. It's very possible that there's personal(doutful) and multiplle corporate. 

The only real point here is trying to limit tickets per account would not stop ticket brokers.

I didn't ask about skysuites, so not sure about how those are counted.

According to my contact, there are corporate accounts that have more than 30 tickets, however these are well-known to the organization and are legitimate local businesses, not ticket brokers. So that may cover your friend.

And finally, you are correct. No measure will stop them, because they buy them up in small groups from existing holders.

[rowdie]

Wow, I can't immagine a personal account with even in the tens much less the 20s.

Yes, his company(ies) are well known in the area.  It's hard to drive much of anywhere and not see one of the vans or the hummers.

Back to the main topic, I'm not at all convinced the Brokers are the issue.  We have a ton of closet other teams fans that come out if their team is doing well/better then the bucs.  I think beyond that it's the "bucs fans" selling their tickets on an individual basis.  shoot even I've been known to bring Miami Fan in.  The number of Pittsburg fans in my office is whack! Washington, Miami and GB also well represented.

What would stop it is Bucs fan buying the tickets and going to the games.  As the area continues to grow and more importantly as we start having more generations of people born right here this "problem" should cease to be a problem.

[GrudenFan63]

Football's a business. They don't care whether the money comes from Buc fans, Eagle fans, Bear fans, Panther fans, etc. It's a business. You pay the money, and they leave happy.

Ticket brokers know they can get more money out of the opposing fan, because the ticket is worth more to them, because they are just happy enough to be able to get their hands on them, so they'll usually pay. One Bengals fan Scurvy, Prefer and I spoke with got tickets for $350.00 a piece. Why would a Buccs fan pay that, when they can sit at home and watch it for free.

And couldn't the opposing fans also sit at home and watch it for free, saving not only the ticket price but airfare, hotel and car rental/cab fare as well?

Football's a business. They don't care whether the money comes from Buc fans, Eagle fans, Bear fans, Panther fans, etc. It's a business. You pay the money, and they leave happy.

I'll bet they do care. If you can fill the stands with Buc fans instead of fans of the opposing team it means a better homefield advantage and a better chance of winning the game. A better record means more money for the franchise.