Article in Today's WSJ About Dolphins & Ticket Brokers

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Saw this in today's Wall Street Journal, and I thought it was real interesting.

You guys may have heard that the Dolphins cut off a number of third party ticket brokers this offseason, and the reason given by the team was that they wanted to try to make it harder for out of town fans of opposing teams to get tickets and fill the stadium. Well, apparently they told one of the ticket brokers they cut off something entirely different. A broker named Gus Rodriguez claims that a Dolphins executive told him point-blank that they were doing it because 'We have a company that our owner owns and we have to do business with them.'

That other broker is Primesport, Inc., which was 'acquired in February by an investor group that includes Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.' PrimeSport is marking tickets up quite a bit, it seems, to the tune of about a 50% markup on lower bowl seats for the January 3rd game vs New England. When reached for comment, the Dolphins denied Rodriguez' allegations.

There's more in the article, but that's the gist of it.

:idk:

 

[datruth55]

Ross has to make his money somewhere...certainly isn't drawing fans to the stadium with the product he's put on the field.

 

[oasis]

The guy's paying for the new stadium/renovations, so I'd expect they'd try to make that money back somehow. Is it altogether surprising that they'd funnel business towards related companies?

 

[Daytona Fin]

Not sure I am buying them saying that they wanted to try to make it harder for out of town fans of opposing teams to get tickets and fill the stadium. If I remember, the reason they picked the Jets as one of their final teams to play in London is because they usually don't sell out the Jets game as opposed to them expecting to sell out the Cowboys, Patriots and Giants games, who were finalists also. I think they are expecting a lot of opposing fans to buy those tickets.


Should be fun if it is true. Scalping used to be frowned upon but it seems acceptable by the NFL now. Ticketmaster has an NFL ticket exchange addition to their website where season ticket holders can link their tickets directly to the website for scalping.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dave-hyde-commentary-1107-20141106-column.html

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

The guy's paying for the new stadium/renovations, so I'd expect they'd try to make that money back somehow. Is it altogether surprising that they'd funnel business towards related companies?

I'm just passing along what I saw in the paper today. It was in the print edition, so I'm not sure if the article is online, and the WSJ's online stuff is behind a paywall, anyway.

That said, it is kind of crappy if true.

 

[oasis]

I'm just passing along what I saw in the paper today. It was in the print edition, so I'm not sure if the article is online, and the WSJ's online stuff is behind a paywall, anyway.

That said, it is kind of crappy if true.

No I'm not being difficult - I appreciate the post. I don't know much about this stuff so I'm trying to understand what is most controversial or interesting about the situation?

Just that they lied about the reason, or that they themselves [in a way] are doing the markup?

 

[Roman529]

That other broker is Primesport, Inc., which was 'acquired in February by an investor group that includes Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.' PrimeSport is marking tickets up quite a bit, it seems, to the tune of about a 50% markup on lower bowl seats for the January 3rd game vs New England. When reached for comment, the Dolphins denied Rodriguez' allegations.



:idk:

Boo Hoo to these scalpers. That's business!!!

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

No I'm not being difficult - I appreciate the post. I don't know much about this stuff so I'm trying to understand what is most controversial or interesting about the situation?

Just that they lied about the reason, or that they themselves [in a way] are doing the markup?

Well, they cut off long-time ticket brokers in order to funnel those sales through another company that a group Ross is part of just bought out, and they are marking up those tickets like crazy. The article mentions that Dan Gilbert of the Cavaliers also does this, but the company Gilbert has an ownership interest in doesn't actually hold / own the tickets. Apparently, PrimeSports does just that.

I'm not really a fan of this kind of thing, because I'm a huge believer that NFL games need to become more affordable and family friendly, rather than increasingly slipping into territory where they're mostly used as a bizarre tax write-off for large corporations. But it is what it is.

 

[BigNastyFish]

Poop l'il bllionairhead doin what billionaires do -- jack the system off to ejaculate streams of MONEY!

Of the glory.

BNF.

 

[Daytona Fin]

I'm just passing along what I saw in the paper today. It was in the print edition, so I'm not sure if the article is online, and the WSJ's online stuff is behind a paywall, anyway.

That said, it is kind of crappy if true.

Oh, I'm not doubting the validity of what you posted, I believe the ticket brokers were lied too, if the article is true. Is scalping still illegal? I just don't see how an owner is even allowed to have his in hand in that type of business.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Oh, I'm not doubting the validity of what you posted, I believe the ticket brokers were lied too, if the article is true. Is scalping still illegal? I just don't see how an owner is even allowed to have his in hand in that type of business.

The specific example cited in the article was for lower bowl tickets for the January 3rd game vs New England. It was stated that there were tickets in the lower bowl that were selling for around 400 dollars through the team's official website, and that there were seats right next to them selling for over 600 dollars through the broker. I'm honestly not sure of the legality of how ticket brokering and markups work, but essentially what's being argued here is that the Dolphins cut out a lot of their old ticket brokers and are now funneling almost all of that business through this one firm that Ross's investment group bought out this past February.

The clear implication to me is that this is 100% about recouping the cost of stadium renovations. It seems like this might be an interesting way to raise ticket prices to secure more capital and bypass revenue splits at the same time.

OH, and also, the WSJ contacted a League spokesperson who said that they were aware of this and didn't have any objection to it. So before the Conspiracy nuts jump in here raving about Air Force secret projects, we're not going to have the team moved to LA or whatever because of this.

 

[roy_miami]

Not sure I am buying them saying that they wanted to try to make it harder for out of town fans of opposing teams to get tickets and fill the stadium. If I remember, the reason they picked the Jets as one of their final teams to play in London is because they usually don't sell out the Jets game as opposed to them expecting to sell out the Cowboys, Patriots and Giants games, who were finalists also. I think they are expecting a lot of opposing fans to buy those tickets.


Should be fun if it is true. Scalping used to be frowned upon but it seems acceptable by the NFL now. Ticketmaster has an NFL ticket exchange addition to their website where season ticket holders can link their tickets directly to the website for scalping.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dave-hyde-commentary-1107-20141106-column.html

Who picked the Jets? It wasn't us. All we were allowed to do was block 3 games from being moved, then somebody else chose from the remaining 5 games. Plus, I heard the Jets home game was one of our best as far as ticket sales every season.

 

[Daytona Fin]

Who picked the Jets? It wasn't us. All we were allowed to do was block 3 games from being moved, then somebody else chose from the remaining 5 games. Plus, I heard the Jets home game was one of our best as far as ticket sales every season.

For the Dolphins, New England was the first opponent to be exempt from the London trip. It was an easy choice. It is an AFC East opponent and a team that annually sells out Sun Life Stadium. The team's business and football minds agreed.

The other three teams on the list presented the real issue. Dallas is a big, popular team that would be a certain sell-out. What's more, the Cowboys hadn't played in Sun Life since 2007, so it would be a bonus for season-ticket holders.

Ditto the Giants. They haven't played in South Florida since 1996. They were supposed to play here during the strike-shortened 1987 season. They became the Dolphins "home" opponent in London during the 2007 season.


Finally, there were the Jets. A top rival. A division opponent. But a team that plays here every season. And a team that sells a good number of tickets but typically doesn't sell out. The average crowd is 67,292 in the past five seasons.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dave-hyde-commentary-1107-20141106-column.html

 

[dolpns13]

Feels like a conflict of interest

 

[MiamiMuss]

I can't stand Ross...If all is true then that guy should be forced into selling This team....Problem is he might be a silent owner of the next Regime!