Summary: The Patriots Vs Stubhub

993 Words4 Pages

The state sued him for violating the Minnesota statute 609.805, subdivisions 2(2) and 4(4). The state claimed that he was violationg scalping laws by selling tickets for more than their face value. They also claimed that he violated by selling the tickets despite the tickets saying “not for sale after August 20th 2003.”

The district court dismissed the suit, deciding that he did not violate either issue. They stated that because tickets were being sold for $8 at the box office, he was not in violation. They also stated that since the tickets stated “not for sale” rather than “the re-sale is prohibited,” that meant that it was simply saying the state was not selling them after that date, not that Gabbert couldn’t sell them.

Once the district …show more content…

The Patriots sued StubHub for supposedly encouraging season ticket holders to scalp their Tickets on StubHub, and furthermore wouldn’t disclose the names of those who sold to the Patriots. Over 13,000 people allegedly sold Patriots tickets on StubHub.

Patriot team rules clearly stated that tickets were not allowed to be resold. The Patriots noticed the high amount of these tickets being sold on StubHub, but had no way of finding out who was selling them, leading to the lawsuit of StubHub. Additionally, Massachusetts law states that tickets can not be sold for more than $2 above their face value. Some of the tickets were being sold for more than $1,000 above face value, so this was another obvious infraction.

The Patriots eventually went on to win the court case, and StubHub was forced to disclose the names to the Patriots. StubHub tried to argue that this was a violation of their privacy policy, but the court dismissed that notion due to the ticket scalping infractions. The Patriots organization ended up dismissing the season ticket holders that violated these rules, and tickets from the Patriots organization can now only be bought through the team’s personal …show more content…

Proper management of ticket scalping situations is vital to any and all teams and/or organizations. Someone working in the sports field to reduce risks should be aware of the regulations of ticket scalping in each and every state. Teams especially need to be on the lookout for people illegally scalping their tickets, as the Patriots did (a RARE circumstance where they can be commended for doing something right). If someone is making money off tickets, that’s money that should be going to the sport teams. Without maximizing profits, an organization in this economy could swiftly