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Ticket brokers moving forward with message of compliance for Garth Brooks concerts
The dust is starting to settle after casino impresario Steve Wynn's decision to tightly regulate sales for Garth Brooks' five-year residency at Encore Theater stirred up some well-publicized confusion earlier in the week.
Despite initial questions and concerns about the procedure, put in place to dissuade ticket scalping, many brokers are now taking the necessary steps to comply with the constraints. In some cases, that means not buying or selling Brooks' tickets at all.
Ken Solky, who is president of LasVegasTickets.com and the National Association of Ticket Brokers, noted that he does not have and has not sold any Garth Brooks tickets. However, he noted, "Being a ticket broker who has served the Las Vegas valley for over 15 years, we always want to serve our customers. The tight restrictions on tickets make it more difficult to serve their needs."
Those restrictions included an October 27 deadline that required buyers to verify the names of all guests in their party or risk immediate cancellation of their ticket orders. The Wynn will also require all attendees to provide a valid photo ID matching the register on receipt of the ticket and again on entrance into the theater.
According to Wynn, the box office will buy back cancelled or unwanted tickets at face value, and put them up for sale again through the night of the respective performance.
Later in the day on Tuesday, the NATB's general counsel Gary Adler issued a statement regarding the change in the Wynn's terms and conditions for collecting tickets.
"Fans should have the right to buy and sell the tickets they want without having to RSVP their guests or risk cancellation based on new, arbitrary rules," Adler's statement read, in part. "They're changing the rules in the middle of the game, and it's only going to hurt the fans who can't find tickets, or are stuck with ones they can't use."
Wynn quickly fired back that same day during an interview with the Las Vegas Sun.
"Garth wants to protect his fans, and I'm with him. We don't want them exploited. The price is $125, and nobody but us and Garth Brooks are going to make money," Wynn told the publication, adding, "I'm jousting with ticket brokers. They are not going to sell them at a profit. Tough [stuff]."
Roger Jones, general manager of another Las Vegas broker Alliance Tickets, said that the problem wasn't necessarily the policies themselves, but with their late implementation.
"Nobody has a problem playing by the rules up front," Jones said, noting that brokers follow other guidelines, such as per-order ticket limits, among other rules. But based on the calls he received, most customers "were disappointed that the terms and conditions had been changed post-purchase."
Solky agreed that the disclosure of ticketing procedures came too late in the game. "If that [delay] didn't happen, this wouldn't be news," he explained.
Despite the late change of ticketing terms, Solky voiced nothing but respect for Steve Wynn, CEO of the Wynn Resorts where Brooks' residency will be based. He noted that his primary concern, at this point, is moving forward with business and hoping to continue to persuade people to visit Las Vegas.
"This is what Garth wants, and this is what Mr. Wynn wants," Solky acknowledged. "Whether it's good or bad, or how this affects things going forward, remains to be seen."
For now, though, it's business as usual for Solky and Jones. Though neither brokerage lists tickets for Brooks at the moment, they have tickets for many other shows in Las Vegas to offer customers. And, at the end of the day, both brokers agree that anything that brings more tourists and capital to Sin City is good for business.
"Whether I buy or sell tickets to Garth Brooks doesn't matter to me," Jones said. "From a business standpoint, on a day to day basis, we're going to continue to sell tickets [to other events]."


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THY CHANGE THE TICKET POLICY WHEN ALL THE TICKETS SOLD OUT IF THY DONT WAIT UNTILL IT SELLS OUT IT WOULDED SELL OUT ALL THOSE SHOWS NOW THY SEE HOW BIG OF A DEMAND THOSE TICKETS ARE GARTH BROOKS GOT GREEDY HE WANTS THE PRICE TO STAY AT $125 HE SETS THE PRICE NOT THE BROKERS. MOST OF THOSE TICKETS ARE BUY BY TICKET BROKERS .
I think Steve Wynn should be managing his Wynn properties and not trying to manage the ticket industustry or Garth Brooks. I for one will not gamble at his hotels anymore.
Mary
I have always respected Steve Wynn but he is out of his league. If someone buys a ticket for their girlfriend and then breaks up with her or she has the swine flu I can assure you that if they did not honor a ticket for us when we show up with another name on it I WOULD NOT EVER SPEND ANOTHER DIME AT WYNN RESORTS.
Steve Wynn I repect you as a business man but you are not GOD and to say I can not change the name of a person I am buying a ticket for or to allow me to buy a ticket and then sell it later for a profit is wrong. So I am not even able to sell it for a loss huh, well I hope the bites you in the butt and as for Wynn resorts, my players card is in the fireplace right now and I am about ready to light the fire and melt a card that will never see money from my pocket in your red casino again.
David and pissed, MGM you have my business now and I might even be kind enough to spread some to Terribles properties.
David
If you're the type of person who feels comfortable at one of Terrible's properties, then the Wynn is out of your league.
So what's next? will ticketmaster and live nation try to implement a ridicules concept like steve wynn's. I would not be surprised. why do they keep trying to stop the secondary market from servicing their customers. even the fans now see that brokers are legitimate resellers and will go out of their way to service their clients, and they, the fans as well as brokers, see how corrupt these companys really are, ticketmaster, livenation and now steve wynn.. The secondary market will never go away. simple as that!
You can bet that the ticket brokers are complying only because they have no other choice.
Much of the time, the only reason that fans need your so-called services is that you snap up tickets to events that you have no intention of attending. This summer I wasn't lucky enough to get tickets to an AC/DC concert in my home town. Minutes later, people in California, 1500 mles away, had them for sale on Ebay at double their face value or more. I don't need that guy's "services". I need him to keep out of it and leave the tickets for the fans.
Well when COKE AND PEPSI stock go down to lets say $20 per share,I don't need you trying to buy them all up when I live 15 minutes from the factory and you live 1500 miles away.
Another bonehead analogy between the stock market and the ticket market. I hate to break this to you bozo, but you can't buy Coke & Pepsi stock at the factory.
It's his ( Wynn's) Casino, he's paying Garth, so he can do what he pleases. There are obvious antitrust issues here but who's got the $$ or time to get a court to hear this. The last time Mr. Wynn got in the brokers face was 10 years ago when tried to write and pass legislation in Cook Co. barring ticket brokers period. Turns out Mr Wynn believes He's king and Vegeas is his Kingdom....