TicketNewswire
Outside sources. Inside the ticketing industry.

Claiming the move will help the team fall in line with what other NFL teams are doing, the San Francisco 49ers have increased ticket prices for close to half of the 70,000-plus seats in Candlestick Park for next season, a few by more than three-times the 2009 price. The cost of those tickets, which are for fewer than 100 premium seats, will jump from $71 per ticket to $295, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Some other premium tickets are rising by about 50 percent. The team has shown some promise on the field but largely has been mediocre in recent years, and it has lowered or froze prices for several thousand seats for next season.   Full Story...

Live Nation Entertainment is hoping to gain local approval for a new, 28,000-square-foot concert venue in Silver Spring, MD, a project that has been years in the making. The Washington Post reports that plans for the 2,000-capacity facility were recently presented to the public, and Live Nation hopes to host its first concerts there in about 18 months, which is considered an expedited pace. In 2008, Live Nation signed a 20-year, $3.26 million lease with municipal officials for the music venue, which is located on a site that once held a J.C. Penney department store but was donated to the county by its previous owners.   Full Story...

The NFL's long-standing rule about blackouts - where games are blacked out on television in an area if the game is not sold out - is coming under fire from a California politician. Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña of San Diego will introduce a bill in the state's legislature that reportedly would ban subsidies to the state's NFL teams, for things like new stadiums, if the league continues its blackout policy toward those teams. Last season, several NFL teams had games blacked out, including the Detroit Lions and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The last time the San Diego Chargers had a game blacked out was in 2004, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The league's blackout policy has been in effect since 1973.  Full Story...

Embattled New York Gov. David Paterson is finding himself embroiled in another potential scandal, this time involving New York Yankees World Series tickets he allegedly obtained without paying for this past fall. The state Commission on Public Integrity said the governor allegedly violated ethics laws by receiving the tickets, and he also allegedly lied when he told officials that he planned to pay for them. The premium tickets, which carried a face value of $425 each, were located in the rows behind home plate and were solicited from team officials.   Full Story...