Boston Red Sox fans who want to resell tickets no longer have an official online option. The team announced today that it would use Boston-based Ace Ticket, and its six storefront locations, as its authorized hub for fans to resell tickets.
In a letter, obtained by TicketNews, that was sent out today to season ticket holders from Sam Kennedy, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for the Red Sox, team officials make it clear that they had studied the issue of ticket resale and the secondary market for Red Sox tickets and came to the conclusion that Ace Ticket presented a fair opportunity for fans.
“We have reached the conclusion that it is incumbent upon us to identify and endorse a secure and reputable secondary market option for our customers. This decision is reflective of an irreversible marketplace shift, and came only after careful thought and deliberation. Thus, commencing with the 2008 season, the Red Sox have entered into an offline sponsorship agreement with one of the oldest and most reliable secondary ticket providers in the New England region, Ace Ticket,” Kennedy wrote.
The move makes the Red Sox, the defending World Series champion and perennially one of the hottest tickets in baseball, if not all professional sports in the U.S., the only major league team not to participate in the deal between Major League Baseball and StubHub, under which StubHub is the league’s authorized ticket resale arm. By the team shunning the deal, Red Sox fans do not have an official online home for ticket resale, but as evidenced by the team’s popularity Red Sox are readily available from brokers all over the web. At press time, StubHub had not yet replied to a message from TicketNews seeking comment.
Ace Ticket has a location near Fenway Park on Brookline Avenue, and in the towns of Allston, Brookline, Framingham, Saugus and Chelmsford where Red Sox fans will be able to stop in to buy or sell tickets. The company also has an extensive courier service throughout the Boston area.
An elated Jim Holzman, owner of Ace Ticket, told TicketNews that the two sides had been working on a deal for more than a year, and that the move is a victory for local ticket brokers. He added that at least 40 percent of Ace Ticket’s business is from selling Red Sox tickets.
“I feel great about this. Not only are our customers using Ace Ticket, the Red Sox are, too. I’m proud we’re joining the Red Sox family, especially in a state where the issue of ticket resale hasn’t been entirely settled yet,” Holzman said, referring to the ongoing deliberations in the Massachusetts legislature over the possible repeal of the state’s anti-scalping laws.
Last Updated on March 15, 2008 by By Alfred Branch Jr.
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That all may be true, but the bottom line question here is what accounts whether indvidual, group, sox pax or season tickets the RED SOX will decide to allow for resale. They now have the power to cancel any bar code on tickets that they determine were purchased for resale. Does ACE get away with selling tickets from any of these type accounts with no risk of cancellation because of this deal, versus other independent resellers that may have to experience their customers being turned away because the RED SOX at the last minute decided to cancel and refund the tickets to the original purchaser.
Actually I have heard that StubHub us turning over brokers info to MLB teams as well.
I don’t have a problem with the Sox using Ace Tickets. If you are a major sports franchise and you don’t believe there is a huge secondary market, you are in complete denial. My problem is how the Sox treat season ticket holders like me. For years I have been getting letters, don’t sell your tickets, don’t resell outside of replay (which is face value so no one used) And then all of a sudden, don’t sell unless you use Stub Hub. Now, don’t sell unless you use Ace Ticket and you must sell your extras there. I called Ace and gave them one of my actual games. They will give me $35 each, which is more than face and not bad for a ticket broker. And they will resell online for at least $79. Why can’t I resell online for $79. But the Red Sox stopped my ebay auction because they don’t want me selling on eBay. But eBay owns Stub Hub. Can anyone see the hypocrisy here?
Thanks for the clarification on STUB HUB.. The person stating that STUB HUB is turning over names is the J…There are however further conflicting issues here
The Red Sox however are stating that Season ticket holders must follow the current legal guidelines (as the last comment states)however fuzzy they are. This means they cannot sell over face value unless they are licensed to do and fall within the current two dollar guideline. It is incorrect to assume a season ticket holder can walk into ACE and get a fair secondary market value; but they are allowing ACE to get whatever the market bears. This raises many conflicting issues around all the non-season tickets out there that the RED SOX will seemingly allow ACE to sell at whatever they can get but at the same time continue to police the original purchasers and brokers trying to make a living (as ACE is) in the secondary market. If ACE has the RED SOX “blessing” than the team turns their back on them but WILL cancel tickets that they feel were purchased soley for the purpose of reselling and posted on EBAY STUB HUB or sold through other brokers. HOW is this good for all brokers?? It is only good for ACE and if they are now in bed with the RED SOX they get a free pass when everyone else in the secondary market gets potentially burnt. Who knows what kind of deal was made with ACE for them to help police the secondary market as they are in a position to do; not unlike what STUB HUB was previously accused of..
Don’t forget that the RED SOX have always and still maintain that they have an issue with resellers. They are talking out both sides of their mouths.
No, your the J. Did I say that Stubhub is turning over only RedSox names???? NO!! I said that Stubhub, per the deal with MLB, is turning over the NAMES OF FANS WHO BUYS AND SELLS tickets on StubHub. They are going to give the information to the teams so they can market to those names. Also, StubHub is going to give out the pricing of the tickets that has sold on there site to the MLB team. BAD THING FOR THE SECONDARY MARKET!!! STUBHUB IS A SELL OUT!!! Anyway, RedSox are the only team that is not going to do it with StubHub.
Show us where the deal with STUB HUB and the MLB states that..
This is an article from TicketNews.com.
More than six months after the announcement of deal between StubHub! and Major League Baseball (MLB), new details have emerged revealing that certain customer information received by the secondary ticketing giant will be given to MLB teams.
At the recent International Ticketing Association conference in Chicago, representatives from MLB told those in attendance that for any tickets that are sold on StubHub!, the information on who bought the tickets, who sold the tickets and how much they were sold for will all be revealed to the teams.
“At this point we’re not elaborating on any customer information sharing relating to our MLB deal,” StubHub! spokesperson Sean Pate told TicketNews. “The terms of the deal are confidential and we’ll be communicating any necessary information to our customers in the coming weeks.”
The agreement was announced in August as a five year deal for StubHub! to be the exclusive secondary ticket reseller for Major League Baseball. The three other major sports leagues (NBA, NFL, and NHL) have all inked deals with Ticketmaster to be their official secondary ticketer.
The data that would be potentially compiled for teams would help with team’s ability to market their tickets more efficiently. By knowing who sold and bought the tickets, and for how much, organizations can then focus directly on that person for any future transactions. For example, if the team knew someone bought a package of game tickets and was able to resell all of them on StubHub!, they could then market to him directly in the future.
But, the question is whether the deal could end up resembling what happened to StubHub! after it was sued by the New England Patriots. StubHub! was forced to turn over the names of 13,000 customers/members who bought or sold Patriots tickets, transactions the team has sought to prohibit.
Stephen Happel, professor of economics at Arizona State University, told TicketNews that with brokers always having consumer information to use for their own marketing purposes and with there being so much money on the secondary market, teams were bound to become involved.
Happel added that when StubHub! was first starting its online operations, the potential for sharing information with teams was always “a possibility”.
Consumers will likely be one of the possible losers in the deal because, according to Happel, primary tickets inevitably will rise in price.
I stand corrected on the issue of MLB receiving info from stub on buyers ad resellers.. This however does not effect the secondary market as the above deal can with ACE and the REDSOX. At least MLB and Stub Hub are allowing the the market to exist without the risk of tickets being taken away from original holders and for everyone to make money. ACE is directly trying to monopolize the market for only themselves and the RED SOX are indirectly involved by supporting them and taking their advertising dollars. I would rather see the SOX with STUB HUB.
You maybe right about the Ace Deal. There is something fishy about the whole thing.
It remains illegal for individuals to sell tickets for more than 2 above face value to non licensed agents. It is legal to sell to licensed agents. A company has an obligation to track where their seats come from and how much money they paid for said seats. The state has shown by recent court cases and various audits of companies their willingness to track what people are selling and how much they are being paid. Thus insuring they get their piece of the income tax. The state is also assured that when a consumer comes along to buy said ticket…..they are buying it from a reputable company who will be there in the morning if refunds need to be given. You can bet every Red Sox ticket holder who enter ace ticket will be receiving a check. Now many companies encourage season ticket holders to use them with the enticement of cash. I can only imagine this trend increasing with ace’s new deal. The reason I believe this will be good for the secondary market is……when ace is getting bombarded by season ticket holders selling….why would they pay top dollar? whats the point? they will be getting too much volume to over pay. Assuming other brokers in the area have built a consistent customer base……they can now afford to pay a little bit more and I am confident season ticket holders will be looking to get that extra money they offer versus ace. Ace’s buying price is going to come down from previous years….I would anticipate other brokers previous buy numbers will probably still be more than enough to keep season ticket holders coming their way.
I agree!!! Why can ACE make money but no one else can.. And where do they get off claiming they have been in business 30 years!
Do your homework RED SOX and make it fair for everyone
Congrat’s Ace. Well done!!!
What does this mean if I want to sell my tickets to someone other than ACE????
TicketNetwork, Ebay, or StubHub
Are these outlets also sanctioned by the RED SOX??
no. But if you don’t fill comfortable selling on those, Ace Tickets will help you out. They are good people.
I am comfortable with selling on any of these sites But are the RED SOX saying that my season tickets would be pulled by the RED SOX if I sell them on EBAY?
But can’t I sell my season tickets myself on EBAY without risking the REDSOX taking them away??
I think its great that one of us was able to beat out Stub Hub. Stub hub the ones who are giving out all our info and stabbed us in the back, and Tnow who sold out. I only wish i was a Boston Broker because if i was i would put all my tickets with Ace. I dont know how they pulled it off, but those guys at Ace are prety damn good. Nice work, first there teams all win, and now Ace Ticket wins
That I don’t know. But I would not risk it. I would not sell them on Stubhub either because they are turning over names that sell tickets for MLB to the team per the agreement with MLB.
That is complete bologna.. According to the description of the deal the MLB made with Stub Hub in August, the MLB spokesperson is quoted saying that fans can sell them for whatever they want to anybody..All MLB teams are endorsing the deal with Stub Hub except for the RED SOX. STUBHUB is not giving out names of REDSOX sellers…You must be working for ACE!!
What are you talking about?? You must work for Stubhub! Stubhub has a deal with MLB for turn over names of people that has bought and sold tickets on Stubhub. And I don’t work for Ace. JACKASS!
Dont know who the last two commments were from…..Stubhub was not asked to turn over names regarding red sox sales. The only boston team that asked for names was the patriots and stub hub far too easily did turn over those names. the deal with mlb simply says that individual teams can no longer employ their own internal resale system. Thus the red sox were forced to cancel their replay system and sold an advertising deal to ace ticket. Ace gets two billboards in the outfield and the blessing of the sox. Season ticket holders can now come out from under their shell and sell for above face value without fear of reprisal.(Massachusetts law is fuzzy in this area….forcing individual ticket holders who want to comply with the law…..to sell to licensed agents as determined by the dept of public safety and the ag office. Idea being that individual people are not allowed to create a business of their seats without the proper licenses to ensure proper tracking of both income and consumer confidence.) The red sox have promised to crack down on individual ticket sales from here out while maintaining ticket limits. Good day for secondary market, good day for season ticket holders, and good day for ace name recognition. But this does not force people to sell on ace….only points them to ace as a reputable name in the industry in boston and major advertiser with the red sox. After all ace was one of largest red sox sellers on stub hub last yr…..
Dont know who the last two commments were from…..Stubhub was not asked to turn over names regarding red sox sales. The only boston team that asked for names was the patriots and stub hub far too easily did turn over those names. the deal with mlb simply says that individual teams can no longer employ their own internal resale system. Thus the red sox were forced to cancel their replay system and sold an advertising deal to ace ticket. Ace gets two billboards in the outfield and the blessing of the sox. Season ticket holders can now come out from under their shell and sell for above face value without fear of reprisal.(Massachusetts law is fuzzy in this area….forcing individual ticket holders who want to comply with the law…..to sell to licensed agents as determined by the dept of public safety and the ag office. Idea being that individual people are not allowed to create a business of their seats without the proper licenses to ensure proper tracking of both income and consumer confidence.) The red sox have promised to crack down on individual ticket sales from here out while maintaining ticket limits. Good day for secondary market, good day for season ticket holders, and good day for ace name recognition. But this does not force people to sell on ace….only points them to ace as a reputable name in the industry in boston and major advertiser with the red sox. After all ace was one of largest red sox sellers on stub hub last yr…..