Fans of the Tennessee Titans looking to buy or sell tickets on the teams TicketExchange site run by Ticketmaster are currently out of luck due to an undisclosed technical problem.
From a team standpoint, the timing of the problem could not be worse, as officials ramp up the media blitz to sell tickets, including those on the team’s TicketExchange site. The Titans, like other teams in the National Football League signed on with Ticketmaster in 2007 to resell tickets on the secondary market.
Considering the propensity for sellouts among NFL teams, and the tough economy, many fans rely heavily on Ticketmaster’s TicketExchange not only to buy tickets but to sell them to help recoup some of their outlay for season tickets. Every day that the Titans TicketExchange is down potentially helps secondary ticket brokers who would gladly pick up spare Titans tickets, especially since the team made the playoffs last season and return a strong lineup for this year.
Ticketmaster made some undisclosed changes to its TicketExchange platform over the summer, but most teams did not experience any trouble. Details of the cause of the Titans problem were not disclosed, but the following message appeared on the Titans Web site late last week, prior to the team’s pre-season game Saturday, August 15:
For our season ticket holders that are unable to attend Saturday’s game, we regret to inform you that Ticketmaster’s Ticket Exchange online ticket resale program will not be available prior to Saturday’s game. Ticketmaster and the NFL have been working to enhance the current online platform, but they have encountered a few unexpected problems. Until these problems are resolved, the Titans have opted to temporarily suspend our participation in the Ticket Exchange program. We expect the program will be available prior to our second home pre-season game on September 3rd versus the Green Bay Packers.
We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and we will continue to provide email updates regarding the status of Ticket Exchange. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Visitors to the Titans page on Ticketmaster’s TicketExchange are simply greeted with a message that says there are currently no tickets available, but adds, “Tickets generally get posted closer to the start of the season. Check back when the season is about to start.” See the screen shot below.
Every other team in the Titans’ AFC South Division, the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars, have tickets posted on TicketExchange for the entire season.
Rob Bohren, a spokesperson for the Titans, told TicketNews he would investigate what the problem was, but could not comment. In the meantime, the team will go back to using an older version of the TicketExchange platform in the next week or two and will stay with it until the Ticketmaster issue is solved.
Ticketmaster spokesperson Hannah Kampf and NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
(Click on the image to enlarge it.)
