Organizers for the upcoming Rugby World Cup celebrated a court victory in France this week against ticket resale marketplace viagogo, as a judge upheld their ticketing monopoly on the event with significant fines. The Paris Court of Justice ordered the marketplace, which is the parent company for StubHub in North America, to pay 400,000 euros ($445,000) in fines over its “unauthorized” listings for tickets to the event this fall.
“The Court recognises that France 2023 has the sole responsibility of organising the Rugby World Cup 2023, including its ticketing sales,” World Cup organisers said in a statement. “The Court concludes that the offer to sell tickets to attend Rugby World Cup 2023 on the VIAGOGO website constitutes a worldwide infringement of this monopoly and on France 2023’s image.”
“The Court points out that the ticketing process by France 2023 is intended to ‘protect fans of rugby union (…) from the increased cost of tickets resulting from their resale’ and to ‘ensure the security of the event, in particular by controlling the identity of spectators’.”
Rugby’s World Cup is scheduled to take place beginning with a match between the host nation and powerhouse New Zealand on September 8 in Paris. Pool play matches run through early October, with knockout rounds running from October 14 on and the finals set for early November.
Tickets to the event are tightly controlled by the organizers, who claim a monopoly on both primary sale and resale for the event. Many contests between the high profile participants – England, Australia, South Africa, among others – are fully sold out. Some have tickets available for resale through the official platform, but many events have nothing available on the “official” marketplace, driving consumers to sites like viagogo (or the black market).
Tickets appear to remain available on viagogo as of Friday morning, which risks further fines for the platform. The court’s penalties included an additional 100,000 euros per day in penalties for tickets to the event which remain for sale in violation of the order.
“With less than two months to go before the tournament, this decision will help to combat the illegal resale of tickets on the VIAGOGO website and sends out a strong signal to any other potential offenders,” Julien Collette, CEO of France 2023, said.
