Many ticket brokers and fans rejoiced when the City Council of Green Bay, WI adopted a new ticket resale ordinance that allowed tickets to Packers games to be resold in a special area next to famed Lambeau Field.
Yet, now comes word that the new law is more restrictive than originally reported.
The ordinance calls for brokers to pay $800 annually, and submit to background checks, in order to legally resell tickets in the area across the street from the stadium. In addition, the brokers are also required to sign a hold-harmless agreement to absolve liability for the city, and they must also carry a “Commercial General Liability” insurance policy in the amount of $1 million.
All of that falls in line with other communities that have established broker – or scalper – zones and licensing requirements, but in Green Bay the rules extend beyond the zone.
According to City Attorney’s office, which drafted the new regulations, brokers located in Green Bay who resell Packers tickets from their office are technically in violation of the law because the office is not in the designated zone.
And, if the city ever decided to enforce the matter, they could confiscate all the Packers tickets involved in the transaction.
For decades, the Packers have had one of the most passionate fan bases in professional sports, and since home games are virtually always sold out, the secondary market for tickets is robust. The new regulations were put in place at the request of the city’s Police Department to help crack down on scam artists who were selling significant numbers of counterfeit tickets at the stadium.
Fans who resell Packers tickets for face value are not subject to the regulation, but once they resell that ticket for above face value, even if it’s done from the privacy of their home within Green Bay, they may be subject to a penalty. The ordinance spells out the punishment as such: “Any person that violates any provision of this section shall forfeit not less than $500.00 nor more than $1,000.00 for each violation per day, plus the costs of prosecution. Each violation shall constitute a separate offense. Persons in violation of this ordinance are further subject to confiscation of tickets.”
Read the complete ordinance by clicking here.
