*That's quite interesting.
Why You Can't Get a Ticket to the NBA Finals …
... and every other major event on the planet. This is a fan's
guide to why you're totally screwed.[Nathan Hubbard]
Back in January, Eric T. Schneiderman released a report on the
inequities of a steadfastly dysfunctional ticketing business. Even
if it wasn't technically part of his job description, New York's
attorney general produced a remarkable study–mainly because it
was accurate.Fans have known for decades that, whenever they buy tickets for
concerts or games, the deck is almost sadistically stacked against
them. But those same fans have been inundated by nonsense from
stakeholders in the ticketing business, and at this point, they
don't know what to believe. Those stakeholders refuse to admit
that most government efforts to intervene haven't just
misdiagnosed the problem, but prescribed "solutions" that made
everything worse. (Note: I worked as CEO of Ticketmaster from 2010
to 2013.) Schneiderman and his team–seizing on an issue that
smart, aspirant politicians know is a no-brainer for their
constituencies–finally stopped doing ear transplants to treat
heart disease; in other words, they conducted a reasonably
thorough analysis of the industry, correctly identified the
salient problems, then proposed some common-sense solutions that
might improve it.Just last week, a British government commission released its
findings on the ticketing market, which paralleled where the
Schneiderman report landed. These documents are usually
NFL-responding-to-its-latest-self-inflicted-scandal-level dense,
and thus difficult to read (despite valiant efforts) if you're
just a newbie to the situation. I still purchase tickets myself,
and I'm possibly more obsessed with this topic than Bill Simmons
is with Deflategate. So I thought I would create a fan's guide
that explains why you're screwed whenever you buy a ticket for
anything–whether it's for Hamilton, Adele, Oldchella, or the
Super Bowl.### Reality no. 1: Tickets never go on sale when you think they do.
(((lots of interesting detail here)))
### Reality no. 2: You probably can't even get a whiff of a good seat.
(((It's about the secondary markets and the inside social-media connected people)))
### Reality no. 3: You DEFINITELY can't get a good seat.
(((Even the artists are helping rip off the public)))
### Reality no. 4: Bots are pwning you…
