Cubs cancelled my season tickets - anyone else?

[David]

Have you tried calling them?

 

Yes. They said that their decision was final due to extensive re-selling on the account. I'm contemplating my options at this point. Part of me says to walk away, but another part of me says they may be in violation of the law.

 

It turns out that Illinois is actually not very friendly toward restricting the resale of tickets as long as it's done through a reputable business like Stubhub.

 

See: See 815 ILCS 414: "Any term or condition of the original sale of a ticket to any theater, circus, baseball park, or place of public entertainment or amusement where tickets of admission are sold that purports to limit the terms or conditions of resale of the ticket (including but not limited to the resale price of the ticket) is unenforceable, null, and void..."

 

Something is missing here; it's not like they don't want people selling the tickets through approved means if they can't use them. They didn't explain why it would be a problem if you were selling them legit?

 

http://www.espn.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/8547796/chicago-cubs-try-oust-scalpers-season-ticket-rolls

[Sammy Sofa]

Yes, David, we all know that; the point is that the Cubs themselves direct STH as to how they can sell their tickets if they can't use them. If this guy is going outside of that to sell his, fine, then it makes sense he got the boot, but if it's simply because he's "selling too many of his tickets" and he's doing it "officially," that's horse horsefeathers. That's why it seems like something is being left out of this.

[evanstonian]

Are you in the Chicago area? Wonder if they treat that differently compared to out of state ticket holders.

 

Yes, address on the account is Chicago area.

[evanstonian]

Something is missing here; it's not like they don't want people selling the tickets through approved means if they can't use them. They didn't explain why it would be a problem if you were selling them legit?

 

Their interpretation of my activities was that my primary intention was not to use the tickets but to re-sell them, despite the fact that I attended 7 games personally. It seems like it was a purely-discretionary decision on their part.

 

Now, I admit: I resold nearly all of the postseason tickets including the World Series games (used two NLCS tickets personally). I'm wondering if that was their bone of contention since they offered postseason tickets to season ticket holders at a price far below what was being charged on Stubhub.

[Cubswin11]

My guess is, and likely more than once, that people got kicked out of the seats for being drunken idiots and they pulled the tickets.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If you sold the tickets for 80 of 89 games, then it seems a reasonable interpretation that the primary purpose was to re-sell them. If you thought using StubHub meant there would be no problem then that makes sense, but "I went to 9 games including playoffs" doesn't seem to be a compelling point.

[jersey cubs fan]

Something is missing here; it's not like they don't want people selling the tickets through approved means if they can't use them. They didn't explain why it would be a problem if you were selling them legit?

 

Their interpretation of my activities was that my primary intention was not to use the tickets but to re-sell them, despite the fact that I attended 7 games personally.

You think attending 7 games refutes the theory that your primary purpose was to sell?

 

Was there any communication prior to this action about potentially losing ticket rights if you kept selling the vast majority?

 

You admit to selling all World Series tickets and it sounds like this was very much a business arrangement rather than interest in attending games as a fan. Are you upset about not getting to attend games or not getting to sell tickets?

[FlyTheW]

I think you have a case if they didn't specifically give you something to read and/or sign about selling your tickets. No way can they pull your tickets without doing this.

[Brian707]

Could it be that tickets were sold twice for some games? Like you sold the Electronic copies on Stubhub and the paper tickets someone else tried to use? The Bears booted my friend for this, it wasn't even his fault(although he was stupid) He sold tickets via Ebay and sent the electronic copy to the buyer, the buyer came back and said please also mail me the hard copy for a souvenir, the guy sold both copies.

[Tracer Bullet]

I think you have a case if they didn't specifically give you something to read and/or sign about selling your tickets. No way can they pull your tickets without doing this.

 

I had to give up my slot when my number came up b/c I couldn't use them, and I haven't read the STH agreement, but I'd be shocked if it didn't include a great deal of flexibility for the Cubs to terminate.

 

And nothing against evanstonian or anyone else that has season tix, but I have no problem with a team kicking out STH who sell a lot of their game tickets.

[evanstonian]

Could it be that tickets were sold twice for some games? Like you sold the Electronic copies on Stubhub and the paper tickets someone else tried to use? The Bears booted my friend for this, it wasn't even his fault(although he was stupid) He sold tickets via Ebay and sent the electronic copy to the buyer, the buyer came back and said please also mail me the hard copy for a souvenir, the guy sold both copies.

 

No. The Cubs specifically told me it was because I was selling too many on Stubhub. They can track the sales data on Stubhub since they have a partnership with Stubhub.

[Old Style]

Could it be that tickets were sold twice for some games? Like you sold the Electronic copies on Stubhub and the paper tickets someone else tried to use? The Bears booted my friend for this, it wasn't even his fault(although he was stupid) He sold tickets via Ebay and sent the electronic copy to the buyer, the buyer came back and said please also mail me the hard copy for a souvenir, the guy sold both copies.

 

No. The Cubs specifically told me it was because I was selling too many on Stubhub. They can track the sales data on Stubhub since they have a partnership with Stubhub.

Well then I'm fucked. I live in Texas so pretty much all I use myself are WS tickets save for a one off game here or there if I happen to be in town.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, basically everyone here is screwed, and most of the season ticket holders, period. Like I said, there's no way most STH aren't selling or gifting most of their tickets every season. As long as it's through StubHub, it's ridiculous for them to start giving people the boot. It still feels like something is being left out of this tale of woe.

[Tim]

Is there a waitlist for season tickets? If there is one, then I could see the Cubs wanting to give people that want to attend most of the games themselves a shot at the expense of people that sell most of them off.

[David]

Yeah, basically everyone here is screwed, and most of the season ticket holders, period. Like I said, there's no way most STH aren't selling or gifting most of their tickets every season. As long as it's through StubHub, it's ridiculous for them to start giving people the boot. It still feels like something is being left out of this tale of woe.

 

He sold all but 8 games out of 89. I really don't think it's that strange. And it's not a new development. Maybe it's completely subjective or maybe they have some sort of threshold re: percentage of games sold, or maybe there's some sort of formula that takes things like seniority and crap into account too.

 

They've been doing it for years and they said they were doing it and they never made any distinction about whether they were sold through StubHub or other ways. They just clearly don't want people buying them with the primary intent of making money off of them/selling them.

 

As others have mentioned, maybe the out of towners that are selling most/all so they can have access to playoff tickets can talk to their rep and see how at risk they are for this type of thing.

Edited December 13, 2016 by David

[David]

Is there a waitlist for season tickets? If there is one, then I could see the Cubs wanting to give people that want to attend most of the games themselves a shot at the expense of people that sell most of them off.

 

Is there a waitlist?

 

I'm pretty sure there are over 100k people on it.

[Tracer Bullet]

I don't know. There's an incredibly long line of people that want season tickets. If the Cubs would prefer that most of their STH actually attend most of their games, then it would make sense to boot people who have sold a bunch of their tickets. I can see them being patient during down years and then deciding that if you're not willing to go to most games when the team wins the world series then you're gone.

 

And of course: "Nothing in these terms and conditions is intended to, or shall, limit in any way Club's sole and absolute discretion as to whether to offer any future Tickets to the Ticket Account and any individual affiliated with the Ticket Account."

 

They can kick your ass out at any time for any reason.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, basically everyone here is screwed, and most of the season ticket holders, period. Like I said, there's no way most STH aren't selling or gifting most of their tickets every season. As long as it's through StubHub, it's ridiculous for them to start giving people the boot. It still feels like something is being left out of this tale of woe.

 

He sold all but 8 games out of 89. I really don't think it's that strange. And it's not a new development. Maybe it's completely subjective or maybe they have some sort of threshold re: percentage of games sold, or maybe there's some sort of formula that takes things like seniority and crap into account too.

 

They've been doing it for years and they said they were doing it and they never made any distinction about whether they were sold through StubHub or other ways. They just clearly don't want people buying them with the primary intent of making money off of them/selling them.

 

As others have mentioned, maybe the out of towners that are selling most/all so they can have access to playoff tickets can talk to their rep and see how at risk they are for this type of thing.

 

But again, I would bet a ton that most of the STH don't go to most of the games. So if only going to 8 is too few, then what about 10? 15? 20? Plus if people are using StubHub, are the Cubs able to see how much they're being sold for? If so, OK, if someone is selling most of their tickets and making a huge profit, fine, but most of the tickets we sold were simply because nobody could go to those particular games and we were looking to make back the face value. That's why I'm saying it feels like something is being left out here, and it's probably how much he was making off of these tickets.

[biittner77]

Maybe instead of selling these to someone else as season tickets they are just going to add them to the available pool to sell. Can they make more money that way by selling them as "premium games" or whatever? It's not like they have trouble selling tickets after April.

[Old Style]

This is part of the response I got when I emailed my rep this morning after reading this thread.

 

The people who had their tickets revoked were generally not only selling every game, but taking advantage of group sales and flex-pack pre-sales to buy as many tickets as possible and selling all of those as well. Also, many times they were tied into a ticket selling company as well.

[Sammy Sofa]

Now that makes more sense.

[UMFan83]

Case closed.

[evanstonian]

This is part of the response I got when I emailed my rep this morning after reading this thread.

 

The people who had their tickets revoked were generally not only selling every game, but taking advantage of group sales and flex-pack pre-sales to buy as many tickets as possible and selling all of those as well. Also, many times they were tied into a ticket selling company as well.

 

I am not tied to a ticket selling company in any way, shape, or form. Nor did I buy any group tickets. I did buy some flex pax which were offered to season ticket holders.

 

Notice what that rep implicitly admitted to you: They are investigating season ticket holders. This is very different from someone coming to them independently to complain about a ticket broker.

 

So they basically told you that they are vetting the purchasing history of even the people who spend thousands of dollars per year funding their organization before the first pitch is thrown -- even if it's you just buying flex pax that they offer to all season ticket holders and the general public.

 

Talk about biting that hand that feeds them.

 

Don't believe what the rep is telling you. They can cancel your season tickets if they want to. They're doing it now that the waiting list is back up to 100,000.

[Sammy Sofa]

What's not to believe? You said you sold almost all your tickets and bought a flex pack; those are the STH they decided to cancel.

[Tracer Bullet]

This is part of the response I got when I emailed my rep this morning after reading this thread.

 

The people who had their tickets revoked were generally not only selling every game, but taking advantage of group sales and flex-pack pre-sales to buy as many tickets as possible and selling all of those as well. Also, many times they were tied into a ticket selling company as well.

 

I am not tied to a ticket selling company in any way, shape, or form. Nor did I buy any group tickets. I did buy some flex pax which were offered to season ticket holders.

 

Notice what that rep implicitly admitted to you: They are investigating season ticket holders. This is very different from someone coming to them independently to complain about a ticket broker.

 

So they basically told you that they are vetting the purchasing history of even the people who spend thousands of dollars per year funding their organization before the first pitch is thrown -- even if it's you just buying flex pax that they offer to all season ticket holders and the general public.

 

Talk about biting that hand that feeds them.

 

Don't believe what the rep is telling you. They can cancel your season tickets if they want to. They're doing it now that the waiting list is back up to 100,000.

 

STH don't feed the Cubs. They'd have no trouble filling the stadium even if there were no STH, especially now. So bummer that you lost your tickets, but you weren't actually using them anyway, so no big loss to you.