Patriots File Lawsuit Against StubHub, Some Ticket Holders

Patriots Seeking To Stop Reselling Of Tickets On StubHub

The Patriots filed a lawsuit in Suffolk County (MA) Superior Court against online ticket reseller StubHub, “saying the company encourages fans to flout the state antiscalping law and the team’s prohibition against reselling Patriots tickets for a profit by facilitating the sale of tickets” on its Web site, according to Keith Reed of the BOSTON GLOBE. Also named in the suit are two Massachusetts residents “who allegedly resold season tickets on StubHub after the tickets had been revoked by the team, and 50 other unnamed Patriots season ticket holders who, the team says, illegally resold their tickets on StubHub.” The Patriots “prohibit resale of any tickets except through” their own Web site, and Patriots attorney Daniel Goldberg said that StubHub is a “particularly troublesome offender that encourages ticket holders to resell, often at inflated prices and without warning buyers that the tickets they purchase may not be honored by the club.” The team is seeking an award “three times the revenue StubHub and the other defendants brought in through the online sales, plus an injunction against further resale of Patriots tickets” on StubHub’s Web site. StubHub in an e-mail said that it “could not comment on the suit because it had not yet been served with it.” But the company noted that it has deals with other NFL teams and “has sufficient protections in place to prevent fraud and abuse” (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/23).