The Bruins have "canceled the accounts of nearly 200 high-volume ticket resellers" located outside New England and N.Y., after "identifying them in an analysis of its sales data," according to Dan Adams of the BOSTON GLOBE. The move comes as the team is taking on ticket agencies that "buy up seasonlong ticket packages and resell them piecemeal for prices far above face value." Team execs said that the 1,000 season tickets "freed up by the move will go to some of the 10,000 fans on a waiting list for season tickets." High-volume ticket resellers within the local market "will now have to pay more for season tickets than fans do" -- a premium of 9% or higher, "depending on the location of the seats within TD Garden." Bruins Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Glen Thornborough said, "We discovered we had a higher than projected number of resellers. The idea was finding a way to increase the number of tickets for individuals that use the tickets for personal use, and allow more fans to come in at the discounted prices season ticket holders get." Thornborough said that a data analytics team employed by the Bruins "used a variety of techniques to figure out which seasonlong accounts belonged to resellers." Resellers said that they will be "forced to pass any price increases on to fans." Connecticut-based TicketNetwork said that the move by the Bruins will "hurt casual fans who attend only a few games each season" (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/8).
