SportsBusiness Daily — Sports Business Resources — your sports business news and information source. Learn More
Advanced
Home About Us Advertise With Us Marketplace/Classifieds College & University Program Subscribe/Trial My Account

Wednesday
January 16, 2008
Print This Issue


 
MOST VIEWED STORIES
View the top 20 stories
 
Recent Issues
Facilities & Venues

Hot In Here: Heat Subsidiary Files Suit Against Ticket Resellers

Heat Subsidiary Files Lawsuit
Over Reselling Of Premium Seats
Heat-owned Basketball Properties Ltd. (BPL), which operates AmericanAirlines Arena, last month filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County circuit court against online ticket reseller Tickets of America and the Florida Association of Ticket Brokers, claiming that the companies "are illegally reselling premium seats to basketball games," according to Sarah Talalay of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. The suit claims that the ticket company "knowingly resold the most exclusive seats ... but disguised their locations to skirt the Heat's license agreements with premium-seat ticket buyers." The suit states the agreements prohibit those buyers from "reselling their tickets through a third party and allows those resales only through TicketExchange, operated by Ticketmaster" on the Heat's Web site. Premium-seat ticket holders can "resell their tickets at any price," and after Ticketmaster charges a fee, "the seller and the Heat split the rest of the sales price." BPL attorney Alan Fein said, "We have rights and relationships with our licensees, and we're looking to protect them." He added that the franchise "would prefer not to sue its 'loyal season ticket holders...obviously some of them don't know that their agreements prohibit them from this reselling.'" However, Tickets of America President & CEO Michael Lipman said that it is "common practice to disguise seat locations to protect the seller 'from being badgered by sports teams.'" Florida state Rep. Dan Gelber said that he is "planning to file legislation this year to 'reel in some of the abuses and bring some transparency to the marketplace'" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 1/16).


Get A Free Trial To SportsBusiness Daily

Reader Comments

To post comments on this article, log in or register for a free trial.

Related Stories By Company Related Stories By Sport
Heat Tonight Will Unveil Upgrades At Arena
October 28, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Several Heat Officials Take Pay Cuts
September 15, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Heat First Team To Put Liquor Ads Courtside
June 15, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

NBA Bans Slogan-Bearing Bandages
March 2, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Dwyane Wade Starts Band-Aid Trend
February 27, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

UCF-Adidas Spat May Head To Court
November 6, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Teams H1N1 Vaccinations Examined
November 6, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

ESPN Interested In March Madness Rights
November 5, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Jordan Wears Nike; adidas Ending UCF Deal
November 5, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

Maple Leafs, Raptors Receive H1N1 Vaccine
November 5, 2009 : SportsBusiness Daily

ALSO IN THIS SECTION


A Publication of Street & Smith's Sports Group.
Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (REVISED 2009-06-23) and Privacy Policy (REVISED 2009-06-23).

© 2009 Street & Smith's Sports Group and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Street & Smith's Sports Group.