MLSE said that less than 3% of Leafs season-ticket holders were affected by the surchargeGETTY IMAGES
MLSE is “imposing a higher price" on hundreds of both Maple Leafs and Raptors regular-season ticket holders that they “believe are scalpers,” according to a front-page piece by Oved & Cribb of the TORONTO STAR. The price hikes “will apply to thousands of seats in the Air Canada Centre starting next regular season.” MLSE “issued invoices to season ticket holders it has deemed ‘commercial’ resellers," demanding between 32-37% in markups -- "ranging from $2,000 to $8,000 [all figures C] for a pair of seats.” The company said that it is "simply cancelling the discount that season ticket holders normally get.” But some season-tickets holders said that they have been “caught in MLSE’s scalper net unfairly, after selling tickets only to games they couldn’t attend.” It is “not clear how MLSE determined which of its season ticket holders were ‘commercial resellers.’” When asked how many tickets someone must sell before MLSE labels them a scalper and “dings them for thousands of dollars in penalties, the company wouldn’t say.” MLSE Senior Dir of Communications Dave Haggith said that less than 3% of Leafs season-ticket holders and about 13.5% of Raptors season-ticket holders “were affected” (TORONTO STAR, 4/16).
