By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights have the right to cancel season ticket holder accounts if the holder resells their tickets through unauthorized third parties like Craig’s List, Vivid Seats or Facebook. That’s caused literally dozens of unhappy ex-VGK season ticket holders who have lost their tix since the spring.
But if you thought the Golden Knights were stern in their approach in trying to weed out season ticket deal violators, you haven’t met the Nashville Predators.
While any of the VGK’s 14,000 full season ticket holders can use StubHub — the team’s official secondary market ticket dealer — to resell their tickets, Predators President Sean Henry says his NHL club does not allow its season ticket holders to use any brokers to resell their tickets and do not have an authorized secondary market ticket reseller. The Preds and VGK have similarities — NHL expansion teams in entertainment-based sunbelt markets. And they are most recent Western Conference champions, too.
And what are the consequences for Predators season ticket holders who sell too many of their tickets to people like friends or family?
Henry with the answer: “If an account sells more than 50 percent of their tickets we reserve the right to revoke the ticket and we have done about 20 last year and the year before probably about 100.”
Major league teams’ rules around reselling tickets vary from sport to sport, but it’s not uncommon for teams to blow the whistle on fans who are perceived by club ticket staffers as selling too many of their tickets on the open market. In Nevada, event promoters and ticket brokers do battle in Carson City over proposed laws regulating the resale of tickets. Sports/event organizers want to retain resell rules over the tickets even after they are sold (case in point, the VGK season ticket contract), while brokers aren’t keen on much regulation.
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The Golden Knights do not want people buying tickets with the aim of reselling them as brokers and advise ticket holders to unload their tickets through StubHub, the team’s designated secondary market reseller, if they can’t get to a game. Season ticket holders sign contracts agreeing to these conditions.
What confused some VGK fans is that the Golden Knights sued StubHub in June, alleging StubHub withheld more than $1 million in playoff ticket revenues from the NHL team. The lawsuit prompted some fans to wonder if StubHub still was a Golden Knights partner. StubHub still is, and the lawsuit is still ongoing. Here’s the story behind the VGK-StubHub postseason ticket sales feud.
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In press release news, the media learned Tuesday the Golden Knights are the first NHL team to have an official sports gambling partner — William Hill US. The number of years and value of the deal were unknown.
The multi-year deal calls for the sports book giant, which operates 108 race and sports books in Nevada, to have a strong presence in T-Mobile Arena.
My favorite activation in the deal is recognition on the LED ribbon board of the “William Hill Line Change” when the Golden Knights make a line change during the game. That’s a good one.
The partnership will feature a TV visible dasherboard, in-arena signage, updated league-wide odds displayed on the in-arena Knight Tron during intermission and an away game watch party, too.
If you’re curious, here’s the press release on the Golden Knights website.
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