Cup Final tickets find their own price
Mrs Thatcher famously said you can’t buck the markets and sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has reluctantly agreed. If fans want to pay a fortune for Cup Final or Katy Perry tickets, you can’t stop them. And why stop them?
In a moment of common sense, the government has decided that not only is it impossible to ban ticket touts, it would not help people wanting to attend concerts and sports events.
After several years of consultation, ticket-tout summits and threatened legislation to protect sales of tickets for “crown jewel” events such as Wimbledon of the World Cup, the Department of Culture, Media & Sport has decided to let the market reign.
If people are willing to pay more than the face value for tickets, that is their business. No-one forces them to attend these events. The market finds the right price. And if that price was more than the promoter charged originally, then the promoter got it wrong.
As these promoters are commercial organisations – for sporting events as well as pop concerts – then, if demand exceeds supply, it is their fault for not charging a higher price to start with or not finding a bigger venue. But there is a risk in organizing such attractions and the promoter might well prefer to clear his stock of tickets at a lower price rather than risk overcharging and having empty places. It is a commercial decision.
But a secondary market helps the promoter remove that risk. The tout is in danger of misreading the market, overpaying and being left with tickets that have to be sold below the promoter’s price. The tout thus does a useful job as a market-maker or underwriter.
The government’s consultation included a survey of ticket buyers and found that they like a liquid secondary market. They do not mind being ripped off on price – it is their choice to pay it – but do object to being ripped off by agencies that do not deliver the tickets.
That is where government has a role to play. Premier League football clubs and the England & Wales Cricket Board operate exchanges where fans can safely trade tickets: policing the websites that claim to offer tickets for the Olympics or pop concerts to expose the rogues and conmen would be welcome.
Telling fans that they cannot spend their own money to see events they want to see is not the government’s job. Pity it has taken so many years and so much state resource to conclude that.
