From week to week and state to state, bills are being presented before state legislators aimed at allowing ticket resellers to dictate how the primary sellers can sell what they create. Most if not all bills, however, do not place any restrictions on scalpers to prevent the sale of counterfeit tickets by ticket scalpers, the use of automated BOT programs or online computer tricks by scalpers to grab up tickets on sale or the creation of fake web sites by unscrupulous scalpers that deceptively mimic the actual ticket purchasing webpage of a venue or ticket issuer.

In Texas, 38 venues along with IAVM have already lined up to oppose House Bill 3041 introduced by Rep. Rene Oliveira that seeks to limit non-transferable tickets. IAVM President and CEO Vicki Hawarden, CMP, and American Airlines Center Vice President and General Manager Dave Brown were among those testifying in Austin on April 2 before the House Business and Industry Committee to voice their opposition to HB 3041. The bill is promoted by StubHub’s Fan Freedom group and scalpers who aim to limit the ability of artists, teams and venues to determine the terms under which tickets to their events may be sold. Continue Reading →

Riveting semifinals and a tightly contested NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game won by Louisville over Michigan, 82-76, were certainly music to the ears for all involved in the planning and execution of this year’s Final Four played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta with numerous ancillary events surrounding the games.

The sweetest music was saved for the clicking of turnstiles as 74,326 guests filed in to the Dome for the title tilt, setting a record for a championship game.

Just two nights earlier the semifinals broke a Georgia Dome basketball attendance record with 75,350 fans filling the venue, besting the previous record for a basketball game of 62,046 set on March 27, 1998 when the NBA Atlanta Hawks hosted the Chicago Bulls in one of Michael Jordan’s final games.

“Final Four weekend was a perfect showcase of our campus’ layout,” said Georgia World Congress Center General Manager Mark Zimmerman. Continue Reading →

Like any winning team, when a group works together towards a goal great things can happen. Similarly, the staff at IAVM Headquarters knows that staff and members working together can make a difference to the success of the Association. IAVM’s membership is truly an inspirational gathering of industry professionals with a rich understanding and a broad perspective of the venue industry landscape. Continue Reading →

These Owls give a hoot.

Amidst the announcement a month ago of a $6 million, 12-year naming rights deal with the GEO Group for its football stadium, Florida Atlantic University — home of the Owls — has had to deal with an internal backlash from its students, faculty and community members. At a time when pomp should rule following such an announcement, it was instead many questioning the circumstances of why the university would close a deal with the GEO Group, a business which operates private prisons in various countries around the world. Continue Reading →

The State of Minnesota’s Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly voted down a bill that would have forced major venues in the state to reveal ticket holdbacks from public sale. The impending vote had been a source of contention in the state for some time, with supporters of the bill arguing that large blocks of tickets are designated for promotions by credit card companies, radio stations and other special arrangements.

Critics, meanwhile, argued that the bill would have made it harder for venues in the state to compete for major shows against other venues throughout the Midwest. David Balcer, director of ticketing at the Target Center in Minneapolis, said that, “Many tours and touring artists will simply bypass our state to avoid the regulations in this bill.”

Ticket reseller StubHub sought the bill, saying that the company is among those unfairly accused of using automated, or “bot,” technology to secure large numbers of tickets for resale. Continue Reading →