Tickets for Froch v Kessler
Posted: 21 May 2013, 18:07
I read this forum a lot but have never posted on here before, but there's something I wanted to bring up.
Despite being a huge boxing fan who goes to a lot of events, I have found getting tickets for the Froch fight a total nightmare and every avenue I have tried,the price of tickets has been massively inflamed. The whole experience has left me sensing a terrible smell surrounding the organisers ticketing operation.
I initially tried to get tickets on the day that the event went on sale, but before I could get to a computer they were sold out. And as popular as the event is, I'm finding hard to believe that the bulk of the tickets were sold that quickly to legitimate fans.
It seems the only people to have tickets available for this sold out event are the white collar touts such as Seatwave, Viagogo, Stub Hub and Get Me In who are all charging extortionate prices and seem to all have ample stock for those who are prepared to pay. So this sell out show is not actually sold out.
As it appears that each of these outlets have ample tickets in batches of 6 or 8 together and at most prices, it set me thinking as to where do they obtain these tickets from in the first place and who would buy tickets in such amounts and sell them at a discounted rate to an agent to sell at a premium, it just doesn’t make sense. I telephoned Seatwave and made out I have two tickets to sell and they offered me a third of face value yet are selling the same tickets at a whopping 150% mark up.
If there is such a demand for these tickets and the event did sell out in just three hours then something somewhere is starting to stink. Surely no sane person would buy tickets from the O2 Box Office, pay a booking fee on top only to sell them on at a loss to someone who they know is going to put such a huge mark up on them on them on the so-called secondary market.
With so many Boxing websites, forums, magazines and even Gumtree and Ebay now at peoples disposal to advertise their tickets this whole situation smacks of corruption and profiteering from someone who clearly had access to large amounts of tickets from the outset and obviously someone who would benefit from selling them on maybe in a partnership deal with these secondary agencies. It’s a crooked win-win situation surely?
Doing a search of these agents proves that they have literally hundreds of tickets for sale at ridiculous prices when these tickets should have be sold directly to the fans and at face value and not passed to people whose sole aim is to rip fans off. I'm generally a big fan of what Eddie Hearn is doing in the sport, but this is suspicious to say the least! I know he reads these forums so maybe he could come on here and explain what is going on and how these corporate touts managed to grab so many tickets in the first place when the fans couldn’t! A friend of mine got his tickets from a man called Kevin Lewshin who says he got a batch of ringside tickets to ‘knock out’ directly from Barry Hearn and needless to say he is also asking crazy prices for them too.
I would hate to think that the organisers have orchestrated this scam with the ticket agencies so to gain additional under-the-counter income because, if this is the case, then it’s a disgrace and surely cannot be legal.
If any one does have any tickets for sale (2) at a reasonable price, i.e. somewhere not a million miles from face value, please message me as I'm desperate to go, but at the moment can't justify paying around £500 for two standard tiered seating (face value £50) tickets for my son and I.
Despite being a huge boxing fan who goes to a lot of events, I have found getting tickets for the Froch fight a total nightmare and every avenue I have tried,the price of tickets has been massively inflamed. The whole experience has left me sensing a terrible smell surrounding the organisers ticketing operation.
I initially tried to get tickets on the day that the event went on sale, but before I could get to a computer they were sold out. And as popular as the event is, I'm finding hard to believe that the bulk of the tickets were sold that quickly to legitimate fans.
It seems the only people to have tickets available for this sold out event are the white collar touts such as Seatwave, Viagogo, Stub Hub and Get Me In who are all charging extortionate prices and seem to all have ample stock for those who are prepared to pay. So this sell out show is not actually sold out.
As it appears that each of these outlets have ample tickets in batches of 6 or 8 together and at most prices, it set me thinking as to where do they obtain these tickets from in the first place and who would buy tickets in such amounts and sell them at a discounted rate to an agent to sell at a premium, it just doesn’t make sense. I telephoned Seatwave and made out I have two tickets to sell and they offered me a third of face value yet are selling the same tickets at a whopping 150% mark up.
If there is such a demand for these tickets and the event did sell out in just three hours then something somewhere is starting to stink. Surely no sane person would buy tickets from the O2 Box Office, pay a booking fee on top only to sell them on at a loss to someone who they know is going to put such a huge mark up on them on them on the so-called secondary market.
With so many Boxing websites, forums, magazines and even Gumtree and Ebay now at peoples disposal to advertise their tickets this whole situation smacks of corruption and profiteering from someone who clearly had access to large amounts of tickets from the outset and obviously someone who would benefit from selling them on maybe in a partnership deal with these secondary agencies. It’s a crooked win-win situation surely?
Doing a search of these agents proves that they have literally hundreds of tickets for sale at ridiculous prices when these tickets should have be sold directly to the fans and at face value and not passed to people whose sole aim is to rip fans off. I'm generally a big fan of what Eddie Hearn is doing in the sport, but this is suspicious to say the least! I know he reads these forums so maybe he could come on here and explain what is going on and how these corporate touts managed to grab so many tickets in the first place when the fans couldn’t! A friend of mine got his tickets from a man called Kevin Lewshin who says he got a batch of ringside tickets to ‘knock out’ directly from Barry Hearn and needless to say he is also asking crazy prices for them too.
I would hate to think that the organisers have orchestrated this scam with the ticket agencies so to gain additional under-the-counter income because, if this is the case, then it’s a disgrace and surely cannot be legal.
If any one does have any tickets for sale (2) at a reasonable price, i.e. somewhere not a million miles from face value, please message me as I'm desperate to go, but at the moment can't justify paying around £500 for two standard tiered seating (face value £50) tickets for my son and I.