CONCOURSE — Yankees fans who buy tickets online through StubHub won’t be able to pick them up outside Yankee Stadium before Monday’s home opener against the Boston Red Sox.
A temporary restraining order issued last week that bars StubHub from opening a planned ticket pickup center within a 1,500-foot "no scalping" zone around the stadium will stand until at least April 16, according to a court agreement between the team and the ticket website.
The agreement postpones a Bronx judge’s final decision on the matter, originally scheduled for March 25, in order to give StubHub more time to prepare its case.
The company had originally hoped to start running the storefront by opening day.
The Yankees sued StubHub this month, claiming that the planned pick-up center at 68 E. 161st Street, which sits well within 1,500 feet of the stadium, represents a “completion of sale” spot that violates the scalping law.
StubHub’s lawyer argued in court last week that the company is simply an online ticket exchange, not a reseller, and therefore is exempt from the scalping law.
Bronx Supreme Court Judge Lizbeth Gonzalez seemed skeptical of that argument at the March 19 hearing.
“In the event that your argument is wrong, your people are going to be subjected to criminal prosecution" if the 161st Street storefront opens, she warned StubHub’s lawyer.
The Yankees recently cut ties with StubHub, which had served as the team’s official secondary ticket market and set up its own online ticket exchange.
The Yankees had complained that StubHub’s unrestricted market allowed ticket prices to tumble below face value.
StubHub countered that the team’s steep prices are to blame.
