The New York Yankees announced that they will no longer accept print-at-home PDF tickets, "so as to further combat fraud and counterfeiting of tickets associated with print-at-home paper tickets (PDFs)," Deadspin reported Wednesday.
The change means that customers will have a hard time using ticket resellers like Stubhub, because tickets will now only be available on hard stock paper tickets which are mailed, or mobile tickets, which currently aren't supported by Stubhub.
For fans purchasing individual game tickets online at yankees.com, Ticketmaster.com, or via Ticketmaster telephone, you will have the option of receiving traditional hard stock paper tickets or mobile tickets at the time of initial purchase. Fans purchasing individual game tickets at the Yankee Stadium Ticket Office or at Yankees Clubhouse Shops will receive only traditional hard stock paper tickets (and will not have an option to receive mobile tickets or the option to convert their tickets to mobile tickets). Print-at-home paper tickets (PDFs) will no longer be available.
Deadspin's report alleges that the switch is not actually motivated by ticketing fraud as the Yankees claim.
"The reality is that it has everything to do with the team’s partnership with Ticketmaster and ongoing war against StubHub," Tom Ley, of Deadspin, wrote.
StubHub allows ticket resellers to set prices as low as they want, but Ticketmaster will not allow resellers to set prices below a ticket's face value.
And price floors don't bode well for consumers, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman recently said.
Last month, Schneiderman released a report on the re-sale of NFL tickets, arguing that among a number of unfair practices that cheat consumers out of access to tickets for high profile events, the price floors established by the NFL ticket exchange (which is co-run by Ticketmaster) artificially inflate prices.
"Platforms that use price floors are at a natural competitive disadvantage compared to those that do not,” Schneiderman said. “So if consumers engage in comparison shopping, they will tend towards gravitate to the platforms with a more open market.”
So as a result of the Yankees change in ticketing policy, consumers will be forced into using Ticketmaster.
"Unless you can figure out a way to get the StubHub seller’s physical tickets in your hands within a few hours, you’re stuck paying full price on Ticketmaster. You’ve been boned."
