Third party ticket sites and City

HelloCity

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This discussion was clogging up the North Stand Expansion thread so I thought it was worth moving to a separate thread.

There is the possible suggestion that the club are selling both home and away tickets at inflated prices to third party ticket sites and then these third party sites sell them on for an even greater sum.

If you attended the Real Madrid game recently, then you'd know that something didn't feel right about the makeup of the crowd, especially since the club introduced a more stringent criteria for official site purchases. Despite this, and in the run up to the game, at least one third party site had tickets for this fixture listed as soon as they officially went on sale.

As well as tickets appearing on these third party sites on the day they go on sale to points holders, there is an account about a ticket being listed on the ticket exchange and it never appearing on the planner. When the person who sat in the seat was asked where the ticket was purchased from they claimed they had bought it from a third party site. In another example, a seat which was listed on a third party site at an inflated sum appeared back on the official planner on the morning of a fixture for the official asking price having failed to sell previously.

At away games we're also seeing large volumes of individuals who clearly don't have the points to attend the fixtures. This number seems to be increasing year on year and there are now large amount of away tickets appearing on these third party sites for £200+. My understanding is that City Matters have approached the club for a breakdown of the away ticket allocation and where away tickets are being allocated, however, the club have refused to provide this information.

The concern is that the club are looking to increase ticket revenue and have relationships in place with at least one third party ticket outlet where the club can sell tickets to them for x2+ of what someone would pay on the official ticket site. This was done in plain site with Viagogo back in the day where they’d have tickets on sale for games the moment they became available to purchase and at highly inflated prices. Unfortunately, this seems to be the beginning of it all.

True City fans should not be priced out by tourists so that others can make an extra buck. Not only does it impact atmosphere, but it also leads to empty seats in 'sold out' fixtures. I believe full transparency is now required for City ticket distribution for both home and away fixtures.
 
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Last year against Bayern I remember it being carnage for anyone with a Matchday membership to get a ticket due to their being no criteria beyond ST. Managed to get a ticket that had been listed on ticket exchange only to be sat next to a group of 10+ lads who were all supporting Bayern.
 
Know loads of City fans who missed out on Fulham tickets , be interesting to hear from those who go about the profile of fans in the City section.
 
Think it’s more a stone cold fact than a “possible suggestion “

The club even helpfully supply a direct link on their official website to one company who’ll gladly sell you a virtually unlimited number of tickets to any ‘sold out’ home game you fancy, as long as you book a room for the night with it.
 
This discussion was clogging up the North Stand Expansion thread so I thought it was worth moving to a separate thread.

There is the possible suggestion that the club are selling both home and away tickets at inflated prices to third party ticket sites and then these third party sites sell them on for an even greater sum.

If you attended the Real Madrid game recently, then you'd know that something didn't feel right about the makeup of the crowd, especially since the club introduced a more stringent criteria for official site purchases. Despite this, and in the run up to the game, at least one third party site had tickets for this fixture listed as soon as they officially went on sale.

As well as tickets appearing on these third party sites on the day they go on sale to points holders, there is an account about a ticket being listed on the ticket exchange and it never appearing on the planner. When the person who sat in the seat was asked where the ticket was purchased from they claimed they had bought it from a third party site. In another example, a seat which was listed on a third party site at an inflated sum appeared back on the official planner on the morning of a fixture for the official asking price having failed to sell previously.

At away games we're also seeing large volumes of individuals who clearly don't have the points to attend the fixtures. This number seems to be increasing year on year and there are now large amount of away tickets appearing on these third party sites for £200+. My understanding is that City Matters have approached the club for a breakdown of the away ticket allocation and where away tickets are being allocated, however, the club have refused to provide this information.

The concern is that the club are looking to increase ticket revenue and have relationships in place with at least one third party ticket outlet where the club can sell tickets to them for x2+ of what someone would pay on the official ticket site. This was done in plain site with Viagogo back in the day where they’d have tickets on sale for games the moment they became available to purchase and at highly inflated prices. Unfortunately, this seems to be the beginning of it all.

True City fans should not be priced out by tourists so that others can make an extra buck. Not only does it impact atmosphere, but it also leads to empty seats in 'sold out' fixtures. I believe full transparency is now required for City ticket distribution for both home and away fixtures.
While I share the same pov on all of your points, the club clearly don't give a fuck who attends these days, and the disconnect is getting worse by the game. I've said it before, but we don't have the numbers for this to be sustainable, and when the time comes when we're not quite as exciting to watch as we are now (and it 100% will) and the demand from day-trippers drops off, the absolute clowns at City making these short term decisions are going to look fucking pathetic.
 
Think it’s more a stone cold fact than a “possible suggestion “

The club even helpfully supply a direct link on their official website to one company who’ll gladly sell you a virtually unlimited number of tickets to any ‘sold out’ home game you fancy, as long as you book a room for the night with it.
This should put to bed once and for all the myth that the club's customer service is abysmal.

This is going above and beyond...
 

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