NC attorney general gets involved with Ticketmaster after Canes ticket fiasco
In the past week, Carolina Hurricanes fans have reported frustration after attempting to purchase tickets to Stanley Cup Final games and watch parties using Ticketmaster.
Now, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson is stepping in.
On Thursday, Jackson wrote a letter to Ticketmaster, asking the platform multiple questions about reports of and investigations into technology errors, the presale for season ticket holders, virtual queues and steps to fight against bots.
The letter asks Ticketmaster to respond within seven days.
This isn’t the first time Jackson’s office has taken action against Ticketmaster. In April, a jury found that Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation operated as an illegal monopoly, though the company has since filed post-trial motions asking for an overturned verdict or a new trial, The News & Observer previously reported. North Carolina was one of 33 states that sued the company. The court is now deciding what Live Nation and Ticketmaster must do to restore competition, according to Jackson’s letter.
Here’s background on what Canes fans experienced this week trying to purchase tickets:
- On Saturday, Canes season ticket holders got a three-hour window to buy Stanley Cup Final tickets to Games 1 and 2, which were played at the Lenovo Center. But face-value tickets sold out almost immediately, leaving many fans with only expensive resale tickets on Ticketmaster.
- At one point on Monday, the cheapest seats to Tuesday’s Game 1 were $900 in the 300 level. Tickets to Game 2 were even more expensive, starting at $1,100.
- Starting Wednesday afternoon, the Canes sold $10 tickets to watch parties at the Lenovo Center for Games 3 and 4, which will be played in Las Vegas.
- Some fans waited more than an hour in virtual queues thousands of people long to purchase up to six tickets to the watch parties.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by Renee Umsted and Dave Hendrickson.
