They are one of the hottest tickets in town and now the Vancouver Canucks are coming down hard on some season ticket holders who they say are reselling their seats, often for profit.
One fan, who doesn’t want his name published, tells CityNews he shares eight seats in the upper bowl with friends. He’s been a season ticket holder for more than 25 years and his account was recently flagged.
“I received a letter saying … my account will not be renewed next year,” he explained. “The letter said you either 100 per cent transferred all your tickets or you sold them to a broker.”
He claims that’s not the case. He maintains he’s used the tickets for up to 10 to 20 games a season, or has shared them with friends, family, co-workers, and members of his local recreation hockey team.
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He says he has been in contact with the team and adds it’s unclear if he’ll get to keep two, four, or any of his seats.
The Canucks season ticket holder website states fans can resell their tickets through “the official Ticketmaster website.” He says he has done that a handful of times but was still flagged.
He says he’s not angry with the Canucks or Ticketmaster but is confused why he’s on the cusp of potentially losing his seats and account.
“I just don’t know what happened. Most people [I’ve spoken to] just don’t know what happened. Every season ticket holder has a different explanation for why they lost their seats.”
Peter Wortman has been a season ticket holder, with two seats at Rogers Arena, for 33 seasons. The organization recently notified the Pemberton man that the tickets were being taken away and his membership revoked.
“I’m pretty heartbroken. Thirty-three years is a long time,” says Wortman. “They say that I’ve sold 100 per cent of my tickets to ticket brokers.”
He stresses that’s false.
“No, it’s not [true]. I went to 17 games last year and I sold my tickets to a lot of friends, especially in Pemberton.”
The Canucks disagree. Having reviewed his account, the team stands by its decision.
Wortman adds he used “word of mouth” and social media to get rid of tickets he couldn’t use and admits, for some games, he would sell them to make a profit.
“For some games like Toronto, Montreal for sure, but most games, I would sell to friends and maybe make $10 a ticket. I was always way below Ticketmaster prices, which is where I think my issue is.”
Like the other fan, Wortman says he reached out to the team for an answer but only got a reply last week when he discovered his seats had been posted for sale.
Both men say they’ve been huge Canucks fans for years, and despite all this, remain committed to the team.
In a statement to CityNews, the Canucks say, “Our goal with season ticket memberships is to create a sense of community and allow fans to attend as many games as possible.”
“Restricting ticket brokers from purchasing memberships and tickets will help create the best possible experience for our fans and protect the integrity of our Season Ticket Members,” it added.
CityNews has learned the organization is revoking accounts with six or more seats which were reselling every ticket, every game. The Canucks have also discovered accounts with four or more seats that had multiple alias accounts, meaning, someone signed up with different names, but under the same email address for billing.
They also found people who were doing both, selling to family and friends and to brokers.
CityNews has also been told the Canucks are OK if someone forwards tickets to friends and family, but this crackdown allows the organization to control what a person does with their seats and ensures fans play by their rules.
It doesn’t appear the organization has done this before.
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In the meantime, the changes for season ticket holders are being picked up online. There’s a Reddit thread where fans are echoing the sentiments of both fans in this story.
“Had the same issue. 60% of my tickets were transferred to parents on my kid’s hockey team. Some sold on ticket exchange (which I might add is listed as a benefit for season ticket holders). They actually charge less commission than Stub Hub. If they have a problem with that, they could easily just block that feature. Anyway, they said I was flagged for over 10 years and this year they are enforcing the rules (read the fine print). They actually stripped away my membership. I went to 10+ games and all the playoffs,” wrote Reddit user Spare_Literature_531.
“So how do they define ‘commercial reseller?’ Do you have to attend like 50 per cent of the games to not get flagged? Or you can sell every single ticket from your membership as long as it’s through the Canucks member portal aka Ticketmaster?” user CurrentBusy5705 asked.
“I’m just confused at why they are coming after my 2 upper bowl seats, whereas I’ve seen Facebook groups by sellers who sell around 20 tickets,” Reddit user langlee6 wondered.
CityNews asked both Ticketmaster and the Canucks what the threshold is for fans to ensure their accounts don’t get flagged. The Canucks were also asked how many accounts have since been shutdown or flagged. CityNews has not received a response.