SCALPED PATS TICKETS CAUSE OUTRAGE

Some fans of the Regina Pats took to social media on Tuesday to voice their anger over the fact several tickets to Games 1 and 2 of the WHL Eastern Conference Final are being offered on resale websites for over four times face value.

The Pats earned a berth in the Conference Final with a 5-1 victory over Swift Current in Game 7 of the semifinals on Monday, and tickets to Round 3 soldout in nine minutes when they went on sale Tuesday afternoon.

Fans lined up in the Brandt Centre box office on Tuesday while thousands more purchased theirs online. Within minutes, lots of those tickets were being “scalped” on the secondary market.

A Facebook post from a Pats fan on Tuesday

The Voice of the Regina Pats, Phil Andrews, addressed the situation on 620 CKRM’s SportsCage on Tuesday afternoon.

“From what I understand, there really aren’t any rules that stop a person from buying tickets and reselling them,” Andrews advised.  “We looked into it based on the social media response and it’s a tough situation. There’s no law that says you can’t buy tickets and resell them on a separate website.

“From the organization’s standpoint, how do you filter who’s buying the tickets when they’re getting them from Ticketmaster.ca, then reselling them? It’s a tough one. I understand, because I know there’s a lot of fans who want to be in the building and $100-plus per ticket is quite steep – in our league for sure – and I feel for the fans but it happens in pro sports too. When you have a hot ticket, it comes with the territory I think.”

While fans were vocal with their displeasure, Phil said there’s really nothing the team can do.

“Tickets went on sale at noon on Tuesday and there’s no way to filter who the scalpers are,” Andrews continued. “What are you going to do, ask everybody that buys a ticket if they’re a scalper? There’s no way to know. Unfortunately some people got left out because others bought tickets ahead of them. There’s nothing the organization can do but put the tickets on sale and hope people buy them. People that want to make money out of it are going to do what they do.”