The multi-year deal will allow for a lot more flexibility for ticket holders who need to resell their passes. The market inroads for StubHub are sizable, as Paciolan has contracts with over 100 college teams. According to TicketNews.com, Purdue and Florida State will be the first in line, getting into the game with the coming season. More schools will follow in short order.

“Working with Paciolan, we will provide even higher levels of customer satisfaction to our buyers and sellers because now it will be even easier and quicker for them to buy and sell on StubHub,” said StubHub President Chris Tsakalakis in a prepared statement.

Paciolan echoed that enthusiasm: “We are thrilled to partner with StubHub to offer an innovative ticket resale option to college athletics organizations and their season ticket holders,” Dave Butler, CEO of Paciolan, said in a statement. “The StubHub integration also offers athletics programs greater reach to attract new buyers to purchase premium tickets, fill empty seats and increase game-day revenues.”

Comcast-Spectator acquired Paciolan earlier this year as Ticketmaster off-loaded assets to gain approval for its merger with Live Nation.

Creating a closed-loop marketplace for ticket re-selling is a move intended to curb scalping and other fraudulent ticket dealings. A major scalping ring was uncovered earlier this year at the University of Kansas involving staff members. The services provided by StubHub and similar companies are, hopefully, ways to minimize fraud while maximizing sales and attendance.

Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB Advance Media, explained, “Without question, the increasing knowledge that there is a vibrant, safe, legal liquid market for the tickets encourages our fans to buy season ticket packages, since they know they can recoup some of those costs. There’s no one who can go to all 81 games. The clubs don’t benefit from tickets in the drawer.”

Because StubHub doesn’t know the origins of its sellers, scalpers may very well be hawking their wares there, too. As Tsakalakis said, there’s a degree of trust involved. “We don’t know how the tickets are obtained (by) our sellers, and we don’t ask. The onus is on the seller to make sure they follow the law. The assumption here (at eBay) is that people are basically good.”

A New Jersey judge has dismissed a lawsuit against TicketNetwork that claimed the company defrauded the public by selling “phantom” Bruce Springsteen tickets.

The dismissal is not only a victory for TicketNetwork, but for the secondary ticket market, ticket resellers, and consumers.

In 2009, tickets for a Springsteen concert at the Meadowlands appeared on TicketNetwork.com nearly a week before they went on sale to the general public.

This raised the ire of Springsteen fans and eventually caught the attention of then New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram. She sued TicketNetwork for fraud in May of 2009.

“Advertising and selling tickets before they are made available for initial purchase by the public is an outrageous practice. It is fraud to offer to sell a product that one does not possess, and may never possess, and I am committed to ending this deceptive practice.” said the Garden State AG at the time.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello sided with TicketNetwork because of the Communication Decency Act. The federal act, which is designed to encourage business on the internet, insulates internet service providers from the wrong doings of third parties.

Since TicketNetwork wasn’t actually selling the Springsteen tickets but providing a marketplace for others to sell them, they were protected from legal action under the act.

“The totality of the record establishes that defendants [TicketNetwork] were not responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of the alleged inaccurate or misleading ticket listings,” said Costello in her ruling.

As for the secondary ticket market—companies that provide forums for others to buy and sell tickets—they will no longer have to worry about fighting costly lawsuits stemming from one of their user-client’s postings.

“This is a very important decision that has never been presented to courts in New Jersey before. The question was, if a ticket seller makes a mistake in the description of the item being sold, does the provider have liability for that, and the answer is no,” said Peter Harvey, lawyer for TicketNetwork.

As for consumers, they learned a little bit more about the inner workings of the ticket industry. The court case revealed the common practice of artists holding tickets back from the public and then selling those tickets for more money on the secondary market.

“The secondary ticket market and ticket brokers are not to blame for tickets that are sold out in minutes, but rather they provide an alternative outlet for purchasing these pre on-sale tickets that are normally unavailable to the general public,” explained TicketNetwork CEO Donald Vaccaro.

The TicketNetwork boss believes the practice will now cease.

“This decision will allow consumers in New Jersey and nationwide to have a greater selection of tickets to events.”

Also named in the suit was TicketNetwork’s partner Cheaptickets.com (owned by Orbitz Worldwide).

Other ticket resellers sued by Milgram include Almost Backstage, Ticket Town, and Select-A-Ticket.

Almost Backstage and Ticket Town settled with the State of New Jersey out of court. They both paid a $5,000 fine and agreed to no longer sell tickets they don’t own or before they go on sale to the public.

Select-A-Ticket’s case is still on-going.

It should be noted that Authority Tickets has a partnership with TicketNetwork.

According to TicketNews.com, most of the autumn shows are on the East Coast, but Phish will shoot out to Broomfield, Colo. for a three-night run at the 1stBank Center on October 10-12. North Charleston, South Carolina and Amherst, Mass. host two other multi-night engagements.

A pre-sale ticket lottery is underway on the Phish Tickets section of Musictoday.com until September 3, with the public on-sales starting on September 10 and 11. Ticket prices seem to be in the neighborhood of $60, according the Phish Tickets portal. However, listings on Ticketmaster.com vary.

The announcement came via a Phish video on Vimeo, the band’s new method of choice for communicating with fans.

Another hot item on TicketNews came from Elton John and Leon Russell. Debuting their new collaboration, “The Union,” the two piano legends will play an October 19 concert at New York City’s Beacon Theatre backed by a band comprised of the session musicians who played on the record. Drummer Jay Bellerose, steel guitarist Russ Paul, guitarists Marc Ribot and Jackson Smith, keyboardist Keefus Ciancia, mandolin player Mike Compton, and bassist Dennis Crouch are all on tap for the Beacon gig.

The date is scheduled a few weeks earlier than the previously announced November 3 performance at the Hollywood Palladium. Each artist will be supported by their own separate bands while the set will include offerings from “The Union” as well as from their respective solo careers.

Backing John will be guitarist Davey Johnstone, bassist Bob Birch, percussionist John Mahon, drummer Nigel Olsson, and keyboardist Kim Bullard. In the Russell band are bassist Jack Wessel, guitarist Chris Simmons, drummer Brandon Holder, and steel guitarist Beau Charron.

Though more 2010 dates are expected to fill in the gaps, John expressed earlier in the summer that 2011 would definitely see the duo on the road together. In the meantime, John is playing dates in Europe through early October while Russell tours the U.S. right up until the New York Union show.

Tickets for the event go on sale to the public on August 27.

“The Union,” produced by T-Bone Burnett, will be released via Decca Records in the U.S. and Mercury Records in the UK. The recording was made live in the studio and covers a multitude of genres including R&B, soul, gospel, country, pop and rock.

The program’s coordinator, Shane Dixon, explained, “Consumers can purchase tickets online from Broker A, at which point they will be instructed to pick up their tickets from Broker B (the LMTB location, which is a physical, brick-and-mortar location). Additionally, consumers have the ability to walk into the LMTB’s location and pick up tickets for that night’s event, if they are available.”

If all goes as planned, the LMTB program is a win-win-win: ticket buyers have more options available for purchase and pick up; online brokers have expanded opportunities to sell tickets at the last minute; and the physical ticket retailer gets new buyers coming into their store, plus a cut of the ticket price.

Dixon laid out the criteria needed for sellers who want to join the LMTB: “Brokers are chosen based on a number of factors: they need to be on TicketNetwork’s POS; they need to be on IP Charge; they need to be able to facilitate Mercury transactions; they must have a location close to the venue; and, they must have a high broker rating on the TicketNetwork system.”

The 12 first-wave LMTB centers are located across the country, including San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Orlando, New York City, and Seattle. The official list is Alliance Tickets — Englewood, CO; Alliance Tickets — Las Vegas, NV; Epic Seats — Seattle, WA; Gameday Tickets — Dallas, TX; Inseats.com — New York, NY; Jiffy Tickets — San Francisco, CA; Pioneer Tickets — Atlanta, GA; Select-A-Ticket — Riverdale, NJ; Ticket Connection — Chicago, IL; Ticket King — Minneapolis, MN; TicketGenie.com — Orlando, FL; and YourTicketsFast.com — Yukon, OK.

According to Dixon, the goal is to have LMTB stops near the top 100 event venues in the country. Centers in Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Detroit, and Cincinnati are expected to be on line by the end of 2010. Brokers interested in participating should contact Dixon at TicketNetwork.

It’s Friday night and the Los Angeles Lakers are in town. Every basketball fan in city wants to be at the arena to see the defending champs.

It’s Tuesday night and the Los Angeles Clippers are in town. Suddenly, finishes your taxes doesn’t sound all that bad.

Not all NBA games are created equal and the Minnesota Timberwolves knows this. That’s why they are joining about two-thirds of the NBA and implementing variable ticket pricing for the 2010-11 season.

“The consumer has believed for some time that certain games are worth more than others,” said Timberwolves President Chris Wright. “Now that will be evident in the price that appears on the ticket.”

Variable pricing should not be confused with dynamic pricing. In dynamic pricing, ticket prices fluctuate in real-time based on a number of factors.

The idea behind variable pricing is that the most popular games will cost more while the least popular games will cost less. However, the average price for a particular seat remains the same as the high and low ticket prices offset one another.

The Timberwolves will use a four tier pricing format: supersaver, value, premier, and marquee.

Fans can expect weekend games against teams like the Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and Bulls to be the most expensive. Weekday games against lottery teams will cost the least.

On the downside, variable pricing may exclude some families from attending marquee games, but on the upside some games may now be affordable to those who’ve never had the opportunity to see the Timberwolves at the Target Center.

It may seem counterintuitive for the franchise to employ such a pricing structure when they have a roster that’s likely to produce the team’s sixth losing season in a row. Management has even admitted that viable pricing is unlikely to improve the bottom line. But the Timberwolves aren’t adopting the structure for next season they are adopting it for the future. They believe it’s something their fans will grow into.

“We have 6,000 season ticket holders to educate today, whereas some of these other teams have 20,000 season ticket holders to educate,” explained Wright. “They have to train an entire market around a very bullish situation, whereas we’re allowed to come to market at a time when everyone will immediately get it.”

Eventually the T-wolves hope to migrate from variable pricing to dynamic pricing. The team may even experiment with the practice next season during a few select games.

The words “scalper” and “ticket brokers” basically mean the same thing but have completely different connotations.

A “scalper” conjures up images of dark alleys, secretive deals, and shady individuals. Some imaginations may even drift towards unscrupulous, if not illegal practices.

The term “ticket broker” on the other hand brings to mind the type of scammer that does business on eBay or Craigslist. While ticket resellers are elevated from the level of street hustlers they are still seen as smarmy hucksters who enjoy snatching the best seats from “real fans.”

Yet, is our perception reality? Is a ticket reseller that much different than a scalper?

Old Dominion University sports management professor Stephen Shapiro and his research partner Joris Drayer from University of Memphis asked that very question. They wanted to know what kind of people buy and resell tickets.

To find out, they conducted the first ever academic study of ticket brokers. They presented their findings at the 2010 Ticket Summit Las Vegas which was held in mid-July at the Venetian Resort.

“There had been some studies of the secondary ticket market, looking at supply, prices, consumer’s thoughts and perceptions,” explained Shapiro. “No one had really focused on the brokers.”

The duo sent surveys to 1,000 ticket brokers and received 261 usable replies. What they found was quite different than the character study we laid out in the beginning of this article.

Shapiro and Drayer concluded that ticker brokers are legitimate, honest business people that want to provide the best service possible to their customers.

Furthermore, contrary to what opponents believe, ticket brokers don’t acquire their inventory through nefarious channels.

“There was kind of a negative stereotype that some of these brokers get their tickets in an unfair fashion. Of course, they’re aggressive and knowledgeable— it’s their business—but they’re buying them through the same outlets as everyone else,” said Shapiro.

The study also revealed that most ticket brokers are college-educated and most conduct a majority of their business on the internet. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed said reselling tickets is their primary source of income.

Perhaps the most telling characteristic Shapiro and Drayer found was the brokers’ inclinations to self regulate their business. This speaks to both the brokers’ independent nature and their desire to be legitimate.

The findings make sense. After all, the scalper is more of a dealer than anything else—they get you an immediate fix (a ticket to an event) when you need it the most (minutes before the events starts).

A ticket broker on the other hand is a legitimate business person because they know in order to survive in their competitive industry they need to build solid relationships with customers.

They certainly want to make a profit and they certainly guard some sales data, but brokers eschew the seamy shadows of scalping for the brightness of the electronic marketplace. Ticket brokers want their customers to feel safe and satisfied. More importantly, they want them to return.

Bottom line, a scalper is someone you see when you’re desperate for a ticket. The ticket broker is someone you see when you want to shop around for an event to attend.

It’s common for a ticket reseller to lose money on an event. Concerts and sporting events maybe very popular but a large number still fail to sell out.

That’s just the nature of the business, but what about losing $3.5 million on one event? That’s not the nature of the business, that’s just disastrous.

That figure is exactly how much Razorgator lost on the under performing 2010 FIFA World Cup. Razorgator, as well as other ticket resellers, gambled that the South African soccer tournament would pay huge dividends. It didn’t. Many of the matches did not sell out and resellers took a bath.

Watching $3.5 million go down the drain is difficult for any company in any economy but it was especially hard for Razorgator which has been reeling for months—losing clients to ticket exchanges like StubHub and TicketNetwork.

That’s why just four days after the conclusion of the catastrophic World Cup, Razorgator announced a major restructuring. The company released 30 employees (about 25 percent of its work force), abandoned selling its own ticket inventory, redesigned its ticket exchange Web site, and jettisoned its PrimeSport division back to its founder, Sam Soni.

The company will now focus on being a ticket exchange.

That’s far less risky than selling its own inventory and it also clears up issues Razorgator was having with its broker clients. Some of those broker clients were complaining that Razorgator was competing against them to sell tickets instead of helping them move their own inventory.

“By narrowing our focus, we’ll ensure that our talent and creative energy is focused on the activities where we are best positioned to grow and create value. I look forward to continuing to build a stronger Razorgator based on our most exciting, core assets,” said Razorgator President and CEO, Brendan Ross.

The company had begun laying off employees in 2009. Earlier this year, Razorgator shut down several of its satellite offices.

Despite the overhaul, Razorgator will continue to sell its TicketOS software products.

“The important thing for brokers to know is that we’re selling tickets and paying brokers just as we have since 2001,” explained Ross.

In May, Authority Tickets wrote about two mysterious groups preparing to launch new Ticket Broker Exchanges. Now in July, both entities are starting to lose their shadowy appearances as details about their ventures begin to coalesce.

Of the two furtive groups, one was far less mysterious than the other. The somewhat known commodity features the driving forces behind Golden Tickets, Ram Silverman and Steve Parry. The duo is hoping to raise $2 million (hopefully from 200 ticket brokers) to launch their own ticket exchange.

They were inspired to go it alone after their relationship with TicketNetwork soured over an increase in commission fees.

Silverman and Parry’s venture remains nameless but on July 16th they held their first organizational meeting in Las Vegas. It’s unclear what was discussed at the meeting although insiders believe attendees were shown a mock up of its proposed Web site. Organizers want their new ticket exchange ready to go within the next 12 to 18 months.

The second exchange was so enigmatic that some believed it was a hoax. It is however very real and closer to fruition than the previously mentioned undertaking.

The World Ticket Board Organization, or WTBO, has launched its official website (www.worldtbo.com). The venture is the handiwork of ticket broker Steve Rogers. He hopes to have the WTBO operational in the near future although an exact date has not been announced.

The WTBO hopes to provide its members—who must be approved prior to joining—with free web hosting and point-of-sale software. According to the WTBO’s website their primary mission is “to ensure the survival of real ticket brokers.”

Their mission statement reads like a manifesto against ticket boards and the monopolization of the ticket industry.

We’ll spare you the blow by blow of WTBO’s polemics, but we do think it’s pertinent to include the entire text from their “About Us” page. The excerpt, including its capitalization, is exactly how you’ll find it on their Web site.

“Welcome to the official website of the World Ticket Brokers Organization. The World Ticket Brokers Organization is unlike any ticket broker organization in the world. We are a group of ticket brokers who are tired of giving power to exchange boards and have brokers lower their prices to compete against each other. We are here to help brokers work together as a group so we can once again gain control of our industry that has been hijacked. Our group has a minimum experience of 10 years and the most experienced is 25 plus Years in the business. We know the business. We are Ticket Brokers just like you. We know tickets. We just never thought the internet would destroy Ticket Brokers.”

Aside from all the rhetoric, the WTBO also plans on offering its members several free services. One such service is to re-work a broker’s current Web site so it’s compatible with WTBO’s data—that includes duplicating a site and giving it a new domain name.

Currently, the WTBO Web site is rather austere, but it does have a form ticket brokers can fill out if they wish to join and a contact email to use if they have any questions or concerns.

Meanwhile, rumors are circulating within the community that a third broker-owned ticket exchange is on the horizon. This new exchange is supposedly operated by industry insiders, but no specifics have been released.

Other Services Offered By the World Ticket Brokers Organization…

• Free ticket portal
• Free point of sale software
• Free upload with text file or POS
• Free Web site
• Free plug in to build your own site
• Free links

“The conference was absolutely amazing.”

That glowing review came from Patrick Poulin, CEO of Orlando-based Ticket Genie. Poulin was one of over 600 professionals from the ticket industry that attended the three-day long Ticket Summit Las Vegas.

The five-year-old conference and trade show for the secondary ticket industry ran from July 14 through 16 at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Both organizers and attendees left Sin City believing the Summit was a resounding success.

“It was very much worth the trip, with all the networking and relationship-building we were able to do,” gushed Poulin. “Heck, it was worth the trip in the first five minutes when we sat down at a table and made some connections.”

TicketNetwork’s Dan Pullium, one of the Summit’s organizers, said the event more than exceeded expectations.

“I think every segment of the entire ticket industry had something to offer–whether primary or secondary ticket companies, box office managers, sports teams and leagues, industry service providers, partners, affiliates and others – and something to learn from this Ticket Summit,” explained Pullium.

The conference addressed many topics but the subject du jour was the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger.

On the final day of the conference Jeff Kline, president of Veritix, Don Vaccaro, CEO and founder of TicketNetwork, and Doug Lyons, a vice president from Tickets.com, led a keynote panel discussion on the subject. While the trio expressed concerned over the merger they did offer a glimmer of hope for brokers.

“I see ticket brokers as another distribution channel, and I think you’ll find that more content providers will see it that way in the future,” prophesied Lyons.

The panel also discussed Live Nation Entertainment’s rather subpar 2010. The newly merged company has seen its stock plummet due to concert cancellations and laggard ticket sales.

“Not all concert business is bad, I’m just saying that Live Nation’s concert business is bad. When you look at a lot of the ‘B’ and ‘C’ level performers, they’re still doing terrific business,” noted Vaccaro.

Kline and Lyons continued to pile on Live Nation Entertainment by deriding the company for their lack of technological advancement especially their lack of innovation as it pertains to paperless ticketing.

Of course the Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger was just one of many topics discussed at the 5th annual Ticket Summit Las Vegas. Becoming a ticket broker, the growing global ticket industry, ticket innovations, pro sports ticket packages, dead tickets, and New York’s new ticket resale law were also explored.

In regards to dead tickets, TicketNetwork made a presentation about a new program it’s planning on launching in the near future called “Last-Minute Ticket Broker” (LMTB).

This program allows ticket brokers to ship soon-to-be “dead tickets” to LMTB brokers in major U.S. cities. The LMTB brokers will then sell those tickets at or near the event venue with both parties splitting the revenue based on a percentage they agreed to beforehand.

Right now there are 10 LMTB brokers in cities like New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and San Francisco, but TicketNetwork’s Shane Dixon, who is overseeing the new program, says more are on the way.

On the first full day of the conference, college professors Joris Drayer of Temple University and Stephen Shapiro of Old Dominion University unveiled findings from their survey of nearly 300 ticket brokers. The survey was the first of its kind to look at the “attitudes” and “perceptions” of the broker community.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about the secondary ticket market, and while we weren’t necessarily trying to refute them, we wanted to illuminate that fact,” Drayer professed.

Some of the more interesting findings of those surveyed were: 63 percent had a college diploma, 65 percent were ticket brokers full-time, and 76 percent did more than 60 percent of their business online.

The Summit was not only a place to partake in fascinating and noteworthy panel discussions, it was also a great opportunity for attendees to meet new contacts and get reacquainted with old friends.

“It was a great show for us, because we made some fantastic connections. Word-of-mouth got people to our booth, which was great exposure for us,” cooed John Diorio, CEO of Ticket Sizzle.

The next Ticket Summit is scheduled for January 12-14, 2011 in New York City at The Waldorf=Astoria.

 Score one for the fans.

In the first two days of July, the New York Legislature voted for, and then Governor David   Paterson signed into law, a bill that ensures consumers will have options when purchasing  event tickets.

The new law requires primary ticket sellers to offer traditional tickets if they are using paperless ticketing technology that does not allow tickets to be independently transferred. A paperless ticket is basically a virtual ticket.

In other words, the law guarantees consumers another option besides nontransferable paperless tickets and makes sure that there’s a secondary market if consumers wish to resell their tickets.

The law was fought vigorously by the likes of Live Nation Entertainment, its Ticketmaster division, and the New York Yankees. These entities argue that a pure paperless ticketing system prevents counterfeiting and offers convenience to consumers.

They also claim that artists might skip performing in New York State because of this law. However, it seems highly unlikely that an artist would skip the biggest city in the United States just because their fans can’t exclusively buy paperless tickets.

The law is not only a victory for consumers but ticket resellers as well. After all, the main goal for the proponents of a pure paperless ticket system is to eliminate the secondary ticket market.

“We are extremely pleased that the legislators in New York have seen fit to preserve consumer choice in the secondary market,” said Glenn Lehrman, spokesperson for StubHub. “We firmly believe that consumers should have the right to legally resell any ticket in an open and unrestricted marketplace. It is our hope that other states will follow New York’s lead.”

Due to the sheer volume of tickets sold in the state of New York what happens there affects what happens in other states. Right now, New York’s ticket resale law is the toughest of its kind in the nation, protecting both consumer rights and the secondary ticket market.

“We tried to craft the law in a way to allow for new technologies to emerge and thrive. We didn’t want to say no to paperless tickets, because we know it is a developing, new technology, but we wrote the law as a potential model for other states,” said Jeff Pearlman, assistant counsel to Gov. Paterson and one of the bill’s chief architects.

Currently, New Jersey is the only other state looking at legislation to address paperless ticketing. Elected officials in Minnesota are considering a ticket resale law that could possibly include language to regulate the paperless ticket technology.

The bill became law in New York with bipartisan support. It passed the Senate 59-2 and it easily sailed through the Assembly, 104-18. Gov. Patterson is not running for reelection, but this bill was still a major part of his legislative agenda.

Other provisions in New York’s updated ticket law:

• Primary ticket sellers can no longer place tickets on a secondary ticket market it owns or controls
• Outlaws the use of software “bots”
• Venues can restrict the resale of free or reduced-price tickets if the promotion was not targeted to the general public
• Enforces distance-from-the-venue restrictions on ticket resellers
• Resellers must register and post a bond
• Resellers must divulge ticket resale prices
• Venues are required to disclose which seats have obstructed views
• Paperless tickets and traditional tickets must be identically priced
• Resale law is extending through May 15, 2011