Flashseats vs Ticketmaster

The Cavs and Flashseats are taking Ticketbastard to court. Delightful:

The suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, claims Ticketmaster is engaged in an "ongoing campaign to utilize its substantial market power . . . to exclude actual and potential competition."

At issue is an item in Ticketmaster's contract with the Cavs requiring season ticketholders who want to resell their seats to use Ticketmaster's own resale operation, TicketExchange.

Earlier this month, Ticketmaster filed a lawsuit against the Cavs and Flash Seats in federal court in California to defend that obligation. Ticketmaster has sold Cavs tickets on the primary market since 1993.

But Len Komoroski, president of the Cavs and Quicken Loans Arena, said the paperless Flash Seats is preferable to TicketExchange, which allows paper tickets to remain in existence.

Denying season ticketholders the right to use Flash Seats reduces the value and attractiveness of a season ticket, he said. "It's really all about our fans. They're speaking loud and clear that this has been a superior service."

Flash Seats, meanwhile, claims that Ticketmaster is keeping it from expanding.

Sam Gerace, chief executive of the Cleveland-based company - closely affiliated with the Cavs through some common ownership - said Flash Seats has attempted to sell its services to other sports teams, only to be blocked by existing contracts with Ticketmaster.

"A great many teams have indicated their interest . . . but they've indicated they are prohibited from doing business with us," he said. "That's the reason we have to take action."

Flashseats is a pretty neat idea (which Brian Windhorst says that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert bought from some local guys. So if you got any neat Cavs ideas....) and I've used it here and there. It can be kinda expensive (but so can scalping) but the nice part is that you're sure you are getting real tickets. You know you're not getting screwed.

I haven't used Ticketmaster's resale service before but it probably blows. Ticketmaster sucks, plain and simple.

I just bought a ticket to the Reel Big Fish-Less Than Jake show (it'll be like 1997 all over again!) for August 16th at the Agora. Face value of the tickets? $21.00. I paid: $32.55. Ticketmaster charged me $6.95 for a Convenience Charge and another $4.60 as a Order Processing Fee (and it could've been worse, I opted to have the ticket sent to me, which was free. Lord knows what kind of fee I'd have to pay for the privilege to use my own printer). $11.55 added on for using an automated service; basically a third of the total price is complete bullshit.

Good for the Cavs. I have no idea what will even happen if they win this suit, all I know is, anyone who sues Ticketmaster wins points in my book. If it happens to be my favorite sports franchise, even better.