Written by Neil Vigdor at CTpost.com
The New York Yankees may be reporting for more than just spring training if Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator has his say over an controversial change in the ticketing options offered by the team.
Baseball’s moststoried franchise could be compelled to report to Congress why it no longer allows fans to print tickets at their home or office, said Democrat Richard Blumenthal.
To the protest of many fans and consumer watchdogs, who have leveled allegations of ticket price-fixing, the team announced the change earlier this week.
“It raises questions that implicate possible violations of anti-trust laws,” Blumenthal told Hearst Connecticut Media on Friday.
The Yankees did not respond to a request for comment, but the team wrote on its website that eliminating PDF images of ticket bar codes will cut down on counterfeiting and protect fans.
The 27-time World Series champs will offer an electronic ticket option through the Yankees team smartphone app, in addition to traditional hard stock paper tickets.
However, e-tickets can only be purchased through the team or its sales partner, Ticketmaster.
The bone of contention for fans is that now they will have to pay a premium for the convenience of e-tickets, since they can no longer print them off competing ticket resale sites such as StubHub that are often less expensive.
“Generally, PDF tickets are immensely convenient, and consumers have come to expect them to be available,” Blumenthal said. “Professional sports ticket prices and practices are really ripe for review and oversight. This practice may be one especially that deserves scrutiny.”
Major League Baseball and its franchises have generally enjoyed exemptions from interstate commerce regulations outlawing monopolies since 1922, but price-fixing claims could open them up to renewed oversight.
Connecticut is part of a multi-state investigation into ticket pricing across multiple sports, including football and baseball.
“We are actively looking into ticketing policies and practices, including those involving sale and resale of tickets for professional sporting events, from a competition perspective,” said Jaclyn Falkowski, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General George Jepsen. “Given the pending status of that effort, it would be inappropriate for us to comment in particular on any specific entity.”
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