First, the KC Cauldron put up their allotment of tickets for the Members' Stand up for sale at 10am. Just before 10am, their site started to move slower. Right at 10am, according to the Cauldron, 3,000 carts were initiated with tickets, well over the 500 that they'd been allocated. From reports that I read from friends on Twitter, it took minutes to navigate a single page. By 10:30 all the tickets were gone, although it seemed like if you hadn't been on right at 10am you were not getting tickets.
This lead to a loud gnashing of teeth from many members of the Cauldron, some who had tickets in their cart for check out, only to be told that the tickets were all gone as they attempted to check out from the site. So much so that the Cauldron felt that they needed to put out a statement regarding the issues today (linked above).
Then at noon today, the season ticket holder pre-sale started. This was for all season ticket holders that had not purchased the playoff package, giving them a chance to purchase their ticket(s) for the final. That code, given to Season Ticket Holders was unique for each ticket account. As the day went on, another code was posted on the net that allowed a number of fans to go in and get tickets. Fans were apparently able to use that code to make purchases, even if they didn't have season tickets and allowed them to purchase anywhere in the stadium. This included a number of Real Salt Lake fans that were able to buy tickets using the code.
Since then, the code has been declared invalid and ALL tickets purchased using the code have been canceled with refunds being distributed.
#RSL fans :: if you bought @MLS Cup today via Ticketmaster, the leaked code was declared invalid by SKC/TM & your tix will be cancelled
— Real Salt Lake (@RealSaltLake) November 27, 2013
To be clear, ALL tix bought today with that code are invalid, regardless of where/how/who bought them
— Real Salt Lake (@RealSaltLake) November 27, 2013
This announcement throws a giant wrench into a number of people's plans, including RSL fans who had already gone and purchased these tickets. It could also cause a number of problems with the secondary market, where a number of the tickets purchased today using that code are already up for purchase. The question remains though where originally the code came from and how it was valid. As I mentioned earlier, the sale today was only for Sporting KC STH.
So with under two weeks to go, the ticket situation has turned into a giant, confusing, cluster f*ck, not just for Cauldron members, but for season ticket holders, RSL fans, and other KC fans as well.
Here is my theory (all speculative):
ReplyDelete#1) The code 13STMCUP is likely related to SKC because it uses STM (Season Ticket Member) not STH (Season Ticket Holder). SKC has consistently referred to STM in their online communication and RSL web site mentions holders not members. So STM belongs to SKC
#2) The code was used as a test/demo for pre-sale and it was designed to grant open access to the site. It was never formally released and was likely never planned to be. SKC has used randomly assigned numbers to each individual STM for a while now for pre-sales.
#3) An RSL Fan @ZUPROC1 posted the code on Twitter at 1:46 CT. https://twitter.com/ZUPROC1/status/405437468737945600
He doesn't source where he got it, but my guess is that as simple as it was he tried a couple of common combinations. Ticketmaster doesn't kick you out for it's pre-sale codes, so you can spend 20 minutes entering different combos to see if something catches. He stumbles upon the code that was never planned to be released and voila the whole stadium is open to buy tickets.
#4) Chaos ensues
What I don't get is the righteous indignation of people who used a bootlegged code now complaining about not having those tickets when they never should have had them in the first place. If you got the code via non-official sources then you knew you were taking a risk.
ReplyDeleteAnd it says in the terms and conditions of the TM site:
Use any password or code to participate in a presale or other offer on the Site if you did not receive the password or code from us or if you violate the terms of the presale or offer
Sure it sucks, but it actually is kind of hard to feel empathy for SKC or RSL) fans who took advantage.
If you acquire something through less than reputable means, you hardly have ground to stand on for us to pity you. And as someone who has not been able to purchase a ticket yet, it will be nice to have the tickets back in the pool for everyone to have a fair shot at.
I just think it's great that the bickering between the fan bases is already in high gear 2 weeks out.
ReplyDelete