Today, I came across this article on SkySports.com talking about how football fans will have to pay for tickets for this year’s UEFA Champions League finals between Tottenham and Liverpool as high as £40,000. It made me think about how nobody is, effectively, doing anything to put an end to all that disgraceful reselling, making real fans spend much more than they really should.
The article states that “Liverpool and Tottenham fans said face-value tickets at more than £500 were “exorbitant” in a joint statement last week, and some tickets for the final have appeared for resale on StubHub for more than £40,000.” 40,000??? But that is insane, and nobody is doing anything to stop it.
Well, nobody except PlayMaker.
This last example of black market basically excluding regular sports fans from being able to attend their favorite team’s game is exactly the thing that we are implementing a ticketing system into PlayMaker’s sports science ecosystem. Making it possible for sports institutions and event organizers to tie a ticket to a single person is important because that way, and by the usage of the blockchain technology, these entities can maintain the complete control of ticket sales. When something is written via blockchain, it cannot be changed, so a ticket gets permanently tied to a person’s identity.
Of course, the ability to resell a ticket has to remain (because somebody really cannot attend), but a person can resell it only once and for the same price he bought the ticket for. Moreover, just like Bitcoin cannot be counterfeited, so these tickets will all be unique and uniquely tied to their respective owner. Talking about putting a stop to a tickets black market, right?
Our reasoning is that if this year’s Champions League final isn’t a good enough reason to start implementing the technology able to resolve the issue, I don’t know what will ever be. Therefore, we are determined to make clubs, associations, federations, and similar sports entities understand the importance of transparent and fair practice in tickets distribution. Simply put, this has to stop!
What has been done until now?
Well, here is the example of one interesting attempt:
“With football fans on the lookout for tickets to witness a piece of history, scammers are waiting on the sidelines, ready to take advantage,” Ross Martin, head of digital safety at Barclays bank stated the obvious before offering a piece of advice: “Fans should look out for warning signs and be aware of the risks when purchasing tickets, especially through a third-party site or social media.“
Is that enough? Is leaving fans to “look out for warning signs” going to solve the problem when some individuals buy 10 or 15 tickets just to resell them for 5x the price? Not a chance! People organizing such spectacles should look towards the tech solutions, and blockchain holds, in my opinion, the best one and we are set to deliver.
If not now, when?
I don’t have enough to buy that £40,000 golden ticket. Do you?
Best regards,
Luka
CEO @ PlayMaker