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Pat Coveney is a lifelong hockey fan, particularly a fan of the new PWHL team in Montreal.
“He’s doing phenomenal. I haven’t missed a game on TV,” the 67-year-old retiree told the CBC in a recent interview.
Coveney likes to watch the game in person, especially since he lives in Verdun, steps from the arena where the Montreal team plays some of its games.
So far that has proven to be a challenge. Coveney tried to buy tickets online, but they sold out quickly. He goes down to the arena to see if he can get a ticket in person, but no luck.
Coveney thought the team’s upcoming game on Saturday at the Bell Center was his chance. But those tickets Sold out in minutesOnly to appear on resale sites at inflated prices on the same day.
“Tickets have skyrocketed. They’re $500 to $1,000 a ticket,” Coveney said.
Increasingly in Quebec, fans like Coveney are missing out on the price of live events. Although other provinces have tried and largely failed, the CAQ government has promised to tackle the complex issue.
High ticket prices are the new norm
A Bell Center PWHL game is a recent example of increased resale ticket prices.
In March, music fans in Quebec City were angered by the prices of passes for popular acts Festival d’Ete de Quebec were Jack up A few hours after resale sites go on sale.
In February, tickets for a CF Montreal soccer match against Inter Miami featuring superstar Lionel Messi were sold out. $10,000 a piece On some resale sites.
And last December, what the CAQ government described as “the straw that broke the camel’s back” followed the death of Carl Tremblay, lead singer of the hugely popular group Les Cowboys Fringeants.
Free tickets for the Tremblay memorial at the Bell Center are posted on resale sites $500 A few hours after they were delivered.
That prompted the CAQ government to order MNA Kariane Bourassa to study the issue of increasing ticket resale prices and propose solutions.
Bourassa declined to comment for this story, saying he was still meeting with various groups to discuss the issue.
The ticket-buying process is highly opaque
Quebec first adopted a ticket resale law in 2012.
“Basically, the law says that a merchant is not allowed to resell a ticket at a price higher than the price first advertised, except with the consent of the producer,” Sylvie de Bellefeuille, a lawyer for Option Consumetures, told CBC in an interview. .
However, individuals can resell the ticket at any price they choose.
That’s where ticket resale sites – Billets.ca or Stubhub – come in. They act as brokers between individual buyers and sellers – like Airbnb but for tickets. (Quebec also has Struggled to introduce effective regulations for that forum.)
The sites themselves earn a commission, but since they aren’t directly reselling tickets, they aren’t technically breaking any laws.
The law prohibits resellers from using online software (bots) to buy large bundles of tickets while imposing a limit on the number a person can buy. Despite this ban, bots are more sophisticated and still a Big problem In the resale market.
Further complicating matters is the fact that Ticketmaster, by far the largest global player in ticket sales, has set up its own resale platform and acts as a broker. And Ticketmaster is in hot water after one A CBC investigation The company revealed that it is working with other resellers to further increase ticket prices. That led to several lawsuitsSome of them are underway.
Another wrinkle: promoters of concerts and sporting events are now often introducing different stages Special pre-sales For select fans who receive access codes before tickets go on general sale. It is often unclear to pre-sellers how many tickets may still be available.
“It creates a vibe so people are willing to pay a higher price if they think there’s a limited amount of tickets available,” de Bellefeuille said.
All this creates a confusing landscape for consumers.
A class-action lawsuit
Some of these issues are at play in the class-action lawsuit Chosen Consommateurs is trying to get approved against Quebec ticket broker Billets.ca.
Nathalie Gravel, the lead plaintiff in the case, bought tickets on the site in September 2022 to see Quebec comedian Dominique Paquette perform.
Gravel didn’t know it was a resale site.
“She didn’t know because it actually looked like a real site, like Ticketmaster. She thought she was buying tickets at the right place,” Marie-Anas Sauve, the lawyer leading the class action, told CBC in an interview.
It was only when Gravel attended the show three months later that she realized she had bought resale tickets – and that she had paid double the face value.
The class action alleges that Billets.ca violated the law by not disclosing that the tickets were being resold, by not showing the original price and by not obtaining the producer’s consent to charge more than face value.
The lawsuit argues that Billets.ca is more than just an intermediary between buyers and sellers.
“They pretend that they are not traders. If they are not traders, the Consumer Protection Act does not apply to them. We strongly oppose this,” Sauve said.
“They are a business that makes money from this business,” he said.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the difference between the face value of Gravel’s ticket and the amount she paid.
Sauvé is inviting other people with the same experience to join the class action.
“We think there are thousands of people who bought tickets this way, and we think this is going to be a major case,” Sauve said.
The lawsuit has yet to be approved and none of the allegations have been tested in court.
Billets.ca declined to comment.
Other provinces have tried and failed
Other provinces tried to find solutions to high ticket resale prices and were later forced to back down.
Manitoba had a long-standing ban on any resale of tickets at higher prices, but the province Removed the ban In 2023, nothing was done to stop the out-of-province resale after it was found.
Option Consémètures de Bellefeuille said this is a challenge for Quebec as it tries to come up with new regulations.
“Sometimes the platforms are in other countries. How do you manage that? How do you suggest a company based in China or the United States?” she said.
Ontario has tried to limit the amount a ticket can be resold to 50 per cent of the original face value, but moved backIt concluded that the rule was unenforceable.
Fans tell us they are fed up with the high cost of tickets. Former Ticketmaster CEO says stop complaining. And an insider gives us the inside scoop on how much he makes from reselling.
De Bellefeuille admitted that this approach would not work.
“How much is a ticket really worth? If someone wants to re-buy something from another person, it’s hard to say whether there should be a cap or not,” he said.
“If you’re willing to pay three times what I paid, this is a show you really want to attend, it’s a person-to-person situation,” de Bellefeuille said.
“But when it comes to websites and resellers, we think the law should make it clear that they have responsibility,” he said.
Late last year a bipartisan group of US senators introduced new legislation called the Fans First Act to protect consumers from high ticket prices. But that law includes mostly familiar measures already adopted in various parts of Canada: more transparency, banning bots, strengthening penalties.
Profit versus justice
De Bellefeuille says just because there is no easy solution to the problem doesn’t mean governments shouldn’t try.
The whole issue is really a question of legitimacy, he said.
“If the show is really popular and people are willing to pay a higher price, that’s one thing,” de Bellefeuille said.
“But because all the tickets are bought or sold very fast it creates a situation where people have to pay a higher price for a regular show, something is wrong with that,” he said.
PWHL fan Pat Coveney has lost hope.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever see a game. It’s too expensive. And I want to go, believe me,” he said.
“Robots, or whatever you call them, bots, they’re buying blocks of tickets and scalpers are selling them and they recognize that. If it’s not Ticketmaster, it’s scalpers,” Coveney said.
“They’re pricing themselves out of the average guy or woman who gets a ticket,” he said.
Everything is about money and that is the problem, he said.
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