Cavaliers, Ticketmaster go to court over ticket sales

Tag : buy/sell contract

The Cavaliers are in a battle on a different kind of court thismonth, and LeBron James can't help them in this fight.
The Cavs and sister company Flash Seats are being sued in U.S.District Court in Cleveland by Ticketmaster, the leader of theticket-sales industry. Ticketmaster says the Cavs violated theircontract with the company when the basketball team establishedFlash Seats as a way for people to buy, sell or swap tickets. "Foreach ticket sold through Flash Seats that otherwise would have beensold through Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster loses revenue," lawyerRobert Platt said in the lawsuit.
The central issue in the case is whether an unsold ticket in anarea designated for season tickets should be classified as a seasonticket or a single-game ticket.
If it's a season ticket, the Cavs control the rights to it, butTicketmaster has the rights to selling single-game tickets.
About 60 percent of The Q's 20,500 seats are set aside for seasontickets. Ticketmaster contends that for games in which seasontickets go unsold, the Cavs sell those seats directly through FlashSeats, instead of releasing the tickets into a pool that would besold through Ticketmaster.
The Cavs and Flash Seats, both owned by Dan Gilbert, countersuedTicketmaster, saying the corporate giant is trying to squash FlashSeats' expansion in the competitive ticket-vending industry. Theysay the Flash Seats Web site is simply a convenient way for seasonticket holders to get rid of ducats they can't use, rather thanscalp them, sell them on eBay or let them go to waste.
The trial, before U.S. District Judge Kate O'Malley instead of ajury, included two days of testimony last week. Lawyers will submitwritten arguments, and O'Malley will rule next month.
Ticketmaster has had exclusive rights to all Cavs single-gameticket sales since the arena opened in 1993.
In 2005, the company paid the Cavs a $4.3 million advance to securethose rights, which run through 2010.
The Cavs have traditionally sold season tickets directly to fanswith no involvement from Ticketmaster, said Joseph Castrodale, alawyer for the Cavs and Flash Seats.
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