Ticketmaster takeover at Budweiser Gardens has concertgoers worried about prices
Matthew Trevithick | CBC News | Posted: July 5, 2024 9:00 AM | Last Updated: July 5
Ticketmaster chosen after competitive bidding process, venue spokesperson says
Budweiser Gardens has switched to live entertainment behemoth Ticketmaster as its main ticket provider, a move one expert says could lead to bigger performers coming to London, but not cheaper tickets.
The downtown London venue officially made the switch on Monday, moving away from its longtime ticket provider, Paciolan.
Ticket holders were informed of the news through email, and a page on Budweiser Gardens' website directs people to a portal to manage any tickets purchased before July 1.
Concertgoers "shouldn't be expecting a discount on the price of their tickets," said Daniel Tsai, a business and law professor at Queen's University and the University of Toronto.
"It's fewer choices for consumers, and it means concertgoers have, effectively, one player to deal with when it comes to getting their concert tickets."
News of the Ticketmaster change elicited largely negative responses on social media sites dedicated to London activities, with some users worried about higher prices.
Fanshawe College student Finch Neve told CBC News that the idea of having to deal with Ticketmaster made him less likely to consider events at the arena.
"Why would I put myself through that when I could just go to Toronto and go to a better show that I probably wouldn't have to deal with it?"
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Budweiser Gardens, which is managed and operated by Oak View Group (OVG) under its OVG360 division, said the venue regularly assessed all service providers and conducted "a competitive bidding process to select the optimal ticketing platform."
"Ultimately, we chose the provider we believe will most effectively serve our venue and customers."
A request to interview the venue's new general manager, Kelly Austin, was not granted. Brian Ohl, who was general manager until June 30 and who now works as a project manager with OVG, declined to comment.
"The ticketing rights for Budweiser Gardens were put up for bid. Ticketmaster was selected as the winner of this RFP process based on the prices and technology offered," a Ticketmaster spokesperson said by email.
"This is a competitive outcome, pure and simple."
Budweiser Gardens is a public-private-partnership with the city leasing a portion of the land to a trust for 50 years. To further complicate the operating structure, the trust then leases the building to another partnership involving EllisDon Construction and OVG360.
OVG360 manages the venue on the partnership's behalf, and is responsible for the overall operation of Budweiser Gardens, which opened in 2002 as the John Labatt Centre.
In a statement, a city spokesperson said it had no involvement in the decision to move to Ticketmaster, or with other operational matters, unless specified in the lease agreement.
Ward 6 Coun. Sam Trosow, a vocal critic of the 50-year agreement, which expires in 2051 and provides the city with a share of operating revenue, said senior levels of government should take up the question around how ticket agencies are allowed to operate.
"These ticket agencies engage in a lot of sharp practices, and consumers need better protection. But there's nothing really, from a municipal point of view, with respect to this facility that can be done," Trosow said.
In 2018, a CBC News investigation found Ticketmaster had recruited scalpers to boost profits from the resale of sports and concert tickets. A Competition Bureau of Canada probe found no contraventions of the Competition Act.
The company was ordered to pay $4.5 million in a separate case for making allegedly misleading pricing claims for online tickets.
In October, council voted to put up $26 million toward a $33 million renovation to upgrade and expand the facility, with Trosow the only no vote.
Grooves record store employee Dan Ormsby told CBC News he believed the Ticketmaster switch was an inevitability.
"I imagine that is probably a big part of it, that Live Nation and Ticketmaster artists are big name draws, and without having the Ticketmaster name on their tickets, maybe they can't have them at their venue."
Getting bigger acts could potentially be a primary result from using Ticketmaster, Tsai said.
"The other issue, though, is these bigger acts have also been vocal about how Ticketmaster controls and funnels people to their concerts and sets the pricing for them," he said.
The company has taken heat in the past from artists including Pearl Jam, Zach Bryan, and the Cure's Robert Smith, who called out the firm last year over fees and dynamic pricing.
Ticketmaster says artists set the face value of their tickets, with the service fee rate card set by the venue.
In 2022, Ticketmaster's policies drew the ire of Taylor Swift after fans trying to get pre-sale tour tickets faced massive delays and errors. Ticketmaster blamed the incident on bots and unprecedented demand.
In May, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with 30 states and the District of Columbia, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, accusing it of running an illegal monopoly maintained through unlawful and anti-competitive conduct. Live Nation acquired Ticketmaster in 2010.
"Today, Live Nation possesses and routinely exercises control over which artists perform on what dates at which venues," the complaint states.
"Through Ticketmaster, Live Nation also possesses and exercises control over how fans are able to purchase tickets to see their favorite artists in concert and what fees those fans will pay to do so."
"It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster," said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The company has denied that it is violating antitrust laws. It said most service fees go to venues and that outside competition has "steadily eroded" its market share, adding it would defend itself against the allegations.
Live Nation manages more than 400 artists and owns or controls more than 265 venues across North America, handling at least 80 per cent of primary ticketing services for major venues, according to the complaint.
OVG is mentioned in the Department of Justice complaint, which alleges the two firms "colluded and established a partnership to allocate business lines, avoid competing with each other, and chart a mutually beneficial plan to cement Live Nation's dominance."
Live Nation denies the allegations, which have not gone to trial.