Texas has never played as large a role in the history of the World Cup as it has this year.
A total of 16 games are on the schedule here in the Lone Star State, including a semifinal in Arlington. Nosebleed seats to that game are currently around $3,500 on StubHub at last check.
StubHub is a ticket reselling platform, one that Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced an investigation into. According to a press release from his office last week, some of the folks emptying their bank accounts to see these games aren’t getting what they expected.
Megan Menchaca, a senior reporter with the Houston Chronicle who has been following this story, joined Texas Standard with the details. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: This press release from Paxton’s office mentions an issue called “ghost ticketing.” Sounds pretty scary. What is it and how does it come into play here?
Megan Menchaca: Sure, so ticket resale platforms like StubHub don’t sell tickets directly, but they’re a marketplace that allows people to list seats for events like the World Cup and then sell them to potential buyers.
Ghost ticketing is when someone lists a ticket that they don’t own, collects payment for the ticket and then cancels or never provides the ticket to someone who has purchased them.
Well, has there been any response from StubHub to this investigation?
Sure, so StubHub said under their policy, if there is an issue with the ticket, the company will provide comparable replacement tickets or a full refund to the buyer. They said the company is working tirelessly to resolve ticket transfer issues and get every fan into their World Cup matches.
The issue that arises though, is when someone has booked flights, hotels, and made plans around attending a game in a certain city, and sometimes there is not a comparable ticket to provide even if someone gets that refund for the ticket under the policy.
The policy does not cover refunds for all the travel costs that someone spent under the assumption that they were going to attend the game.
Yeah, I was going to say, is there any recourse that the company is providing? They’re saying “we’re not going to pay for your travel,” but then what do you do if you’ve bought the ticket and then bought everything it would take to actually take advantage of it?
So first, if someone has an issue, StubHub’s policy notes to contact their customer service team about getting those comparable tickets or getting a refund. After that, if somebody in Texas has purchased a World Cup ticket through StubHuB and didn’t receive them or received inferior tickets, they can file a complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
It’s unclear what exactly this will lead to. Obviously they can’t give you a ticket to a game that happened in the past. But Paxton says he will use every tool available to hold StubHub accountable if they are responsible for this ghost ticketing.
Anything else in this press release from Paxton’s office that caught your eye?
I think it’s important to note that the only guaranteed place to get tickets is of course the FIFA website, which has an official resale exchange marketplace where people can sell and buy those tickets.
However, many of those tickets are sold out and oftentimes places like StubHub are the only places where people get those tickets.
At the end of the day, you simply cannot guarantee that someone who has promised to sell you something will back out at the last minute, particularly given the really high demand for these World Cup tickets. But it’s worth noting that many many people buy tickets off of StubHub and other platforms like them with no issue.
I’m curious as to why this would be such an issue for the attorney general right now, given everything else that’s going on in this state. How big of an issue is this from what you can tell?
So this is not the only investigation or not the only issue that the attorney general is looking into. They have a consumer complaint form that people can fill out for a variety of different issues.
So it’s not just the StubHub-only complaint where just if people have issues with StubHub they can fill up this form. It also notes in this form that the complaint may just be reviewed for informational purposes, helping the attorney general monitor consumer protection issues throughout Texas.
So it’s not necessarily that the attorney general’s promising you’ll get your money back or you’ll your travel plans reimbursed. It’s just helping to inform this investigation.
Is there any way folks can avoid getting caught out by these resellers like StubHub, other than FIFA? Is that the only one?
Ideally, going through the FIFA website to get those tickets or someone that you know or someone that you are trusting. Sometimes people who are on the internet aren’t necessarily who they appear to be.
Also, shopping over multiple sites. As you mentioned, StubHub is not the only ticket resale site in the country to service in Texans in the state. So looking at different websites and trying to find the best seat that is going to match the experience that you want to have.
