49ers Sued in Season Ticket Resale Class Action Lawsuit

The San Francisco 49ers NFL team and Ticketmaster LLC are being sued in a season ticket resale class action lawsuit filed in California federal court by a football season ticket holder, alleging that restricting 49ers ticket resale to a Ticketmaster site until right before game day effectively violates antitrust laws.

Plaintiff Amir Kazemzadeh seeks to represent himself as well as all 49ers season ticket buyers for the 2015 year onward in this 49ers class action lawsuit, claiming the NFL team violated antitrust laws by requiring that season ticket holders resell their seats through Ticketmaster-operated NFL TicketExchange, if they are attempting to sell them 72 hours before game day. According to Kazemzadeh, this ticket policy introduced in 2015 burdens season ticket holders with mandatory fees and they are left unable to unable to sell their tickets for less than what they are worth.

“Competition by and among ticket websites would produce consumer benefits, including by stabilizing ticket prices and associated fees,” the 49ers season ticket resale class action lawsuit alleges. “Furthermore, if consumers were able to print their tickets and engage in advance sales that did not involve e-commerce, ticket websites and the Ticket Exchange would have to set fees and costs that account for this fact.”

According to Kazemzadeh, the San Francisco NFL team sells most of their home game tickets through the 49ers season package. As a result, season ticket holders like Kazemzadeh who cannot attend every game will often try to resell individual tickets. Until the recent policy change, season ticket holders had the option to resell these tickets via third-party websites such as StubHub and Vivid Seats, the ticket resale class action states.

Kazemzadeh claims he attempted to resell 2015 49ers tickets through one of the above named sites, and was allegedly informed by a 49ers representative that the NFL team would not release his tickets until 72 hours the game for resale, unless of course he wanted to resell the tickets through NFL TicketExchange.

The 49ers season ticket resale class action lawsuit alleges that this restriction by the 49ers football team prevents him and other season ticket holders from shopping around for a resale site that charges lower fees. This policy also allegedly prevents these same potential Class Members from printing the tickets and reselling them in this physical form as well.

Furthermore, some 49ers season ticket holders may choose to resell these football game tickets for less than face value, but with the new policy in place, they are barred from doing so. The plaintiff claims the NFL TicketExchange will not allow for a resale of tickets for less than what they are worth.

This is not the first time a sports fan has taken a team to task for secondary market sport ticket resale restrictions. Back in April, a proposed season ticket resale class action lawsuit was filed against the New Jersey Devils NHL team, which allegedly attempted to control the ticket resale market by restricting season ticket holders from reselling tickets to individual games.

The plaintiff is represented by Abbas Kazerounian of Kazerouni Law Group APC, Joshua B. Swigart and Naomi B. Spector of Hyde & Swigart and S. Masih Rezvanpour of RKR Legal APC.

The 49ers Season Ticket Resale Class Action Lawsuit is Kazemzadeh v. San Francisco 49ers, et al., Case No. 5:15-cv-03593, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.