Industry News

Golden State Warriors issue ticket fraud alert

NBA basketball franchise Golden State Warriors has issued a fraud alert after witnessing a rise in counterfeit tickets so far during the 2017-18 season.

Since the season tipped off in October, the Warriors have been forced to turn more than 300 fans away at its Oracle Arena home.

The primary reason is that people are presenting staff with counterfeit game tickets.

In a statement on Thursday, the Warriors said 17 fans were denied access to Oracle Arena for Wednesday’s win against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The team has issued a fraud alert in which it discourages fans from buying single-game tickets from a non-verified third party.

Warriors are coming up to a busy period in the season, with six home games in the next 10 days – creating a higher risk of fans purchasing fraudulent tickets.

Earlier this year, the Warriors announced it would become the first team in the league to introduce personal seat licences that season ticket holders would need to obtain for its move to Chase Center.

Warriors officials said that in order to secure a season ticket at the team’s new privately financed $1bn (£769m/€869m) home, which is set to open in 2019, fans will be required to pay an additional fee for the right to buy those tickets.

Currently, the club provides 14,500 seats for its most dedicated fans at its 19,600-seat Oracle Arena home in Oakland, which will be cut back to 12,000 when it moves to the 18,000-capacity Chase Center in San Francisco in 2019.