Cricket fans lost out at the recent fourth men’s Ashes Test at Manchester’s Emirates Old Trafford due to purchasing unauthorised tickets through resale platform, Viagogo.
Commenting on the matter of Viagogo and resale in the UK on LinkedIn, Daniel Gidney, chief executive of Lancashire County Cricket Club and Emirates Old Trafford, said: “We have just concluded the fourth men’s Ashes Test in Manchester. The first ever UK sports event to be 100% blockchain. This helped to reduce unauthorised touting, however some customers had their day ruined because Viagogo enabled them to buy something that wasn’t there to buy.”
David Hornby, managing director, Northern Europe, UK and Ireland, Secutix, added: “The only loser is the real fan in this debate with Viagogo. The platform continues to misrepresent the wishes and terms and conditions set by rights holders. It’s a platform enabling the re-marketing [of] tickets for touts/bots.
“This week the Open and the Ashes at Emirates Old Trafford have seen hundreds of fans massively disappointed and misled by sellers on Viagogo – if an event is 100% digital using a secure mobile wallet app, then please make sure you are only buying [through] approved channels and re-sale platforms – otherwise you will be disappointed and lose money.”
Secutix was brought in as Lancashire County Cricket Club’s ticketing partner in 2018.
Recently, Viagogo’s managing director Cris Miller said that the way to change the perception of secondary resale in the UK is to speak to and educate rights holders.
Miller told Sport Industry Group: “We [the industry] have a job to do, to make sure that we have the opportunity to speak to and educate rights holders, which is really only done effectively in a conversation like this. It’s very difficult to do when you’re just getting little sound bites from a story.”
He added: “We’re going door-to-door to try to explain the value that we provide and how they can tap into it. It may not be for everybody, but to us it feels like there’s a lot of alignment and, ultimately, it’s about addressing where there might be misconceptions and finding a way to have a partnership that can be very beneficial to all three parties – rights holders, Viagogo and, most importantly, the fans.”
Australia went on to retain the Ashes following a washout on the fifth day at Emirates Old Trafford. The final game in the series will take place at The Oval and will begin later this week.
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