Getting A Good Concert Seat Not As Easy As It Used To Be
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Rolling Stones are rolling into town in June and their loyal fans are in a frenzy to get a choice seat for Mick and the boys.
But getting good seats is not as simple as it used to be.
Got your Stones tickets yet?
They don't officially go on sale until Monday, but thousands of fans have already bought theirs – or at least they hope so.
Tickets started appearing on secondary market sites like VividSeats two weeks ago. But the management at Heinz Field says beware.
"These other sites, some of them are real, some of them aren't and we warn people be careful what you buy and what sites that you visit," said Jimmy Sacco, Director of Stadium Managment.
Sacco says many of the so-called sellers have no tickets to sell. The brokers give approximate locations of tickets they hope to secure in the future and are asking buyers in some cases for more than $700 a seat.
"That makes for an unhappy customer and it ends up on us and we have no relationship with them," said Sacco.
Sacco says the only guaranteed site is Ticketmaster or the box office itself, starting Monday morning. But thousands of seats have already been sold legitimately through special pre-sale offers by various entities.
This includes American Express, the sponsor of the tour; Consol Energy Center, which is managed by AEG, the tour promoter; and Heinz Field itself, which offers tickets to Steeler season ticket holders.
"Pre-sales have really become part of the business now when you're doing events and it's really to take care of and help your ticket base," said Sacco.
But while pre-sales reward some customers, Sacco says they won't penalize the general public. He says there will still be plenty of good seats next week – at face value.
Tickets will go on sale on Monday, but the days of diehard fans camping out at the box office appear to be over. Most of them already have their tickets in hand, just by going online.
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