21% of Millennials have been scammed when purchasing sports tickets online, according to new Aventus survey

Following our recent research into U.S. consumers’ experiences with online ticketing, we wanted to find out more about some of the issues specific to the millions of people who buy tickets to sporting events every year. As we have seen over the last few years, the process can be increasingly costly, frustrating and dangerous due to rampant fraud, scalping and unrealistic resale-market prices.

We surveyed over 1000 sports ticket-buyers in the U.S. to find out their attitudes to gauge how often people are scammed, and identify frustrations and feelings towards established online ticketing websites. Here are some of the key findings:

79% of respondents would attend more events if purchasing tickets to sports events online felt more secure

A consistent fear facing consumers is that tickets purchased online will be fake or fraud, which is why it’s crucial for the industry to create better ways for people to purchase tickets. A huge majority (79%) of those polled said they would go to more sports games if they felt more confident in their purchasing of tickets. 44% of those surveyed felt that resale sites like StubHub, Craigslist or Gametime are not safe places to buy online sports tickets, with an overwhelming 86% of people thinking the tickets on resales sites are fake.

17% have been scammed online with Millennials being disproportionately affected at 21%

It seems that consumer fears are not misplaced. Of those surveyed, more than one in five Millennials have purchased a sports ticket later found to be a scam. Of those scammed, nearly a third (30%) have lost $50 or more, and nearly half (46.9%) have been scammed when purchasing tickets to a playoff game. These scams aren’t just one time occurrences either; over a third of consumers scammed (36.9%) were scammed between two and three times, and nearly ten percent (8.9%) were scammed up to five times. The figures show that this is a real and current issue that is costing consumers money each and every day, as well as eroding trust in the industry as a whole.

36% are willing to pay double face value of playoff tickets

We know that consumers are more than willing to pay way over the odds to gain access considerable amounts of money to attend sporting events, especially playoff games and championships. Nearly three-quarters (72.4%) of those surveyed were willing to pay up to 50% over face value on football tickets, and over a third (36.3%) were willing to play double the face value on playoff tickets. However we also know that concerns around scams and fake tickets are limiting potential sales revenues and contributing to negative experiences for fans with 74% of respondents worried about being scammed when purchasing tickets online.

The commitment sports fans feel to their teams is second to none and it’s clear that this passion makes them even more vulnerable to the scams of online ticket touts. The desire to get seats at the biggest games so they can support their clubs means they are willing to further to see the biggest games and almost any price. It’s a huge shame if this enthusiasm was further damaged by the erosion of trust in the industry. We know that the tools and technology to change the event ticketing industry for the better already exist. It’s crucial that the stakeholders from venues to teams and sellers must come together to implement the changes that will protect fans and restore this trust.

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