StubHub hits back at Pats in battle over ticket resales

StubHub Inc. called a daring play in its legal turf war with the New England Patriots yesterday, accusing the team of violating the Massachusetts antiscalping law and attempting to monopolize the resale of its own tickets.

The countersuit by the San Francisco ticket reseller comes roughly one month after the Patriots sued StubHub for encouraging fans to flout the state's antiscalping law and the team's prohibition against reselling Patriots tickets for a profit. Patriots tickets routinely sell on StubHub for hundreds of dollars above face value.

Daniel Goldberg, an attorney representing the Patriots, called StubHub's countersuit "ridiculous."

In its suit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, StubHub said the Patriots have attempted to monopolize the ticket resale market by revoking the tickets of any fan caught reselling them anywhere but on the club's own TeamExchange website, which is operated by Ticketmaster , the nation's leading ticketing firm.

Even though TeamExchange prohibits resales above face value, StubHub said the team's ticket resale service violates the state antiscalping law, which prohibits resales of more than $2 above face value.

StubHub said TeamExchange violates the law by collecting $100 from most would-be ticket buyers, those on the team's season-ticket waiting list, and charging a fee equal to 10 percent of the purchase price.

"If anyone has violated the state statute on ticket resale, it is the Patriots themselves," StubHub said in its complaint.

Goldberg, the Patriots attorney, said the whole point of an antiscalping law is to rein in ticket markups and the whole point of a monopoly is to raise prices.

Yet Goldberg pointed out that the maximum fee collected by TeamExchange is $12.50, or 10 percent of the value of the highest-price ticket of $120. He said the entire fee is pocketed by Ticketmaster, with no money going to the Patriots.

"It is, frankly, a foolish claim when you think about it," Goldberg said of StubHub's assertion.

The legal wrangle pits the team that Ticketmaster says has the most requested sports ticket in the nation (Red Sox tickets are sold by another ticketing firm) against one of the fastest-growing ticket resellers in the country. The two companies are battling over an antiquated state law that is rarely enforced and headed for a possible overhaul in the Legislature.

Massachusetts is one of relatively few states left in the nation that tightly restrict the resale of tickets. In many states, professional and college sports teams have moved aggressively into the resale market themselves.

In its complaint, StubHub noted that the San Diego Chargers, the Washington Redskins, and the University of Southern California have partnered with the company on ticket resales.

Senator Michael W. Morrissey of Quincy, who is spearheading an effort to rewrite the Massachusetts ticket laws, said the Patriots-StubHub legal dispute demonstrates how complicated the issue is.

"The Massachusetts law is well-intentioned but unenforceable," the Democrat said. "Technology has bypassed the law."

Morrissey said he is crafting a bill that would revamp the way ticket resales are regulated. He said he is still trying to decide whether to lift the cap on ticket resale markups or raise it to two to three times above face value.

The senator said he also plans to address initial ticket sales in his bill, perhaps by placing a cap on the convenience charges assessed by firms like Ticketmaster and regulating what venues can charge for facility fees.

One crucial issue in the legislative debate is who controls a ticket after it has been sold by a team or music act. The Patriots insist their tickets are revocable licenses that can only be resold subject to the team's rules.

StubHub, in its complaint, said the Patriots were wrong in asserting that the resale of Patriots tickets violates Massachusetts law and wrong to revoke the tickets of fans who do so.

"There are a host of ticket resales permitted by the law, and still others that are outside the scope of the law," the complaint said. "Patriots ticket holders have every right to make such sales through StubHub."

The Patriots accused StubHub last month of essentially helping consumers to violate the state's antiscalping law.

The team also sued two Bridgewater residents who allegedly resold their season tickets on StubHub after the tickets had been revoked for earlier illegal resales.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com.