Setback for ticket reseller
Judge tells firm to reveal sources, its costs for seats
A Weymouth ticket reseller yesterday was ordered to identify who supplied it with tickets to seven Boston Red Sox games in 2005 and how much it paid for them.
Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven dismissed arguments made by Admit One Ticket Agency that disclosing its ticket sources for games the Red Sox played against the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles would devastate its business.
Coven ordered Admit One, which operates the RedSoxTix.com website, to turn over the information to Dorchester resident Colman Herman, who is suing the reseller for alleged violations of the state's antiscalping law.
Herman alleges Admit One violated the law in 2005 when it asked $500 for a Red Sox-Yankees ticket with a face value of $80. The state's antiscalping law limits markups by resellers to $2 above face value plus certain expenses. Admit One has indicated in court papers that it considers its $420 markup legitimate because nearly all of it was for expenses allowed under the law.
The case comes as lawmakers on Beacon Hill are saying the law is unworkable and should be revamped or scrapped. For years, state regulators and law enforcement officials have ignored the law. A pending bill would allow resellers such as Admit One to sell tickets for three times face value.
Herman said Coven's ruling should help him prove his case because it "requires the release of information that will lay bare the fact that [resellers] are operating in egregious violation of the law."
The attorney for Admit One, Joel G. Beckman, said he had not seen the judge's order and declined to comment. In court testimony this week, Beckman said Admit One had acquired its tickets from another licensed reseller, whom he declined to identify.
In his ruling, Coven said Admit One's disclosing the source or sources of its tickets would allow Herman to check the accuracy of statements Admit One has made about the tickets it purchased.
Admit One has said it is impossible to say how much it paid for Yankees tickets because it bought Fenway season ticket packages. Admit One said it paid $135,550 in 2005 for 14 loge box seat season tickets with a face value of $90,720. The transaction netted the company 1,134 tickets to 81 games at an average purchase price of nearly $120, about 50 percent above face value. Admit One said it resold 1,084 of those tickets for a total of $231,627, at an average price of $214.
Coven said it is unlikely that Admit One's ticket suppliers will peddle their tickets elsewhere if their names are disclosed. Even if they did, he said, the company would lose only about 13 percent of its 2005 revenue of nearly $1.8 million.
The Red Sox prohibit their season-ticket holders from reselling tickets anywhere but on the team's website, where they are made available for face value plus a 24 percent fee, which goes to the team.
Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com. 
