Doug Ford says his government is considering legislation to limit outrageous resale prices form ticket scalpers (Courtesy: fordnationdougford/Instagram).
Premier Doug Ford says he’s taking another look at ticket resale limits as Jays fans get hit with crazy prices for World Series seats.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he’s revisiting capping ticket resale prices as Toronto Blue Jays fans are facing exorbitant prices for the World Series.
Ford called out Ticketmaster Wednesday afternoon accusing them of gouging prices.
“When you have one player in the market that controls the tickets, that’s not right for the people. So, we’re actually right now considering legislation,” he said to reporters at Queen’s Park.
World Series tickets went on sale on Tuesday and sold out quickly, however resale tickets are now available on Ticketmaster and other resale prices for many times the face value.
As of publication, a section 500 ticket recently sold for $1,556 on Stubhub making it almost triple the face value price posted with the listing.
In 2019, the Ford government paused and then subsequently scrapped a law as part of the Ticket Sales Act, proposed by the Liberal government, which included a 150 per cent cap on ticket resale prices.
While shelving this portion of the act did not help matters for concertgoers and sports fans, other elements of the law targeting scalping bots have continued to be in effect. At the time, the Ford government said there was no way of enforcing the cap.
The Ontario government previously said in a memo to CBC News that it would be upholding the police to enforce portions of the new law without additions to current resources, which only increased skepticism.
Though a price cap would be problematic for ticket and ticket resale websites, like Ticketmaster, Stubhub and SeatGeek, there is no clear explanation on how this would prevent individuals from making a profit.
On Wednesday, the Ontario Liberals issued another motion to reinstate the policy to put a cap on ticket prices.
FANS REACT TO WORLD SERIES PRICES
Online, fans are continuing to react to the skyrocketing prices, as Game 1 of the World Series is set for Friday at Rogers Centre.
Upset Canadians took to social media to voice their concerns with the crazy resale ticket prices.
How much are Canadians willing to pay for World Series tickets?
With the current resale prices for the Jays World Series tickets in the market, it’s evident that resellers are going to continue to increase prices as long as folks are willing to buy them.
Instead of spending hundreds of dollars, many Torontonians we spoke to are planning to tune into the action elsewhere.
“I looked this morning, Game 1 and… it’s gonna be fun on the couch,” Andrew S. said.
Victor says he saw prices for more than $1000 and doesn’t think his budget “could handle it.”
Meanwhile, one fan said they would pay $500 to $600 to see the Jays in action.
Another said they would be willing to pay $1,000 to see Canada’s team compete.
