Garth Brooks: Flood of Tickets Foils Flipping Plans

By Caroline Huey

Garth Brooks kicks off his five-concert stand in Lubbock Thursday night and fans are still searching for tickets. Luckily for them, it is a buyer’s market.

A quick perusal of StubHub shows that tickets can be purchased for as little as $9.18 for the Thursday show. To put that price in perspective, according to the Garth Brooks website, tickets can be purchased directly from AXS for $74.98 – a difference of $65.80.

Sydney Carpenter, a junior at Texas Tech, bought tickets for the concert with the intention of flipping them. She said her decision to make a little cash came after the intense initial demand for tickets, so she bought tickets for the Thursday show, which was released last.

“I bought the tickets with the intention of flipping them, knowing that it had been at least, I want to say, at least 20 years since Garth has been in Lubbock,” Carpenter said. “And knowing that it would be a big deal for West Texas because the USA really is the only, you know, big venue for performances.”

Her plans to turn a profit quickly went awry. Carpenter said because of her reluctance to sell her tickets on StubHub or another ticket service, she has had little interest. She said she thinks she would have more success selling the tickets on Facebook, but is unable to because she gave up social media for Lent.

Facebook is where many people have turned to buy and sell their Garth Brooks tickets. Carly Owen, a sophomore at Tech, said she bought two tickets for less than face value off of the TTU Sorority Yardsale Facebook page.

“It was $30 cheaper, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it definitely is,” Owen said with a laugh.

At the time of publication, there were over 15 concert tickets for sale on the TTU Sorority Yardsale page on Facebook. Carpenter said she believes the high volume of tickets available has devalued the tickets, making an undesirable market for those trying to sell.

Cindy Harper, the associate director for marketing and booking at the United Supermarkets Arena, said she sees a correlation between the
number of shows available and the success – or lack of – of scalpers.

“I think it’s admirable when artists make an effort to provide enough inventory for the fans that want to attend,” Harper said. “I think that can help deter the scalpers and third-party brokers.”

According to the Garth Brooks website, playing multiple shows in one venue is commonplace for the tour. The tour archive on the website
shows that Brooks played seven shows at the American Airlines Center in Dallas last fall.

Harper said she knew Brooks would play multiple shows in Lubbock and it was simply a matter of how many.

The tour’s marketing plan is designed to build suspense and intrigue around the shows, Harper said. She said the tour only announces a couple of dates at a time, so people are unsure whether or not Brooks will play in their city. As a result, Harper said the demand for tickets skyrockets.

“I’m sure that they thought that it would be hard for people to get ahold of tickets and probably purchased those with the thought of making some money, but they are realizing that fans can still buy direct through the source,” Harper said.

In fact, the venue opened up new seating areas for all five concerts on Tuesday. Harper said she believes those tickets are selling well.

The newly available seats are yet another blow to the scalpers trying to up sale the tickets.

“Unfortunately, the third-party brokers and scalping is something that I think that all venues face and all markets face,” Harper said.
“There’s continually new strategies implemented by ticket sellers, by tours, by artists to try to bring that down.”

Whether or not the Garth Brooks tour planned to curb scalping with multiple shows is up for debate. However, one thing is clear – you don’t need friends in low places to score a ticket to the concert, just StubHub.

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