West Ham United soldier on with new Ticketmaster deal despite Oasis controversy
West Ham United are persisting with a deal with Ticketmaster despite the recent controversy regarding the platform’s Oasis concert sales.
The deal extension will see the club surpass over a decade of working with the renowned ticket sale site, which has endured a lot of negative media portrayal in recent weeks due to their handling of supplying Oasis fans for the band’s hugely anticipated reunion gigs.
Ticketmaster’s site crashed or bugged out for many hopeful customers, many of whom had queued for most of the initial sale date before they either missed out or were given an ultimatum to pay “dynamic pricing” based on demand.
Some fans parted with up to £356 for tickets originally priced at a maximum of £150 for the concerts in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Dublin.
Senior commercial figures at the Hammers have however elected to continue their partnership with the platform, as reported by FC Business.
The club’s Director of Ticketing, Nicola Keye, expressed their delight at securing the extension: ““Our relationship continues to go from strength to strength, as we collectively drive our digital ticketing solutions forward.”
West Ham extend Ticketmaster deal amid Oasis controversy
It’s difficult timing from a public relations point of view for Ticketmaster, after the pressure from handling the Oasis sales resulted in a mass backlash from devastated fans.
The situation would look different for West Ham, admittedly. What works for the club has no reason to be disposed of.
It appears the Irons and Ticketmaster enjoy a well-functioning partnership which benefits both parties, as well as the 60,000-plus supporters who flock to the London Stadium at least 19 times a year.
Recent ticketing controversy surrounding the club came not via their third-party sales platform, but rather their “outrageous” pricing – Saturday’s game against Chelsea is costing £50 for under-18s even at a discount, while general sale tickets are commanding up to £120 [Jacob Steinberg, 12 August].
West Ham are a proud East London entity, part of the fabric of many working-class docker families and the next generation are being priced out – a case in point for the large majority of Premier League clubs today. That is the primary issue here, rather than their partnership with Ticketmaster, whether you managed a pair of Oasis tickets for Wembley or not.
In other West Ham news, concern flares up over Michail Antonio as the club’s leading striker.
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