SCOTT MAXWELL Orlando Sentinel
May 20, 2013
Sir Paul McCartney finished his two sold-out shows last night in Orlando.
And if you’re still wondering who got pre-sale access to the show – the first shot at good seats and the coveted right to pay face-value to tickets – well, keep on wondering.
The city of Orlando has decided to keep that information secret.
Even though taxpayers built the arena, and the public owns it.
I wrote about this last month (“Orlando keeps secret about McCartney show”) when the city first refused to divulge information. Ever since, I’ve gone back and forth with city officials — as well as the First Amendment Foundation of Florida — trying to dive into the legality of this information hidden from taxpayers.
I argue that the keeping the info secret is load of malarkey. Taxpayers built the arena. They have every right to know who gets special access to it.
The city, however, says that Paul McCartney’s promoter, instructed them not to release the information – and that, since the city considers that info a “trade secret,” it is obligated to do as McCartney’s people say.
First Amendment Foundation director Barbara Petersen disagres, saying any documents and information the city gets should be a public record. But Petersen also conceded the subject is a grey area, since the city essentially rents out the arena to the artist.
Why should you care?
Because artists are increasingly selling off the majority of their tickets before the general public ever gets a shot.
Take Taylor Swift, for example. City records showed that, while tickets were advertised as going on sale to the “general public” for the first time on a Friday morning, more than 80 percent of the tickets had actually been sold long before that.
Pre-sales went to members of Swift’s fan club, AmEx credit-card holders, season-ticket-holders of the Orlando Magic, media and VIPs.
Many of the tickets end up in the hands of scalpers – professionals who know how to work the system and get on the pre-sale lists. That’s why you can sometimes find thousands of tickets to Orlando concerts on various online websites — for much higher than face value — before the tickets ever go on sale to the general public.
Mayor Buddy Dyer and the city of Orlando certainly didn’t invent this pre-sale system, which puts Average Joes at such a disadvantage. It was the industry — artists and promoters, sometimes working arm in arm with scalpers and third-parties.
But I argue that publicly owned facilities should at least be transparent with taxpayers about how their buildings are run — not just so that locals can learn the best way to get tickets to each show , but also because providing transparency is simply the right thing to do.
Copyright © 2013, Orlando Sentinel