A bill that would allow season-ticket holders for the Denver Broncos and other sports teams to sell their tickets for a profit made it out of a Senate committee today but only after several senators expressed misgivings.
After the committee’s 4-1 vote in favor of the bill, Broncos officials said they planned to send out letters to fans to whip up opposition.
Joe Ellis, chief operating officer for the Broncos, said the bill is the result of lobbying by ticket brokers — who want to sell tickets for a profit — not individual fans. He said the committee sent a mixed message by passing the bill.
“It sounds like they’re against ticket scalping but they’re for certain people selling their tickets for a profit,” Ellis said. “We’re trying to figure out the difference.”
Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, is sponsoring SB 24 and has said the issue is one of fairness. The tickets belong to fans, not the Broncos, she said.
Tochtrop said she filed the bill in response to a Broncos crackdown last year on fans who were selling their tickets for a profit online. The team only permits fans to resell their tickets at face value, something supporters of the bill said restricts people from making a profit on tickets as well as selling them for less than face value during losing years.
Tochtrop said she was annoyed that the Broncos sent a letter to everyone on the Senate committee hearing the bill but her. The letter said the bill would permit “the wholesale scalping of tickets,” making tickets hard to afford for a majority of fans and changing the culture inside the stadium.
The letter also said that last summer, 41 accounts representing 211 seats had been revoked for reselling tickets on online sites such as eBay, StubHub and Craigslist.
Broncos officials over the last week have been negotiating with supporters of the bill, including a group called Fans for Fairness, which says it represents ticket brokers as well as individual fans. The talks, though, produced no compromise, and tension between the Broncos and supporters of the bill was evident today.
Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, cast the lone vote against the bill. He said the committee was rushing the measure through the process without fully considering its ramifications.
Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, voted for the bill but admitted he was “still really conflicted.”
Even Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo and the chairman of the committee, had concerns about the bill, despite voting for it.
“I think we’re messing with something that could potentially have some impacts we’re not aware of,” Tapia said.
The bill now can head to the full Senate.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
