TicketCity

TicketCity
Private
Founded Austin, Texas (1990)
Headquarters Austin, Texas
Key people
 Randy Cohen, Founder & CEO, Zach Anderson, COO
Products sports, concert and theatre tickets ticket exchange
Website

TicketCity is an American ticket broker and online marketplace headquartered in Austin, Texas. They buy and sell tickets to live events including sports, concerts, and theatre. The company was founded by Randy Cohen in 1990. They started out with four employees and one computer in a small office at Dobie Center. Today, TicketCity employs more than forty personnel and occupies an office building in central Austin.

Randy Cohen, the founder and Chief Energizing Officer, started selling tickets on the secondary market in 1988 while a student at the University of Texas at Austin. In March 1990, Cohen founded TicketCity and continues in the role of owner and CEO. More recently he has ventured into other areas including speaking engagements at local events and writing a business book titled "Ticket to the Limit".

TicketCity and TicketCity Sports Travel have formal relationships with professional teams, college athletic programs, championship events and NCAA conferences. In addition, in 2011 they became the title sponsor of the TicketCity Bowl and the TicketCity Legends Classic. The 2011 TicketCity Bowl featured the Northwestern Wildcats and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. TicketCity continued their sponsorship of the TicketCity Bowl in 2012, and the 2012 TicketCity Bowl featured a matchup between Penn State and Houston. In 2014, it was announced that TicketCity would take over as the title sponsor of the Cactus Bowl. The 2015 TicketCity Cactus Bowl was played on January 2, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. [1]

TicketCity's website (www.ticketcity.com) launched in 1996. On August 8, 1998 TicketCity released the first fully functioning e-commerce website in the ticketing industry. The site allowed consumers to purchase tickets online for the first time. TicketCity's website has received several major face lifts to make it more interactive and SEO competitive, including a major addition in 2001 that integrated TicketCity's proprietary Real Time Ticketing software, enabling users to buy inventory in confidence of ticket availability. It also received a makeover in July 2011 which included new features such as predictive text and interactive venue maps. The latest updates came in early 2014 with an overhaul of the color scheme, format and update to the event page listings to provide increased interactivity between the ticket listings and the interactive maps

In addition to the website, TicketCity heralds themselves as a personal service and they launched an ad campaign in 2011 promoting just this. TicketCity positions itself as the kinder, gentler event ticket provider relative to the Ticketmasters and StubHubs of the world.[2]

TicketCity joined forces with College Game Day Host Chris Fowler in May 2014 making him the official TicketCity Brand Ambassador.[3]

TicketCity has been a Better Business Bureau accredited business since 1996 and maintains an A+ rating.[4]

On Aug. 5, 2008, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott charged TicketCity with violating the state's Deceptive Trade Practices Act. It is alleged customers who attempted to buy tickets for the Beijing Summer Olympic Games complained that TicketCity did not honor their 200 percent refund when they could not deliver the tickets.

On June 17, 2011, Texas Attorney General Abbott reached a settlement with TicketCity. Under the terms of the agreed settlement, there is no admission of liability and no payment of penalties.[4] In order to resolve the State’s legal action, TicketCity provided the 200 percent refunds that it originally promised customers who purchased tickets to the opening ceremonies. They also were required to post a 120-day notice on their website informing eligible customers how to apply for refunds. Under today’s agreement, TicketCity customers who purchased Olympic tickets but never actually received them and unnecessarily incurred expenses associated with traveling to China may be eligible for additional restitution. TicketCity customers who purchased tickets to other events and experienced the same treatment from the defendant, also may be eligible for restitution.

In 2015, due to unprecedented demand for Super Bowl Tickets, a number of ticket brokers failed to deliver tickets that they had sold on ticket marketplaces such as TicketCity, Stubhub, and Vividseats. Some TicketCity customers were affected. TicketCity provided affected customers with full refunds and an additional $2,000 per ticket as retribution.

References

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