StubHub Sued by World Cup Fans Over Ticket Cancellations

StubHub is being sued by customers who claim the ticket reseller's failure to fulfill World Cup orders prevented them from attending matches. Julia Reeker Moghal and Reuben Renteria of California filed a federal lawsuit in New York this week, alleging that "false and misleading" sales tactics resulted in them not receiving purchased tickets for group stage matches in November. The lawsuit aims to become a class action, asserting that Moghal and Renteria represent hundreds or thousands of fans who bought tickets that were either non-existent, revoked without notice, or invalidated due to issues identified by the tournament organizer, FIFA, as "poor digital infrastructure."

The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and are asking the court to prohibit StubHub from selling World Cup tickets in the future, with any profits from these sales to be redistributed to affected customers. StubHub has not commented on the lawsuit but stated that its "singular goal is to get fans into events" and that its "FanProtect Guarantee" offers replacement tickets or full refunds for any issues. The company also indicated that the problems fans encountered were largely due to the "event organizer's own ticketing infrastructure."

FIFA, the tournament organizer, encourages fans to purchase tickets through its official marketplace, which includes a 30% surcharge on resold tickets. In a statement, FIFA asserted it has "no visibility over, or control of, secondary market ticket transactions carried out on third-party platforms" and denied that its ticketing infrastructure caused the functional issues experienced by users of third-party platforms. For weeks leading up to the lawsuit, fans have voiced complaints on social media regarding undelivered tickets from resellers, last-minute cancellations, and orders that were ultimately unfulfilled.