After the Taylor Swift Eras tour fiasco last month, one would assume that Ticketmaster would be on top of its game not to upset another fandom. However, on Friday night, hundreds of Bad Bunny fans were denied entry into Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, a stadium with a capacity of 87,000 people, for a sold-out concert. Fans claimed that the venue told them their tickets were invalid, and photos showed the general-admission field of the stadium half empty a few minutes before Bad Bunny took the stage. While the show went on as planned, many fans were upset that they could not see Benito live and raised more concerns about how Ticketmaster is handling stadium-size events worldwide, especially with one more concert to go tonight. Below are the developing details of the aftermath of Friday’s Bad Bunny concert in Mexico City.
What happened?
Bad Bunny’s concert in Mexico City on December 9 was not at capacity despite being a sold-out concert. Many fans camped out for days before Friday’s show to ensure they’d enter the venue on time. However, numerous fans were denied entry into the stadium for various reasons; the security claimed people had fake tickets, duplicated tickets, or canceled tickets. Some fans even had their tickets confiscated at check-in as security suggested they were using resold or counterfeit tickets, despite them buying their tickets directly from Ticketmaster. Fans told CNN that they saw that their tickets were scanned with a green check mark, meaning it was a valid ticket, yet, they were not allowed inside the venue.
How did Ticketmaster respond?
Ticketmaster released a statement claiming that there was an unprecedented number of fake tickets, which caused confusion and affected some patrons with valid tickets. Fans were advised to report their issues with Ticketmaster to get a refund for their tickets, as long as there was an electronic record showing they couldn’t get in. The venue, Estadio Azteca, released a statement of its own that said any ticket that was duplicated became invalid, causing those with tickets bought from Ticketmaster to be canceled.
As for what will change for Saturday night’s concert, Ticketmaster stated it is taking precautions for tonight’s show and for fans to stay updated on Ticketmaster channels for any news.
What’s gonna happen to Ticketmaster?
PROFECO’s Ricardo Sheffield announced in an interview that Ticketmaster MX would be fined up to 10% of their ticket sales in the past year. However, the official fine will be determined in the next week. Sheffield claimed, “There were no fake tickets. Ticketmaster said there were fake tickets, but they issued the tickets. They made more tickets. It’s an elegant way of overselling tickets.”
