Letter from The England and Wales Cricket
Board (ECB) to the Chairman
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) welcomes
the decision of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
to call an inquiry into ticket touting.
The ECB is the governing body for cricket in
England and Wales. Our remit is to develop the game from Playground
to Test Arena.
By far our biggest concern with the impact of
touting is that it reduces the opportunities for genuine cricket
fans and families to attend matches.
The ECB, like most other sports, prices our
tickets not at the economic maximum level, but at a price which
we feel reflects our position as a national sport seeking to encourage
those who follow and play the game to attend major matches. This
policy is gradually being eroded by touts who are ever more sophisticated
in the way they secure tickets.
The ECB has contributed to submissions made
to your inquiry by the Five Sports (ECB, The FA, LTA, RFL and
RFU) and by the Sports Rights Owners Coalition (SROC). We fully
support the call for Government legislation to protect sport from
touting.
In addition to these submissions, the ECB thought
the following evidence would be helpful to the Committee's inquiry:
1. A recent independent survey the ECB commissioned
that demonstrates that 76% of people believe that regulations
against ticket touting are needed.
2. Details of correspondence that the ECB
entered into with eBay ahead of the last Ashes series asking them
to work with us, on a voluntary basis, to stop known touting.
This request was refused which leads us to conclude that a statutory
approach is required.
3. The requirement of the International
Cricket Council (ICC) that action is taken to prevent ticket touting
at the major Championships that have been awarded to the UK in
2009 and 2019.
76% of people agree (or strongly agree) that regulations
against touting are needed
The ECB recently commissioned Independent polling
on ticket touting. We wanted to secure objective confirmation
of our view that this was an issue on which there was widespread
support for action. We subsequently forwarded this evidence to
the DCMS Ticket Touting Summit and attach a copy of the evidence
with this submission.
The Committee will see that only 6% of the public
are favourable to the actions of ticket touts and internet auction
sites. 76% of people agree (or strongly agree) with the statement
`there should be regulation or government legislation of ticket
sales to sporting events to prevent touts selling them at greater
than face value'. Just 7% disagree.
Voluntary action has not worked
The ECB has been one of the representatives
at the DCMS Ticket Touting summits. We welcomed the decision of
the Secretary of State to establish these. It has been a very
useful forum to discuss touting.
Initially it was hoped that voluntary action
could address this issue. A Statement of Principles was drawn
up by the Secretary of State to which all sides were asked to
abide. Unfortunately this has not been a success. Ahead of the
second summit, the Secretary of State expelled the Association
of Secondary Ticket Agents from attendance due to the fact that
their members were refusing to comply with even the most basic
of requirements.
At one of the Summits I raised with eBay the
touting of tickets that was occurring for the last Ashes series
held in Australia and asked for their help, within the spirit
of the statement of principles, to address this problem. Cricket
Australia had put in place stringent measures to prevent ticket
touting, including terms and conditions that made a ticket void
if it were sold on and other methods of ticket identification.
More than 3,000 tickets were cancelled in this way.
Despite this approach and the accompanying warnings
by Cricket Australia, tickets to the value of approximately £10,000
were being traded each day in the weeks leading up to the Ashes.
In some cases, as in England in 2005, some of these tickets did
not actually exist leading to supporters spending thousands of
pounds to travel to Australia only to be disappointed on arrival.
I attach for the Committee's information a copy
of this letter. Unfortunately I received no response and eBay
continued to allow tickets to be sold. Our conclusion is that
only statutory measures will be sufficient to protect sport and
our fans.
Meeting the International Cricket Council's requirements
for major events to be staged in the UK
Last year the ECB was delighted to have been
awarded the rights to stage the ICC Twenty20 World Championship
2009 and the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.These events will give
a great boost to cricket, helping us attract more people to the
game. They will also attract fans from all over the world.
The ECB bid was successful because we had wholehearted
support from the Government, and from across all political parties,
to work with us stage a successful tournament. At the time of
bidding, we communicated to DCMS Ministers and officials that
one of the ICC's requirements was for their to be effective protection
against ticket touting at these tournaments.
Richard Caborn made the following statement
at the time of the announcement:
"I congratulate the ECB for winning
the right to host the ICC Twenty20 World Championship 2009 and
the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. The ECB have put together a bid
that will ensure not just wonderful tournaments but also a lasting
sporting legacy, and involvement of cricket supporters from all
over the world. We will now work with both the ECB and ICC, giving
all support possible, to making these tournaments a success".
Since then the ECB, and the ICC Chief Executive,
have met with Richard Caborn to discuss this issue. We have also
raised it at the Ticket Touting Summits. We are very encouraged
that at a recent meeting the Secretary of State acknowledged that
this was an important issue and had asked her officials to draw
up measures for protecting major sporting events.
June 2007
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