Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: FIFA price fixed World Cup tickets, fans allege, (Sep 11, 2015)

By Greg Hammond, J.D.

The Federation Internationale Football Association (FIFA) conspired to “substantially mark up” tickets sold to Americans for the 2014 Men’s World Cup in Brazil, in violation of American, Brazilian, and FIFA’s laws and regulations, two fans have alleged in a complaint filed in the federal district court in Las Vegas (Palivos v. Federation Internationale Football Association, September 8, 2015).

Vicki Palivos and George Kleanthis assert in their class action complaint that, in an effort to maximize revenues and profits associated with the 2014 World Cup, FIFA entered into various contracts with marketing companies to commercialize the media and marketing rights to the event. Specifically, FIFA appointed Match Hospitality AG as the exclusive rights holder of the FIFA Hospitality Programme, which included the sale of match tickets to the World Cup. Match Hospitality then appointed SportsMark Management Group, Ltd. as its exclusive sales agent in the United States and SportsMark appointed Cartan Tours, Inc. as its authorized sub-agent, which allegedly touted itself as providing “exclusive and official travel and ticketing services” to the World Cup.

According to Palivos and Kleanthis, Brazilian law and FIFA’s governing rules prohibit the sale of match tickets for more than face value. The plaintiffs allege, however, that FIFA and the other defendants circumvented Brazilian law and FIFA’s regulations by bundling tickets into “hospitality packages.” The defendants also purportedly used the media to announce that “match tickets were sold out,” except for tickets the defendants and their agents and distributors possessed, creating an alleged “limited supply, high demand” situation. Palivos and Kleanthis claim that this amounted to a conspiracy to price fix and to inflate the price of World Cup tickets. While the face value of each ticket the plaintiffs attempted to purchase was $135, they paid over $700 per ticket.

The plaintiffs claim that FIFA and the other defendants: (1) conspired in restraint of trade to artificially raise, fix, maintain, and/or manipulate prices for tickets sold to Americans to attend the 2014 World Cup, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act; (2) monopolized and attempted to monopolize the market for 2014 World Cup tickets sold in the United States, in violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act; (3) illegally tied the purchase of 2014 World Cup tickets to the purchase of “hospitality” packages, which disguised the defendants’ unlawful sale of tickets at more than face value, in violation of Section 3 of the Clayton Act; and (4) violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The complaint also sets forth a claim for unjust enrichment and disgorgement of profits.

Palivos and Kleanthis seek to represent a class including all persons and entities residing in the United States who purchased tickets to attend one or more matches of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil via FIFA’s authorized United States sales agents offering official “hospitality” packages. They seek an award for damages and exemplary damages; pre-judgment and post-judgment interest; a constructive trust based on defendants’ unjust enrichment, from which class members may seek restitution and disgorgement of profits; as well as costs, expenses, and attorney fees.

The case number is 2:15-cv-01721-JCM-CWH.

Attorneys: Martin A. Little (Jolley Urga Woodbury & Little) and Will A. Lemkul (Morris Sullivan Lemkul & Pitegoff) for Vicki Palivos and George Kleanthis.

Companies: Federation Internationale Football Association; Match Hospitality AG; Match Services AG; InFront Sports & Media; SportsMark Management Group, Ltd.; Cartan Tours, Inc.

News: Antitrust RICO NevadaNews