The Oilers are temporarily going back to their old ticket system after implementing a new process and receiving complaints from fans.
The team banned paper tickets this year and instead implemented a new system to stop fraudulent tickets. Cell phones and season ticket cards were supposed to be the only way hockey fans could get into Rogers Place.
“Like the rest of the ticketing world around the globe, there is a huge migration towards digital-only tickets,” said Stew MacDonald, chief commercial officer of the Oilers Entertainment Group.
“What it does is it eliminates paper, which is where the majority of fraud comes from in any venue.”
The team deals with about a dozen cases of fake tickets—usually sold to unsuspecting guests—every game.
When it was launched, the new system required digital tickets or season ticket cards to be scanned at the entrance. And it worked for the first pre-season game.
But then, MacDonald said, a software issue caused the system to go down and resulted in delays for customers entering the arena.
The Oilers sent out an email to seat holders on Saturday, apologizing and writing, in part, “After an extensive review of the issue, the risk of these outages continuing is significant enough that we will be returning to the mobile ticket process you were familiar with in 2017-18.”
According to the CCO, the team has identified the issue, but will relax the new rules until the system has been fixed. Going forward, fans will be able to use their mobile device, season ticket card, or print a PDF of their ticket within 48 hours of the game.
“We believe that will get the pressure off the system this year, allow us to work through it. But the most important part for us is listening to our customers,” said the CCO. “The last thing we want is to come into a hockey game frustrated before the game even starts.”
MacDonald also said customers can purchase tickets through the resale site.
With files from Nahreman Issa
