Basketball ‘farce’ sparks refund talk by ACCC

Fans who travelled to Melbourne for a basketball game between Australia and the USA could be compensated, the ACCC says.

Fans were furious at the seating for last night's basketball at Marvel Stadium. Picture:Twitter/@drunk_logic

Fans who travelled to Melbourne for last night’s Australia vs USA basketball game may be compensated for flights and accommodation and have their tickets refunded if the consumer watchdog’s investigation finds that fans were misled about American superstars and restricted views.

Russell Crowe led a chorus of intense displeasure from spectators who attended last night’s at the more than 50,000 capacity Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, the first basketball match to be played in a football stadium in Australia.

Many of the most expensive tickets — which cost up to $1500 at courtside — were for plastic seats assembled on a flat gradient, with the playing surface elevated above their ground level.

@OlgunUluc this is the view from two seats that cost over $300 can’t see anything.... pic.twitter.com/yElTILXMpM

— Leanne Willis (@Willis43Willis) August 22, 2019

Basketball Australia and the event’s promoters, TEG Live, ­defended ticket prices as fair and pointed out there were “14 massive video screens to augment the live action”.

Australian Competition & Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said if TEG Live was found to have misled fans, then it might be forced to compensate for travel costs and accommodation for those who travelled from ­interstate. “We always do look at remedies to consumers when we’re looking at breaches of the act,” Mr Sims said.

He added that the ACCC would now examine the issue of restricted views, seven days after it launched an investigation into TEG Live over claims of misleading ads.

The only thing achieved tonight by @BasketballAus was enjoining with the promoters in ripping off well meaning lovers of the sport. It was a farce. https://t.co/M04iiL26Xm

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019

He said “a couple of hundred” complaints received before the game were related to the inclusion in ads of stars such as LeBron James and Stephen “Steph” Curry, who did not take part.

“The original concerns were that the games were advertised with a whole lot of American ­superstars, nearly all of whom didn’t turn up to the game,” Mr Sims said.

“We’ve now added to that ­investigation, whether or not consumers have been misled over the seating and the quality of the seating. You can be misled sometimes by what you’re not told. If you come along to an event, and you’re told, come along, buy the ticket, see the event, and you turn up to find you can’t see the event, that may well end up being misleading behaviour as well.”

$1500 a ticket for this view. AUS v USA .
Jokes on me.
If you weren’t among 50,000 there and you chose to watch it on tv at home, good decision . pic.twitter.com/VlNuXWp6iI

— Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) August 22, 2019

TEG Live, which began issuing limited refunds before Thursday’s game because of complaints about stars not playing, did not respond to a request for comment from The Weekend Australian.

$150 floor seats and you can’t see the court. All the players dropped out too. What a stitch-up. #BoomersUSA pic.twitter.com/5IWh3e74RK

— Wade Shipard (@wadeshipard) August 22, 2019

Basketball Australia and TEG Live released a statement yesterday saying “clearly there have been some fans that feel their ­expectations were not met”.

“Of the 11,000 fans who had purchased floor seating to last night’s game, only 200 people were relocated. They were relocated promptly without issue and just two refunds were requested.”

The kid in the Delly jersey has permission to stand up in front of us all night #BoomersUSA pic.twitter.com/DL18ctLghW

— Wade Shipard (@wadeshipard) August 22, 2019

The statement pointed out that “there were 14 massive video screens to augment the live action, including providing action replays, statistics and video pieces to keep the audience entertained”.

Imagine paying upwards of $1,500 to get courtside seats, only to realize your sitting on a $5 fold out chair and looking up at the court. #BoomersUSA pic.twitter.com/eWcFiuL51e

— Dion Alessi (@dionalessi) August 22, 2019

Geoff Jones, chief executive of TEG, the parent company of TEG Live and Ticketek, told a business lunch in Melbourne yesterday that “a lot of work went into the event, it was 16 months in the planning”.

“We do not pick the team and it is unfortunate that most of the team didn’t turn up, but that is modern sports these days,” he said.

The second game of the three-game series between the Boomers and Team USA will take place at Marvel Stadium tonight.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: JOHN STENSHOLT

Not happy: Russell Crowe at last night’s basketball friendly match between the Australian Boomers and Team USA at Marvel Stadium.