There has been a lot of confusion and frustration among Taylor Swift fans recently over the lack of Arlington tickets available on Ticketmaster. Swift’s highly anticipated Eras Tour was announced in early November, with tickets going on sale a week later on November 15. However, when fans went to purchase tickets for some shows, including the Arlington dates, they were nowhere to be found on Ticketmaster. This left many fans wondering why Arlington tickets were not available on the primary ticketing site.
High Demand and Limited Ticket Allocation
The primary reason Arlington tickets were not available on Ticketmaster is due to the extremely high demand for Taylor Swift concert tickets coupled with a limited allocation of tickets. Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world, with legions of devoted fans who snap up tickets whenever she goes on tour. Her popularity has only increased with the release of her recent album Midnights. With over 100,000 fans pre-registering for TaylorSwiftTix powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan, it was inevitable that demand would drastically exceed supply for the Arlington shows.
Venues typically hold back a large portion of tickets for artist pre-sales and platinum sales. For these Taylor Swift shows, only around 30-40% of the venue’s ticket inventory was made available during the Ticketmaster Verified Fan pre-sale. The remaining tickets were held for other pre-sales, including for Capital One cardholders, TaylorSwiftTix Text customers, and concert promoter pre-sales. This left very limited tickets for the general Verified Fan pre-sale on Ticketmaster. With over 2 million verified fans vying for tickets and only a small allotment available, Arlington tickets unsurprisingly sold out instantly.
Reputation for Selling Out Quickly
Another factor is Swift’s reputation for selling out shows in record time. She currently holds the record for the highest grossing tour by a woman with her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018. During that tour, Swift consistently sold out massive stadiums and broke numerous box office records.
It’s no secret among fans that you have to act extremely fast to score Taylor Swift concert tickets, as evidenced by tickets for her upcoming tour selling out in hours. The massive demand from her loyal fan base coupled with the strictly limited Arlington ticket inventory meant there was little chance regular fans could obtain tickets during the Ticketmaster pre-sale. Within minutes, resale sites were flooded with overpriced Arlington tickets going for thousands of dollars.
High Resale Prices
| Site | Lowest Price | Highest Price |
|---|---|---|
| StubHub | $1,125 | $24,385 |
| Vivid Seats | $757 | $12,116 |
| SeatGeek | $1,302 | $9,990 |
The immediate sell-out resulted in astronomical resale prices for Arlington shows. On sites like StubHub, Vivid Seats, and SeatGeek, nosebleed seats were going for over $1,000 each. Floor seats and lower bowl tickets soared as high as $10,000 to $24,000 per ticket. These exorbitant secondary market prices made getting into the Arlington shows impossible for many fans.
Timing of Presales
Another frustration was the timing and limited promotion of the various presales. Taylor Swift has partnered with Capital One for preferential cardholder presale access. However, this presale was not widely announced and occurred 12 hours before the Verified Fan presale. Similarly, a presale for AT&T customers in Dallas occurred a full 24 hours before the fan presale. Insider presales like these gave certain groups early access to purchase tickets, further limiting the Arsenal inventory.
While TaylorSwiftTix Text subscribers were alerted about a presale through text message, this promotion was also kept relatively quiet. Those in the know had access to tickets before the official presale time, making tickets even more scarce. The order and stealth nature of these presales angered fans who felt it gave an unfair advantage to certain groups over the core Swiftie fan base.
Bots and Scalpers
Despite precautions taken by Ticketmaster to ensure a fair process through their Verified Fan system, many question how many tickets actually went to bots and scalpers versus genuine fans. Ticket resellers use sophisticated software bots to rapidly purchase as many premium tickets as possible, often circumventing security measures designed to limit this activity. Some feel it’s unlikely real fans could purchase these astronomically priced Arlington tickets within minutes of the presale launch. The tickets were likely scooped up instantly by scalpers using bots in order to flip them on secondary sites.
The huge profits resellers stand to gain from marked up Swift concert tickets also incentivizes this shady practice. When the clearly high fan demand is combined with the low ticket supply, it creates prime conditions for scalpers to make a fortune. New laws aiming to tackle bots and fake accounts used by ticket scalpers could potentially help with this problem in the future. However, for these shows, most fans were left empty-handed.
Reaction from Fans
As one can imagine, Taylor Swift fans were outraged as tickets evaporated before their eyes. Angry fans took to social media to express their frustration over wasting hours trying to get verified for presale access only to lose out. Some felt the Verified Fan system was misleading and didn’t actually improve their chances of scoring rare tickets. Others complained about Ticketmaster crashing or kicking them out of the queue randomly after waiting for hours.
Trending hashtags like #TaylorswiftTixScam and #TaylorswiftTixFraud indicated fans’ distrust and resentment toward Ticketmaster and the ticket sales process. Many questioned whether regular fans were even given a fair chance at tickets or if the system was rigged from the start. The presale chaos even prompted an investigation and legal action from the U.S. Department of Justice over Ticketmaster’s industry dominance.
Comments from fans:
“This was absolutely ridiculous. Waited for 3 hours just to get kicked out of the queue and tickets immediately popped up for 10x face value on resale sites. Total scam.”
“Spent my entire morning trying to get Taylor Swift tickets just for them to be gone in literal SECONDS and show up on StubHub for $15k+. How is the little guy supposed to compete?? Beyond frustrated.”
“Verified Fan presale was a joke. Taylor Swift tickets shouldn’t only be available to bots, insiders and scalpers. This system is clearly broken.”
Lack of Transparency
Perhaps the overarching complaint from fans about the lack of Arlington tickets on Ticketmaster was the seeming complete lack of transparency about the process. Fans were given the impression that persevering through the Verified Fan process would give them a good chance at securing seats. In reality, only a tiny fraction of verified fans actually scored tickets.
Ticketmaster and Swift’s team provided little clarity around the actual ticket breakdowns, amounts held back, and number of verified fan codes distributed. This secrecy helped fuel fan suspicions about possible shady practices. More open communication about the long odds of scoring tickets could have helped set expectations. Instead, fans felt duped into spending money and time trying in vain for scarce tickets. Moving forward, greater transparency could go a long way toward rebuilding fan trust in the process.
Possible Solutions
In the wake of the Arlington presale fiasco, there is widespread demand for changes to prevent similar debacles in the future. Here are some possible solutions that have been proposed:
– Capping resale prices: Placing legal limits on how much tickets can be resold for over face value would deter price gouging.
– Randomized presales: Randomly assigning verified fans presale windows could distribute access more fairly.
– Onsite sales: Allocating a portion of tickets for in-person, day of purchases would improve general admission chances.
– Fan clubs: Providing fan club members special access or discounts rewards loyal supporters first.
– Lotteries: Some artists have piloted ticket lotteries to distribute tickets, helping combat bots.
– Registration periods: Longer registration periods with purchase limits would reduce bot volume.
– Regulation: Stronger laws and oversight of ticket sellers could reduce scalping activities.
While there is no perfect solution, a combination of measures could help make the ticket buying experience more equitable for fans going forward.
Will More Tickets Be Released?
After an initial sell-out, artists and venues will sometimes release additional ticket inventory for highly demanded shows. However, fans probably shouldn’t get their hopes up when it comes to additional Arlington tickets being released.
Any tickets held for production holds, band holds, or late release are typically in very limited quantities. There likely simply aren’t many tickets left to release at this point, if any. Taylor Swift and her management want to put tickets directly in fans’ hands, so any unused holds were probably already offered during presales. With over 100k Verified Fans vying for tickets originally, it’s improbable any sizable amount of tickets will be opened up.
That said, it can’t hurt to check Ticketmaster periodically just in case. Follow Taylor Swift’s social accounts and sign up for updates at the venue to stay on top of any potential ticket releases. But temper expectations, as any new block of tickets would likely sell out instantly again through whatever sale channel they are offered. Don’t feed into any scammers claiming they have special access to unreleased tickets either.
WAIT For General Public Onsale
Once presales conclude, there is usually a general public onsale date where any remaining tickets are made available. Given the enormous demand, inflated resale prices and lack of Ticketmaster availability, should fans try their luck again at the general onsale?
In short – absolutely not. The miniscule number of tickets leftover after presales, if any, stand zero chance of making it past the first millisecond once they hit the market. Every Swiftie, scalper, and their mother will be poised and ready to purchase anything released. Coupled with site crashes under heavy traffic, the general onsale is essentially a waste of time and will only lead to endless frustration.
At the end of the day, trying for the impossible to obtain Arlington tickets simply isn’t worth the high stress and effort. Swifites should cut their losses from the presale nightmare and explore other avenues to getting into these shows, or catch Taylor on a different stop of her tour next year. Continuing to bash your head against the ticket wall will only lead to heartbreak – it’s time to just shake it off and move on.
Conclusion
To summarize, Taylor Swift Arlington tickets were virtually impossible to purchase through Ticketmaster due to astronomically high demand compared to the extremely limited supply. Factors like insider presales, lack of transparency, ticket bots, and brokers rushing to resell further restricted genuine fans from accessing seats. The system as it exists currently is clearly flawed and weighted unfairly against the average concertgoer.
While disheartening, hopefully fans can channel their frustrations constructively to advocate for reforms benefitting consumers. Despite the presale challenges, Swifties should try to remain optimistic that there are still potential chances to see Taylor live. Until the system improves, temper expectations, avoid feeding into scalpers, and don’t waste time and money chasing presale tickets with impossibly slim odds. Patience and persistence may eventually pay off for Swifties still hoping to shake it off at a Taylor show.
