Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

MGM vows changes after T-Mobile ticketing issue caused delays, long lines

USA National Basketball Team vs. Argentina

Sam Morris / Las Vegas News Bureau

Thousands of people wait outside the T-Mobile Arena half an hour before the start of the USA Basketball exhibition game against Argentina Friday, July 22, 2016, in Las Vegas.

USA National Basketball Team vs. Argentina

Jimmy Butler of the United States is defended by Patricio Garino of Argentina during a USA Basketball showcase exhibition game at T-Mobile Arena Friday, July 22, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The United States won 111-74. Launch slideshow »

Since opening in April on the Strip, T-Mobile Arena has had a relatively smooth entry into the event game in Las Vegas. The first major hiccup came Friday night, when a slew of issues combined to leave many people standing outside in 100-plus degree heat while the USA Basketball vs. Argentina exhibition game was taking place inside.

“Obviously there were hundreds of fans who had issues and that’s not acceptable to us,” MGM Resorts Senior Vice President Rick Arpin said Monday afternoon on ESPN Las Vegas.

The main problem was the high number of people who needed to pick up tickets on-site because they purchased them through Groupon or other third-party providers that didn’t allow anyone to print at home. Arpin estimated that more than 60 percent of tickets to the event, which was announced as sold out with an attendance of 16,861, were purchased in the last few days and the majority of those were on Groupon.

T-Mobile issued an apology during the second half of Friday’s game and refunds are available for those who weren’t able to attend the game. One fan said that at halftime the arena allowed any Groupon purchaser with a valid confirmation code to enter, and Arpin said they were trying to be attentive with water for those in line.

Regular ticket prices started at $40. The Groupon deal ranged from $25 to $139 per ticket, and of course it mandated that tickets must be picked up only on the day of the game at the venue box office.

Arpin said they knew where a lot of the tickets were being purchased, but “our mistake as a venue was not getting in front of that.” Throw on top of it the extra traffic because of a 6 p.m. start time on a Friday evening and the problem escalated.

Solutions, though, are possible. Also, this was the primary outlier in a schedule that’s been running pretty smoothly since T-Mobile officially opened on April 6.

“It won’t be a common occasion,” Arpin said of so many late purchases through third parties, “but we need to get processes and procedures in place to alleviate that.”

One possibility is signs to direct Groupon purchasers to a specific area and regular will call or ticket purchases to another. The arena was fully staffed, though, so when an event has some of the same characteristics as Friday’s game perhaps over-staffing the ticketing area would be an option.

The bottom line is that T-Mobile knows it needs to do better, because locals don’t need much of an excuse to avoid the Strip. Only time will tell if they can find the right solutions, but the track record and expertise is on their side.

“Stuff happens, and you’ve got to react quick," Arpin said, “and then you’ve got to commit yourself to learn from it and put in processes to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy