BC Lions fan scores touchdown over Ticketmaster after mistaken home opener ticket purchase

The BC Lions home opener game — featuring a concert by rapper 50 Cent — is scheduled for Saturday, and one fan of the team was feeling discouraged after a dispute with Ticketmaster over a mistaken ticket purchase nearly intercepted his plans.

But once CityNews got involved, the man’s luck turned around.

John Conners, who has been going to games for decades, found himself in a jam after he realized one of the tickets he bought was a youth ticket, not a regular one.

He had already bought one ticket for the regular price of $54, and when he tried to upgrade the youth ticket for the same seat, Ticketmaster told him it was going to cost him nearly $200.

“The new charges were $191.50, and I just almost fell off my chair,” he told CityNews.

“I said, no, no, no, the ticket face value is $54, I just want an upgrade from the $15 youth. And she said, ‘No, those prices have now changed.'”

He was then told Ticketmaster wouldn’t give him a refund, citing “dynamic pricing” and suggesting he re-sell the ticket. He says he got in contact with the BC Lions, but there wasn’t much they could do.

CityNews then reached out to both Ticketmaster and the BC Lions about the issue. Because of this, not only did Ticketmaster refund the difference, the Lions gave Conners his tickets for free.

“I’m sure it was because of your call that I was able to get this resolution and was able to just totally turn things around from a very bad situation to an excellent situation,” he said.

Connors adds that it shouldn’t have taken the media reaching out for Ticketmaster to do the right thing.

The BC Lions says more than 51,000 people are expected to attend the event.

With files from Sonia Aslam and Cole Schisler.