WASHINGTON — Fans are expressing concerns and frustrations about trying to get tickets for the highly anticipated Washington Mystics game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.
Some fans said they bought tickets weeks in advance for this event because they wanted to experience the team and women’s basketball. There's been some confusion about who will have secure seats for the game after the venue was changed from their original site the Entertainment Sports Arena in Southeast to the Capital One Arena. Some fans express their feelings and asked questions on social media.
WUSA9 spoke to a Mystics fan who says she’s now unsure if she will be able to attend the highly anticipated game despite buying tickets.
“I’m a huge women’s basketball fan,” Sarah Maravic said. “I played in high school, middle school. I’ve recently started following college basketball.”
The excitement shines bright through her eyes and her demeanor when she talks about the sport.
“I went to a Washington Mystics versus Seattle Storm game a few years ago that got me obsessed,” Maravic said.
Maravic's love for the game led her to grab tickets with some friends at the beginning of April through an online marketplace called VividSeats.
“Last night was when we all got the cancellation email,” Maravic said.
She said VividSeats originally told her that her tickets would be transferred to the new venue once the Mystics announced they would play at Capital One Arena due to a high demand for tickets -- instead she got a refund she didn’t ask for.
“Suddenly it went from 100% we can transfer your tickets from VividSeats to we can’t transfer your tickets,” Maravic said.
“Throughout this preseason we’re seeing unprecedented demand for the WNBA for our entire season,” Washington Mystics Chief Business Officer, Alycen McAuley said.
If you brought a ticket on Ticketmaster or the teams official website for the game at original venue -- the Entertainment and Sports Arena then Mystic officials said you should’ve already received an email, season ticket holders, fans who brought a partial plan or a single game before the relocation will all have seats officials said.
“Their tickets were being reserved over at Capital One Arena,” Alycen McAuley said.
It’s a different case if you used a third-party site like Maravic, you'll have to contact that company directly instead.
“Unfortunately, those sites are just marketplaces so they don’t guarantee the veracity of the ticket that’s put up there,” McAuley said. “That’s really an issue between the buyer, seller, and the market place so our council to fans on that is to, if you brought a ticket from StubHub you need to go back to those platforms who can help adjudicate the relationship between the buyer and the seller.”
This also a reminder to be mindful of possible scams out there.
“There are some people who took those tickets and put them on certain third party sites like StubHub and unfortunately those sites are just market places so they don’t guarantee the veracity of the ticket that’s put up there.”
“Yesterday, I get an email saying on second thought your tickets have been cancelled,” another fan who brought tickets, Tabitha Allen said.
Allen said StubHub told her they didn’t know anything about a venue change and that the event was flat out cancelled. She said she brought tickets from StubHub early on and was excited to attend the game.
“For us it’s just frustrating right, you spend all this money, time thinking you’re going to the game,” Allen said.
Several fans expressed their feelings about this.
“I shed some tears, a lot of planning went into this for us,” Maravic said. “It wasn’t like we just found out about it. We really looked ahead, we’ve been to Mystic’s venue, we love going to games there so when I found out it was cancelled… heartbroken, disappointed, frustrated.”
Maravic said she received a refund for her tickets but her friends who also brought tickets too spent over $3,000 in travel arrangements to be in town for the game. She also mentioned being in a group chat with several other fans who are sharing similar experiences.
“I was talking to somebody from Alaska who is actually a military vet and brought tickets to go see the game from Alaska that are nonrefundable and this person brought them way before I did," Maravic said.
“We don’t actually know who the seller is that’s all held through the marketplace, so your first stop is to go back to that third party vendor,” McAuley said.
There’s some good news here. A second wave of tickets that will still be released next week — the team says they’ll announce those dates ahead of time to give fans a chance to prepare. There will also be a limit to the number of tickets people can buy so that more people can have a chance to get some.