Coors offered tickets to NCAA athletics events as promotion prizes but now face NCAA “not transferable” claims in the Indiana Court.
Topic: Promotion marketing
Who: Coors Brewing Company and the NCAA
Where: USA District Court of Indiana
When: Spring 2002
What happened:
Coors has filed with the Indiana Court a Motion to Dismiss a case brought against it by the National Collegiate Athletics Association (“NCAA”). Coors gave away “final four” tickets as prizes to winners of its prize draws. NCAA argued that this breached the terms on the back of the tickets issued for the event, since these prohibited the use of the tickets as prize draw prizes. NCAA argues that the ticket creates a revocable licence to enter the location for the sports event. The terms can therefore be enforced against any individual holding the ticket from time to time as well as those who, like Coors allegedly in this case, induced the breach. An outcome of the dismissal application is awaited.
Why this matters:
The chances are that most tickets issued in the UK for sports events will not have terms and conditions attached which expressly prohibit use as promotion prizes (although this situation may change). However, they are more likely to carry or refer to terms viewable elsewhere which do not allow transfer to a third party and only entitle the first purchaser of the ticket to gain access to the event in question. Obviously, the position is different if the tickets are offered as a promotional prize by way of a contractual arrangement with the ticket issuer. If this is not the case, however, promoters would do well, before launching any promotional prize event in which tickets to an event are offered as a prize, to check out the terms and conditions of issue of the relevant tickets and, if necessary, make arrangements with the event holder.
