Who owns the ticket? 40 years in ticketing, from the box office window to your phone.

​Fred started behind a ticket window in Philadelphia in the early '70s and was in the room for every shift since: hard tickets, the first computerized systems, retail outlets, phone and credit card sales, the early internet, print-at-home and mobile. He grew New Era Tickets and was Exec Chair at TopTix. He walks the full evolution of the ticket, prop included, and lands on a question the industry still has not resolved: who actually owns a ticket, the fan or the promoter?

​Takeaways

• ​The evolution of the ticket, first-hand: roll tickets, hard tickets, the first computerized systems, retail outlets, phone and credit cards, the internet, print-at-home, and mobile.

• ​What we gained and quietly lost going digital, from knowing who is actually in the building to the ticket stub fans used to keep.

• ​The cat-and-mouse with scalpers and the law, and why every defence gets routed around within a season.

• ​Is a ticket an asset the fan owns, or a license the promoter can revoke, and why that still defines resale today.