Created: 9/17/2007 10:15:56 PM 
Greensboro, NC -- When you think of a sell-out show in Greensboro you probably think of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. But tickets for Hannah Montana sold out in just minutes Saturday.
Some parents blame ticket scalpers for the lack of available tickets.
Jason Gluck, the President of MileyWorld.com, says they are trying to keep tickets out of brokers hands. The fan site allows people to buy tickets to concerts online. He says the problem of ticket brokers buying and reselling Hannah Montana tickets is an ongoing problem. He says it's a concert with 15 million fans, but with only 700,000 seats available at 54 venues.
Gluck says they are meeting with TicketMaster to try to find a solution to the problem. He says they have developed ways to identify online patterns to weed out fraudulent accounts and cancel their tickets. He says they've so far canceled 2,000 accounts of suspected brokers. Gluck says "We're more upset than anyone possible because we want the tickets in true fans' hands."
The Greensboro Coliseum sent the following response to questions about the tickets:
"Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding Hannah Montana tickets. The demand for Hannah Montana tickets was one of the highest we've experienced in years. Her tour has been getting this same response in other cities, with record breaking sell-outs. We're sorry that you are upset that you did not get tickets but it is simply a case of there being an overwhelming amount of demand that far exceeds supply.
How did tickets sell out so quickly?
When you combine today's internet technology in which hundreds, if not thousands, of patrons can purchase tickets on-line, coupled with sales processed over Ticketmaster's charge-by-phone system, plus Ticketmaster outlet sales AND sales at the Coliseum box office with all 4 methods of ticket buying occurring SIMULTANEOUSLY, our limited inventory of tickets was gone within minutes.
Another reason for the fast sell out is the "presale" of tickets for Hannah Montana official fan club members. Thousands of Triad fans, along with thousands of Hannah Montana fans nationally, paid approximately $30 per child to join the Hannah Montana fan club over the past year. For this fee, they get the chance to buy merchandise and gain other Hannah Montana info. They also received the right to "get a chance" to purchase tickets through an exclusive fan club pre-sale. On Tuesday, all fan club members had a chance to purchase, at face value, up to four tickets each of an allotment of over 5,400 Fan Club tickets (which also sold out in minutes). Presales for fan club members are common in today's concert industry (many of our recent or upcoming shows have done them ? Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, American Idol, Kenny Chesney etc.), however it does obviously reduce the remaining number of tickets that are available to the general public. Please note that ticket prices, available fan club allotments and total capacity for the show (approx. 13,000) is under the sole direction of the show producers, not the Coliseum or Ticketmaster. We simply administrate the local sale given the available inventory of tickets (in this case less than 8,000)
Why are there tickets on other website at such high prices?
Many people have contacted us regarding Hannah Montana tickets being available at prices far above face value on numerous "ticket scalping" websites such as E-bay and Stub Hub. This occurs when scalpers purchase fan club memberships and then use this membership to purchase tickets during the presale with the sole intent of reselling them at an exorbitant price. This is simply something out of the Coliseum's and Ticketmaster's control once the tickets are first sold. We vehemently oppose internet scalping encourage you to complain to the N.C. State Attorney General. The Coliseum does not recommend anyone purchasing tickets from any other ticketing service other than Ticketmaster as there is no way to verify the tickets you will be purchasing are authentic. Finally, please note the Coliseum, the state of North Carolina nor Hannah Montana do not in any way benefit financially from tickets sold through any unauthorized third party reselling tickets.
As with any concert, additional tickets may be added once the stage set is constructed and the show plays it's first date, Tour sponsor tickets are distributed and other production elements are evaluated by the Tour producers. We recommend you frequently check back with Ticketmaster.com on a daily basis for any of these opportunities. This is not unlike making flight reservations and the flight sells out so the airlines changes to a bigger plane.
We value your request for information and we appreciate you taking the time to write and we hope the answers clarify your questions."
WFMY News 2
