Can the Red Sox Revoke Your Season Tickets?

The short answer is yes.

Sometimes I’m asked by Red Sox or Patriot season ticket holders (good people to know) if they sell or give their tickets to a friend and that friend violates the team’s code of fan conduct if the team can revoke their tickets.

This morning, I looked on the back of some Red Sox tickets and I read the word license about a dozen times. Tickets are just that – a license.

Black’s law dictionary defines a license as: “a revocable permission to commit some that would otherwise be unlawful. A license is an agreement that it will be lawful for the licensee to enter the licensor’s land to do something that would otherwise be illegal.”

In the case of my Red Sox tickets, I would be the licensee, the Red Sox are the licensor, and the otherwise illegal act is entering Fenway Park to watch a game. If you try and enter Fenway Park without a ticket you would find yourself guilty of some form of trespass.

One of the unique qualities of a license is that it is revocable at anytime by the licensor and for any reason including but not limited to fan conduct.

I know that I’ll be a happy licensee when the agents of the licensor start scoring more runs.

 

Ryan McKeen is an attorney at McKeen Law, LLC.