StubHub faces lawsuit over canceled World Cup tickets

World Cup fans who say they paid thousands of dollars for tickets that never arrived have sued StubHub, accusing the resale platform of failing to deliver seats for matches and leaving customers with travel bills they cannot recover.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, says buyers “did not get what they paid for” after purchasing World Cup tickets through StubHub. The plaintiffs are seeking at least $5 million in damages.

One plaintiff, California resident Julie Reeker Moghal, said she bought three tickets for a June 18 match at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium for $1,905, only to learn StubHub had canceled the order. Another plaintiff, Reuben Renteria, said he spent nearly $3,000 for two tickets to watch Mexico play South Korea before his order also was canceled. He received a refund for the seats, the complaint says, but not for additional travel costs.

“Unfortunately, with high anticipation comes high likelihood for taking advantage of the consumers willing to pay,” the lawsuit states, adding that “the odds of consumers facing high prices and a difficult to navigate market were almost guaranteed.”

The complaint alleges StubHub is not authorized to sell World Cup tickets and failed to honor its “FanProtect Guarantee,” which is meant to ensure valid tickets or a remedy for buyers. “StubHub misrepresents its authority to sell World Cup Tickets, then, when plaintiffs and class members travel thousands of miles to attend World Cup matches, there are no tickets to be found despite having paid for them,” the lawsuit says.

StubHub said it does not comment on pending litigation, but defended its policies and pointed to FIFA’s ticketing system. “Our singular goal is to get fans into events, and if anything goes wrong, our FanProtect Guarantee provides replacement tickets or a full refund,” a StubHub spokesperson told CBS News. “The World Cup is no different, and the issues fans have experienced are largely driven by problems with the event organizer’s own ticketing infrastructure.”

FIFA did not immediately respond to CBS News. The BBC reported that FIFA did not comment directly on the lawsuit but said its official platform is the only guaranteed sales channel and that it cannot vouch for tickets bought through third parties. FIFA said it “rejects any suggestions” that technical problems affecting secondary marketplaces are the fault of its system, adding that its ticketing platform was “operating reliably” and that more than 5 million people had attended matches so far.

The BBC reported several fans described similar problems. Sergio Enrique Alvarado Montalvo said he paid $1,700 on StubHub to surprise his father with tickets to Argentina v Austria in Dallas, then spent nearly $6,000 on travel and hotels after flying his parents from Mexico. StubHub notified him one day before the trip that the seller could not deliver the tickets, he said. The family went to the stadium anyway but remained outside the gates.

“I was so sad and so frustrated, and so filled with rage, anger,” Montalvo, 45, told the BBC. “It was a mix of feelings that is hard to explain.”

Eben Pingree, 44, of Boston, told the BBC his wife Caitlin paid $2,800 on StubHub for tickets to Scotland v Haiti as a surprise for their 11-year-old son, but the tickets disappeared on match day. “They basically had to just leave us there, and so my son was just devastated,” he said.

The BBC reported that industry insiders have pointed to “speculative ticketing,” in which sellers list tickets they do not yet own, as a possible driver of cancellations. StubHub says it prohibits the practice. It also told the BBC it is increasing capacity to source replacement tickets and that every order is backed by its FanProtect Guarantee.