The organisers of the Soccer Champions Tour have moved to rectify a situation that arose involving the AC Milan fan club in New York city.
As the official website confirmed earlier in the month, five clubs will take part in the tour: AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid CF. They will play games in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Orlando, Baltimore, and Charlotte.
Milan are back in the USA a second consecutive year for a pre-season tour, following their games against Real Madrid and Juventus in Los Angeles and FC Barcelona in Las Vegas last summer.
However, there was a problem regarding the allocation of tickets for the game in New York. Below is what the Milan Club New York said about the situation.
“When the announced SCT presale started on Tuesday, no one had received a code via email as promised. In fact, the presale was accessible with no code at all. On Wednesday, people discovered some seats in the general sale were cheaper than they were in the presales.
AC Milan Club New York City
“When we expressed our concerns to AC Milan, they asked that we draft a list of issues to pass on to the organizers. On Tuesday night 3/26 we sent the issues as requested only to find out Weds AM that they had gone ahead and sent a complaint without waiting for our feedback.
“SCT’s twitter account responded to a Tweet Wednesday morning stating that there was in fact an AC Milan supporter’s section. When we called them out on the inaccuracy of their tweet, we finally got a response via email from the ticketing agency.
“The ticketing agency replied unapologetically. They offered a refund to anyone who wasn’t satisfied with their seat and would block off seats in section 210. The seats in 210 were limited and other seats were spread out in neighboring sections. Not ideal for organizing a section
“When asked why the presale codes were ready on Monday AM for Chicago and Baltimore ACM fans but not NYC, the agency said ‘All venues have varying processing times for their discreet links’ That didn’t explain why Man City fans had everything they needed Monday AM and we didn’t.
“When the ticketing agency offered to issue refunds to people wanting to switch their seats, they ASKED US to compile a list of names and confirmation codes. We didn’t get to organize a group ticket sale, we certainly won’t be responsible for people’s refunds. Preposterous.
“As of 10:53PM on Wednesday 3/27 we have yet to receive an actual apology from anyone, just a lot of ‘we understand’. We have yet receive a real answer to the question ‘What happened?’ And besides one response on Twitter we have yet to hear from anyone at Soccer Champions Tour.
“We like to think we do a pretty good job at being ambassadors for Milan. We are people with day jobs, families, and lives. We do this out of love. When the organisers go home and clock out, we still get DMs and messages at 11:00 at night. WE are the ones who have to answer.”
There has now been a response from the organisers of the competition, who have tried to fix the situation.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience you experienced this week. As organisers of the AC Milan match in NYC, we take responsibility for any difficulties during the presale.
“We’re actively working with your leadership to make things right by offering refunds and ensuring a revised ticket-purchasing process for the supporter sections.
“Your satisfaction means a lot to us, and we’re genuinely committed to finding the best solution so that you can stand by your team and enjoy what we are sure will be a fantastic match.”
Ticket organisers & Milan HQ called out! There were also snafus by them when our local club was trying to plan for last year’s games in LA