StubHub Giving Up Proceeds from Flood Benefit Shows

The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee will get a big check from country music icon Garth Brooks after his nine shows next month to benefit flood victims. The charity will also get a check from eBay’s ticket reselling site StubHub, which announced Tuesday it is donating its profits too.

Tickets to the shows at Bridgestone Arena originally went for $25. Now thousands are listed on StubHub, some for hundreds of dollars.

Glenn Lehrman is a spokesman for the ticket reselling Web site and says over the last year StubHub has tried to direct proceeds from benefit shows to the intended charities. He says the series of Garth Brooks flood relief concerts is the biggest such event to date.

“We’re not looking to make a profit on – for lack of a better word – someone else’s suffering. It just feels like that’s a dirty business to be in.”

Still, StubHub is only donating its commission – which Lehrman expects to exceed $100,000. Ticket resellers themselves will make much more in profits from the Garth Brooks concert, which will be his first in Nashville since 1998.