OT: State house bill to eliminate MI ticket scalping law
I read in the News (LINK) this morning that a State Rep from Saginaw has introduced a bill to end the anti-scalping law in Michigan, which is an issue I have a strong opinion about (as a consumer). The apparent rationale being, it prevents consumers from recouping the total price they paid for tickets they can't use, it leads to unnecessary harrassment of sellers by law enforcement, and private ticket transactions should not be exempt from the forces of the free market.
I find these reasons to be disingenous and short-sighted, as nothing irks me more (when it comes to buying tickets) than brokers who buy large blocks of tickets only to resell them at a higher cost, for an easy profit on the backs of the general public. I read several articles before the Super Bowl about the shady practices of brokers, including how the average fan can effectively no longer attend the Super Bowl (at least not at a reasonable price, and by reasonable, I mean <$1000 per ticket).
Refusing to play the scalping game is why I watched the 1998 ice hockey national championship game from the TGI Friday's next to the Fleet Center, instead of in the venue, after traveling 8 hours from DC to attend. That, and because I was relatively broke at the time. Nevertheless, I've done my time on the front lines of the ticket scalping battle; I have the equivalent of an anti-scalping Purple Heart.
/rant
I'll admit, in advance, that I have no prepared counterargument to the question, "but why should StubHub be considered legal, if tickets can be sold above face value?" I would only say that StubHub isn't a broker or reseller of tickets, but a service to bring buyers and sellers together. StubHub has no say in the price of a ticket, but one could argue they're condoning or complicit in an otherwise illegal transaction (depending on State law).
While this is arguably OT, I suspect the MGoCommunity has an opinion worth hearing on this topic, given 1) many of us are avid event-goers, and 2) our collective experience with rising event ticket prices and other ticket-related expenses (cough, PSDs) since the 90s.
(As an aside, I was under the impression that University employees aren't allowed to use their University affiliation to support a political issue or campaign, but perhaps the quoted professor from UM-Flint was simply consulted for his opinion, as opposed to voicing his support through a proponent of the bill.)
March 13th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
As someone who just scalped my opening day tickets, I just find it silly you think its dishonest.
I have two tickets behind the plate that I sold for $600. Is it better that I go on StubHub where I have to pay 10% and my buyer has to pay a fee too?
The buyer had a market utility of those tickets of $600, and I did not, hence the sale.
Do you think every middle man buyer /seller only marks up the items enough to feed their mouths? Is everything above that dishonest?
Teams and markets are placing some tickets on these secondary market at preminum, in order to make more money.
Heck I had the opportunity through "dynamic pricing" to buy $500 per ticket to UTL 2 through the athletic department.
Also, I had a friend as account exective for the Mavs through their really good years Final runs. He said they were instructed not to sell to brokers and there were penalties for doing so.
However, they were never enforced, and they also had pressure to get 50 sellouts (regular and preseason) and they were paid on a heavy commission. So it was lip service.
But it's why you see sellouts and empty seats in the lower bowl even for the good teams in the NBA especially weekdays. Those are broker seats
March 13th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^
"I could also justify an individual asking for what they paid, even if it exceeds the full price of the ticket. To be honest, I could even justify asking for a higher price, based on supply and demand for the event. What I really don't like is a company (or individual) making money solely on the premise of marking up tickets, and making it harder for fans to attend the event. That's dishonest to me."
Where in there did I say every non-direct sale is dishonest? I can understand stating your opinion/disagreement with the OP (and justifying your resale of your tickets), but don't do it by twisting my words.
More scalping means more ticket availability to the public, not less. If there were no scalping, fans' only chance would be to buy tickets when they immediately come available, and that's often very difficult. Scalpers give us a second chance at getting tickets.
And making a profit is fundamental to scalping. Without that incentive, far fewer people would bother doing it. What you see as "dishonest" I see as an important part of the process of increasing ticket availability. You seem to be calling for the same kind of mass availability without any price markups, which is just not realistic.
March 13th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
It's ticket brokers being allowed to buy up huge blocks of tickets for the events, thus freezing out the general public.
Now, would they do this if they couldn't scalp the tickets? No. But that doesn't mean that the way you fix it is to make scalping illegal. Theoretically it would be much better to restrict the ticket brokers ability to monopolize the face-value ticket purchases.
March 13th, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^
around here and that's fine, but there's a counter-arguement worth making here... Dave Brandon pushed for all he was worth to get the face value of tickets (and everything else) "priced right". Clearly what he meant was "market value". Ironically, that value was much higher before his myriad misdeeds, but suffice it to say we tend to like it when things Michigan are more reasonably priced even if it's artificially. For those of us who have tickets to an event that are underpriced by the venue, but we like making a buck on them in the aftermarket... well... that's a bit cynical now isn't it?
My argument against Brandon is that Michigan is supposed to be non-profit, and availability to the average fan at a reasonable price should be something Michigan cares about and tries to achieve. U2 / the Superbowl / whatever does not have the same obligation.
While I haven't had season tickets since I graduated, my personal policy on resale for Michigan had always been a) don't buy in the first place if I have no intention of attending b) resell only to fellow fans c) mark up tickets only enough to recover my reasonable costs. So selling an OSU ticket for enough to make the rest of the season package affordable to me would be ok. Charging $1000 for an OSU ticket so I could buy an XBox would make me squeamish, and something I'd only do if I couldn't locate someone deserving of a more reasonable price through my friend/family network. (OTOH if I'm forced to sell through StubHub and the buyer is a stranger and possible Buckeye, screw 'em).
In the secondary market, if demand for tickets is not there, scalpers take it on the chin - ticket prices plummet. Even when Michigan is good, there are often times when you can get tickets for a relatively cheap price right before kickoff. That is truly following market principles.
This is not how Brandon operated. His idea of "dynamic pricing" was to have a baseline price as high as possible, and then raise it even more for marquee games. After walking through the gates, fans were gouged further still on concessions, even for water. He completely took customer demand for granted and figured he could just keep milking the fanbase more and more. Even when it was obvious to everyone that ticket demand in 2014 would drop off, he refused to budge on prices, expecting fans to finally cave and pay over-market prices. Only after the season had already started did he recognize a problem and then overcompensated with the ridiculous "buy two Cokes" gimmick.
And of course, the Michigan athletic department has an interest in developing a loyal fanbase that will return many times to future sporting events. This is hard to do when you're constantly squeezing them at every turn. When you want repeat business, it's often worth your while to compromise and forego a bit of revenue now for the future. For a scalper that really doesn't matter; once you've bought your ticket, you'll probably never deal with the guy again in the your life.
March 13th, 2015 at 12:53 PM ^
I know this is a bit off topic, but I didnt want to start a new thread, and it is somewhat related. My wife, brothers, and I are hoping to make it out to Ann Arbor for the Northwestern game in October. I checked stubhub prices today and they are about $115 each if we were to get 5 tickets together. I checked the Michigan ticket site which says individual tickets will go on sale around the end of July.
I am wondering if people typically have any success purchasing tickets for individual games from the ticket office in July? I dont know whether i should just suck it up and buy the tickets now, because who knows where they will be in July. I dont want to wait and have tickets go up only to find out that it is impossible to buy them from the ticket office. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As well as any info on what the price would be if i bought from the ticket office. Thanks!
March 13th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
March 13th, 2015 at 12:57 PM ^