Outback attendees- experiences? Mine sucked

Submitted by ATLalumni on

I just want to know anyone else who tried to scalp tix.  I had heard all the stories of how many tix would be floating around, and the cut rate prices you could get on them.  So i decided against purchasing thru the University or 3rd-party sites and gambled on getting some good ones at the game.....Bad Idea.

Scalpers were brutal, still trying to get more than face value AFTER the game had started.  I actually saw scalpers leave with tickets in hand, saying "These people aint biting".  Kept saying the game was a sell out and they couldn't sell for less. 

By the end of the first quarter, I ended up just buying tix at front gate for $75, which put me in upper level on Michigan side.  I ended up finding some seats that weren't taken in 204, which gave me a better view, but i definitely won't be trying this again. 

Anyone else have luck with this?  Good or bad

EDIT: There was a lot more to my experience sucking, but i was interested in hearing about others that tried to buy tix.  I made reservations at Charley's steakhouse NYE, got there at 9:52 and they wouldn't seat me because they closed at 10.  Some old couple came in right after me and got seated.  Wife threw a huge fuss, thinks we were profiled. Too much to go in to.

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:18 PM ^

That does sound terrible.  To hell with ticket scalpers.  Literally, they make me sick.  The concept pisses me off thinking about it.  Typical anymore though,  a few people ruining some family fun for a many.

A side note though.  I went to the Outback Bowl in 2008 when Iowa played South Carolina and had a pretty good few days down there (New Years Eve in Ybor City, beach day over in Clearwater, etc.).  On a whim (someone fact check), I also want to say there was a bigger crowd for that game than what I saw on tv for the Michigan/SC game this year.

Wave83

January 3rd, 2013 at 5:17 PM ^

I disagree that it is worse now.  I think electronic sales via StubHub (and others) makes the market more fair.  I know there are fees and the fees are high.  However, both buyers and sellers are instantly exposed to all of the others available parties and are given a wealth of information re the market.   In addition, you can't sell after the game starts, so there is an imperative to get the tickets sold.  (Unfortunately, I know this from a few attempts to sell.  I still have 2 tickets to the rainy Illinois game, if anyone wants them.)

The OPs experience was with old style street scalpers.  Those guys can and do put a lot of drama into their selling techniques.  StubHub eliminates that.  The market is what it is, and it is frequently not only a sellers' market.

stephenrjking

January 3rd, 2013 at 5:34 PM ^

I bought second-hand outside of Michigan Stadium (and occasionally others) for years. Someone with tickets to sell is under no obligation to sell them for any amount they don't want to, even if it is stupid. Stubhub dominates the pre-gameday market, but I don't know if it has anything in common with the street market in front of a stadium; I couldn't find tickets for below face value on stubhub for the UM-Minnesota game up here, for example, but there were thousands of empty seats and I probably could have gotten good prices at the gate.

That's the thing, though: You are always gambling if you travel distance to a game without a ticket in hand. I don't care what the market "should" be: It is a random concept and markets vary from venue to venue.

The problem is that by traveling at some expense, you are pressuring yourself into getting in the stadium and you put yourself in a worse bargaining position. If I had driven my daughter to Minneapolis to go to her first Michigan game and, shockingly, found nobody selling tickets for less than twice face value, I would have had to grit my teeth and pay because I had already invested in the travel, the parking, and in getting her excited for the game.

Even in my young traveling heyday I always bit the bullet and bought tickets before traveling, even if it might cost me more, because I wanted to know that I had a ticket into the game. The only exception I made to this rule was an impromptu trip to Nebraska (2002 Pigskin classic, FYI) that worked out without catastrophe. 

The closest I ever got to getting shut out of a game was in '99 against Notre Dame, when I could only find two people selling any tickets outside the gate at all, netiher for prices I had planned to pay; one sold, and I nearly lost the other guy and had to drive back home, but I found him at the last minute and shelled out so I could get in. At least then I had my television five minutes away to watch the game at only the cost of parking.

goblue20111

January 3rd, 2013 at 11:06 PM ^

How is it fair with scalpers using sniping programs? The concept is such bullshit.  I hate scalpers.  Hope the motherfuckers get AIDS and die.  I wanted to go to a Mackelmore concert.  Got sold out in 10 minutes, checked stubhub and saw tickets going for 5 times the face value.  Fuck that.  if you legit by a ticket and you cannot go and decide to make a buck , fine.  Fuck these assholes that buy massive amounts of tickets and then deprive people who actually wanna see something of the opportunity to do it at a fair price.  I have no problem with people making money--money's already being made when I buy a ticket through the normal medium. 

yzerman19

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:15 PM ^

go to law school, get a job as in house counsel, have local law firms that handle your company's litigation give you their seats in club level.  it worked for me.  twenty six years in the making and my plan paid off finally. 

ATLalumni

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^

in Atlanta is that not too many of the companies i work with have any reason to have Raymond James club suites.  SEC champ game? Falcons? Peach Bowl?  Can easily be had.  Outback Bowl? Not so much.

TruBluMich

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:22 PM ^

I loved how they were looking to "buy extra tickets".  I will add my experience was awesome, it was really a no lose situation, ya it sucked Michigan lost, but come-on the weather was perfect and it was a GREAT game.  You also got your tickets for less than I did buying them through ticket master.

StateStreetBlue

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:20 PM ^

to save some money and it didn't pay off?  Therefore your 'experience sucked'?  I don't mean to sound rude, but that just sounds very childish.  Your title should read - "Scalping tickets at the Outback Bowl sucked".

TruBluMich

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:35 PM ^

I will agree the scoreboards were beyond horrible.  I also didn't enjoy the way they located the bands, I never heard the Michigan band other than the halftime show and pre-game.  Kinda sucked going the whole game only singing the victors 3 times.  But I still had an amazing time and would go back if Michigan was ever playing in the Outback Bowl again.

icefins26

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^

The scoreboards were brutal, I agree.  I thought the stadium itsself was OK though.  The entire experience with beach day and the Ybor City parade was worth checking out.  I sat in the South Carolina section (wife and in-laws are Gamecocks) and I had USC fans shaking my hand after the game saying how I should be proud of how Michigan played and that they earned their respect.  That made the loss much easier to take.

M-Wolverine

January 3rd, 2013 at 7:33 PM ^

But I appreciate the post. And frankly, even if the trip was great, if I didn't get into the game till it was nearly a quarter over, it would color the experience pretty badly.

We have so many posts on the whole "ha, who buys tickets at face value from the University? Suckers, they were cheap and to be had before the game," it's good to have someone talk about the other possible experience. A warning that unlike many who says it's no gamble at all, that in fact it IS a gamble. And you can lose. 

You can save a few bucks, not help the University, and help your wallet; or you bite it, probably overpay, but have some security. I never saw anyone complaining when people said tickets were cheap before the Sugar Bowl, I don't know why saying the opposite this year is a bad thing.  

Class of 1817

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:26 PM ^

Coupla questions...

I've been to dozens of Michigan games, but never a bowl game...

Were you expecting tix for less than $75? Or was the problem with the quality of the seats you were looking for?

ATLalumni

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:36 PM ^

I have never gone to a game without tickets in hand, but after hearing from many many people that these things are never sold out and there are plenty of tickets to be had, I guess i took a gamble.  I don't have a problem paying for $150 tickets if that's what they are, but i damn sure aint gonna give you that 1 quarter into the game when all you can do is eat the cost.  I saw plenty of UM fans telling these guys to kiss their ass. 

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 3rd, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^

Be at your hotel and hope they're the downloadable type of tickets, print them out, and off you go.  You don't enjoy any pre-game fun. 

Now that I think about it, on a whim in Tampa two Springs ago (when Michigan killed Tennessee) we were visiting a friend who lived near downtown Tampa (St. Pete Times forum is where the Tourney games were played).  We were debating on going to the second session or second day of action and almost bought a set of tickets off of Stubhub for a great price an hour or two before the games actually started.  That's a whole different scenario than going to a Bowl game and hoping to get tickets via this method, though.

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 3rd, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^

Oh absolutely it could be time consuming!  I was kind of being fecetious!  But I guess in my experience utilzing Stub Hub, more and more tickets are becoming downloadable.  I'm not sure what the guidelines are for making a ticket eligible for "download" but again, many more are becoming that way; if I had to put a figure on it, at least 50% maybe(?) are "downloadable" (versus having to send the actual ticktes through mail or meeting up to retrieve them).

Clarence Beeks

January 3rd, 2013 at 10:49 PM ^

Electronic delivery, which the other poster (with unnecessary facetiousness, in my opinion, considering how well it actually works) mentioned.  Slightly more difficult if you're from out of town, but excessively easy if you're local.  I've used this approach on Stubhub several times and got great seats for events for dirt cheap.  It's most useful for events that you'd like to go to, but isn't the end of the world if you don't get tickets (or if you're OK with ultimately just paying the higher price for in case you lose out on one of the ones that drop in price).  Stubhub also rolled out mobile device ticket delivery in select locations for college football this fall, so that's almost certainly coming on a more widespread basis next year, which should really have an impact on scalpers.

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 4th, 2013 at 12:25 AM ^

I actually explained how well it can work out with my own experience.  Saying it probably wouldn't be a suggested method after taking a whole trip to a Bowl game destination, I don't think is going out on a limb.  I agree that the whole phone/mobile device methodology is just around the corner and will make this ticket concept look outdated.

mGrowOld

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^

We had a blast.  I bought the seats from the guy who puts on our tailgate (big money donor) who wasnt going so they werent cheap but they were damn good seats (40 yard line - club level) about 3 rows up.  The fans in our section were loud and definitely into the game and other than not having any good beers in our section and the damn thing lasting 11 seconds too long I can say we enjoyed ourselves very much!

 

ATLalumni

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:49 PM ^

because I really hate playing that card.  Let me preface by saying I didn't realize 95% of restaurants in Tampa close at 10, especially on NYE.  I made a reservation at 4star steakhouse (Charleys) for 9:45, since that was the last one they had.  I arrived at 9:52 with my wife.  We were told that they cannot seat anymore, but if i found a seat at the bar I could get served.  (For context, I am a 27yr old bi-racial male with a non-white wife).  So we left frustrated because at that point all the other restaurants had closed as well.  So as we're walking back to valet, an older white couple pulls up to valet and heads in.  The wife turns around and follows them in to see what they would be told.  They were seated, so she proceeds to ask the manager how they got seated.  All she was told was, "Oh, they had a reservation".  Before she could completely blow her lid, I grabbed her and said let's go.

Thankfully, I found Mitchells Fish Market was still open and we had a wonderful dinner on NYE, all things considered.

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 3rd, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^

Ouch.  My condolences, because that is some sh*t.  Way to be a bigger man and walk away from the situation "intact", though.

(Side note:  I think I've heard Charley's is one of the top steak-houses in the country, if I'm not mistaken -which I may be.  Glad they could stand up to their reputation. /s)

Mgo_fly

January 3rd, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^

If that is the impression or experience you've had here in Florida please know that the vast majority of us are horrified to hear of this.

Give Tampa another chance and I'll make sure you and your wife get the best steak dinner you've ever had.  And no, it won't be at Charleys.

ak47

January 3rd, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^

I stayed with a friend that lives in Tampa but she is from a small town and was saying there are still some places around where she lives that have 'white only' signs, racism is still alive and well and pretending it isn't is half the problem.

French West Indian

January 3rd, 2013 at 6:04 PM ^

...but there could be more to the story.  For all we know, the old couple that you reference might have been regular customers at that restaurant who were given a little more slack on a busy night than an unknown out-of-town couple.  I'm not saying that is fair, but race may have had nothing to do with it.

B-Nut-GoBlue

January 3rd, 2013 at 6:23 PM ^

Right.  And in his defense, he stated he'd rather not use "that card".  However, often times perception correlates to reality.  All he can do is observe what happened and go from there.  Again, I agree that, as always, all of the details are not apparent and we don't know the full story.  But, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck...

Edit: I know this isnt the place to discuss and get into a debate about such things.  I just feel bad for the OP.

Clarence Beeks

January 6th, 2013 at 6:36 AM ^

"We all know what he is talking about when he said profiled."

I actually didn't.  At the outset, that probably makes me sound like an idiot, but let me explain.  I have heard it a lot here (i.e. in Florida) that tourists are profiled, and treated differently, as tourists, because they are tourists.  Treated badly, not told about the same opportunities, etc.  To the point where I actually assumed that this was what he was talking about, until he elaborated on the racial aspect in a subsequent post.

M-Wolverine

January 3rd, 2013 at 7:38 PM ^

You let another costumer it? No matter the motivation it's a shitty practice. You're seating or you're not. And if it's the goddamn owner you tell someone that, not that "they had a reservation."

Clarence Beeks

January 6th, 2013 at 6:41 AM ^

"No matter the motivation it's a shitty practice."

A slight counterpoint to this is that if the customer that was seated was a local, and a regular, it becomes less of a "shitty practice".  The reason being that a lot of places here DO give preference to locals over tourists because those are the people that come back repeatedly and help pay the bills.  So in that respect, the motivation does matter.  This is starting to change because of things like Yelp, Urbanspoon, etc. which can inform non-locals on such practices, but generally speaking, the average tourist who is going to consider the restaurant in question is never going to know about the OP's expereince (assuming, for the sake of argument, that the motivation was what I stated herein and not what the OP implied - obviously, we have no idea for sure) and so, from that standpoint, it makes more sense for the restaurant to provide preferential treatment to locals.