Session ticket policy for the tourny

[SpfldBUAlum]

Actually, I am not sure that it is ok to resell them at face falue in Missouri. I know someone who was detained and cited before a Cardinal game for selling extra's under face value. Of course the same group of guys I have seen working at every major sporting venue for over 10 years never seems to have a problem?

In the years I have gone to the tourney in St Louis I have often gotten my tickets from the guys working outside the arena. One session I ended up getting Rich Herrin's son's tickets.....the old coach was none too pleased! Since the popularity of the tournament has increased the scalped tickets have gotten pricier. Used to be able to get really good seats for face value on the street.

[BI_Brave_alum]

"Are scalpers really the problem? I respectfully disagree. There is no official re-sale ticket service, so they fill a definate void in the marketplace. That is specifically, they help people by buying tickets they don't want."

what do you mean by that? obvious people wanted the tickets, because i ran into a lot at the bar.

"I think this year its unlikely that scalpers would have scooped up huge quantities of tickets at face value from the box office for re-sale. Since the tourney hasn't sold out before they would have taken on considerable risk in trying this. Next year it may be a problem, but nothing that a simple purchase cap can't fix (i.e. limiting people to 4 tickets per transaction)"

My friend said someone in front of him bought 20 or so and started selling them before he even got outside, so i think people were buying big quantities for this game.

[MacabreMob]

No it is not enforced and I can remember going to the state tour. in champaign and seeing coaches standing outside scalping tikets that the schools rec"d for free and the police did nothing but they will not let them do this in Peoria

Amazing... they did nothing in UIUC's hometown?

And yet I hear how some Peoria people are upset the Tourney is in Peoria because of a place like Big Al's.

Funny... those Peoria people telling me they are upset are also "Illinois-slash-Bradley" fans.

[real fan]

Champaign lost the boys state tour. because of the price gouging going on as the hotels all raised their prices where a 75.00 room went up to 125.00 and all the restaurants had special menus with higher prices for that weekend ; they got greedy and thought they would always have it.

[numbr_9]

"Are scalpers really the problem? I respectfully disagree. There is no official re-sale ticket service, so they fill a definate void in the marketplace. That is specifically, they help people by buying tickets they don't want."

what do you mean by that? obvious people wanted the tickets, because i ran into a lot at the bar.

Of course people wanted tickets. however, scalpers centralize the ticket buying process. Let me put it this way: I was looking for a parts bike for an antique motorcycle I'm rebuilding. Of course, there's lots of parts bikes out there, but just because they're out there, doesn't mean I can find them. I called junk yards, scanned the paper, etc, but couldnt find one. Then i used ebay. found one within a few days. sure, ebay made their cut, but they facilitated a transaction that otherwise wouldn't have occured.

to make it more clear, fans want to unload thier all-session tickets when their team loses. however, their choices are limited. They can't re-sell them to the venue or the MVC (the original distributor) so they have to get rid of them through a third party. From that point their options are limited. It's too late (being the day of games) to try to use stubhub or ebay to turn those tickets over. They can either stand outside themselves, asking strangers, "do you need tickets? do you need tickets?", they can actively go to a nearby bar/hotel and hope to run into other fans who would like to buy their tickets, or they can just sell them to a scalper who is conveniently right outside the arena. Of course, there's cost to this; the scalpers want to make a profit so they won't pay as much to the ticket seller as they will charge (just like selling a car to a dealership as opposed to a private party sale). No, there's definatley more money made if you can sell directly to another fan, and more money saved if you can buy directly from another fan. However, there's also risk as neither of you will be as savvy to the current market conditions and therefore you won't agree upon the ACTUAL ticket value (as opposed to face value). Either they will be sold too low or too high (most likely). And frankly, if i was going to unload my tickets I wouldn't want to stand on the cold street corner haggling with strangers. My time is more valuable than that.

Get my point? Either the MVC needs to set up a formal way to re-distribute the tickets that people purchased but no longer want, or they should allow the scalpers to serve their role in the marketplace. Frankly, if the MVC set up a ticket brokerage service they would also charge more than face value (cant leave all that $$$ on the table, see example: chicago cubs ticket brokers), meaning that the customer still has to open his/her wallet.

"I think this year its unlikely that scalpers would have scooped up huge quantities of tickets at face value from the box office for re-sale. Since the tourney hasn't sold out before they would have taken on considerable risk in trying this. Next year it may be a problem, but nothing that a simple purchase cap can't fix (i.e. limiting people to 4 tickets per transaction)"

My friend said someone in front of him bought 20 or so and started selling them before he even got outside, so i think people were buying big quantities for this game.

I won't argue this. if I'm a scalper and I hear the game is going to sell out, you'd better believe I'd buy as many tix as possible. Easily controlled though. A ticket limit, bracelet system, ticket lottery, etc. None of which are 'easy' in the sense that they require no effort, but they are 'easy' in the sense that a child could set up any of those systems. Maybe I shoudl say they require effort but are not difficult.

This year's sellouts will make next years tickets even harder to get. I imagine a lot of those people stuck in the bar will be buying their tickets ahead of time.

Of course, there is a very simple solution to being left on the outside looking in ... just buy your tickets in advance. Maybe its a risk because of yoru team getting eliminated early, but frankly no matter what you do there will be inherent risk. It just depends on how much it's worth to ya.

[mrcoachdude]

It is ok to resell tickets at face value in mizzou....at least that was the notice on the Ebay Auctions