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Wonderful Brokers and maybe season ticket holders (Something Aint Right)

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by Crip*TEAM KATT, Jun 3, 2008.

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LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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Crip*TEAM KATT said: ↑

Its possible that the broker themselves ARE the season ticket holders, are members of TAF with no intentions of EVER making the games, they just buy up as much as the can because they have the means.

Does LSU not have a responsiblity to make sure that actions like these are not happening.
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I know for a fact this happens in football. The brokerage houses recruit alumni to join the various booster organizations like TAF and buy tickets from them.

LSUsupaFan, Jun 4, 2008

#51
Crip*TEAM KATT As Wild As We Wanna Be

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lsugrad00 said: ↑

Don't you think that LSU just anticipated the season ticket holders would buy all of the available books for the Super Regional since they did so for the Regional?

I mean I get your point scalers suck.

There is a guy in my office who registers for new football season tickets every year and gets them since he has tons of TAF priority points Every year he turns around and sells them all on eBay. It really pisses me off since there are so many people out there on the season ticket waiting list.
I've emailed everyone at LSU I can think of about the problems with ticket scalping and people stock piling season tickets. The generic answer I get is that they don't believe there is a problem and if there was that there is nothing they can do about it.
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I believe their are BROKERS within the system doing this very thing.

And it is a problem that LSU can fix they can revoke their memberships! All it takes is a little leg work.

And if their is enough of an out cry from the LSU fanbase I promise you they will have no choice but to do something.

Crip*TEAM KATT, Jun 4, 2008

#52

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lsugrad00 Founding Member

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Crip*TEAM KATT said: ↑

And it is a problem that LSU can fix they can revoke their memberships! All it takes is a little leg work.

And if their is enough of an out cry from the LSU fanbase I promise you they will have no choice but to do something.
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The cold hard fact is that LSU doesn't care.

They are getting their money, the stands are full, and the product on the field is great. Demand for tickets is higher than ever.

Right now LSU could require people to be Jewish in order to buy season tickets and there would be lines out the door of every synagogue in town.

lsugrad00, Jun 4, 2008

#53
TigerTime Founding Member

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I understand the frustration being vented here, but the fact of the matter is that modern day college sports are big business. These are basically professional athletes on a minor scale. If someone is willing to pay $600 for a SR book of tix, then that's way it goes. I'm not saying it's fair to the die hards (myself included), but this is capitalism my friends. Supply and demand...

TigerTime, Jun 4, 2008

#54
mindy Founding Member

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Crip*TEAM KATT said: ↑

But if LSU is ONLY selling to Season Ticket Holders, how in the hell are brokers getting their hands on them.
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LSU doesn't require anyone to be a season ticket holder to buy the tickets, they only require it to get first dibs. If the season ticket holders didn't buy all the tickets LSU has to sell, then LSU would gladly sell them to the public.

And the brokers ARE season tickets holders. The brokers BUY season tickets so they can sell them and also have the chance to buy (and ultimately, sell) post season tickets as well.

mindy, Jun 4, 2008

#55
red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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Crip*TEAM KATT said: ↑

Yes I understand that from that point. But I am beinging to sense something far more sinster at work.

Its possible that the broker themselves ARE the season ticket holders, are members of TAF with no intentions of EVER making the games, they just buy up as much as the can because they have the means.

Does LSU not have a responsiblity to make sure that actions like these are not happening.
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Perhaps, but ticket holders are under no legal or moral obligation to come to each game. LSU cannot violate a citizens rights just to put a butt in a seat that is paid for. This is not China. And ticket brokers don't buy season tickets and just hold them so that they can get playoff tickets, they sell tickets to every game to fans like you.

I think this is not the problem that you imagine. Bowl games make big money and sell more seats by selling big blocks to hotels and brokers, but LSU doesn't have to do this, doesn't promote this, nor do they offer the discounts in quantity that brokers want.

Crip*TEAM KATT said: ↑

But with alittle saving I could AFFORD baseball tickets, and because I cant afford season tickets does that make me less committed to this team? Hell I watch their games on a computer when provided or I listen on the radio. And for football I cant afford to take my family to the games but I am out there EVERY single weekend tailgating and showing my support the best way that I can, does that make me less of a fan or the guy that is just waiting around for the post season?
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This isn't about you, Crip.

I mean, are you actually upset because you think LSU values you less as a fan just because they support their biggest supporters first?

There are lots of tickets available to many home games in many LSU sports for a devoted LSU fan like yourself. Did you have a problem getting any tickets to women's backetball or track? Do you have any problems getting LSU home football tickets for OOC opponents? Or away game tickets? How many single game baseball tickets did you buy this year--plenty were available for fans just like you.

I've had LSU football tickets for 28 years and had basketball tickets for 12. I've been a member of TAF since the beginning. And I didn't get Bowl game tickets! LSU has a system, which is objective and fair as it can be and there were just fans with more points than me based on how many tickets they own, how long they have owned them, and how much they contribute.

Contributing is part of being a devoted fan, amigo. How is LSU supposed to rank applicants for playoff games by their "LSU fan committedness"? How can they determine that from your application? What they can do is determine your commitment from your record with them.

I bought my first season tickets when I was 24 and it was a lot of money for me, too. But I found that I actually could afford it. Same with TAF, giving $100 bucks a year for nothing except some priority points sometimes seems like a waste. But it makes my mark on the giant roll of official LSU supporters.

No, you are not less of a fan for not buying season tickets, but season ticket holders are sure as hell not less of a fan than you for doing all that you do plus buying tickets and supporting the effort. Kwitcher bitchin' and get on board, Crip. :yelwink2:

"We have met the enemy and he is us" -- Pogo

red55, Jun 4, 2008

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TigerSnarl Air Conditioned Gypsy

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Ok, I do not want to get into the debate about scalpers and I really hope that Crip gets to take his family to the game.

But I was expected 50 or so auctions when I clicked the link. I only saw two. One guy clearly a scalper and the other maybe the guy that responded with the 'out of town this weekend'. To me, it doesn't seem like we have an epidemic of brokers / slimy fans involved in baseball season tickets reselling. Am I missing something? Did I miss a link?

TigerSnarl, Jun 4, 2008

#57
SECRocks Founding Member

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red55 said: ↑

Three thoughts.

1. Scalping is illegal whether it is on Ebay or outside the game. Nobody likes scalping. If the cops would bust more of them, it might help. But it's the worlds second-oldest profession and it ain't going away. There is a market out there for people who have disposable income.
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I think it is legal in Louisiana:

Louisiana

• Prohibits ticket scalping except through the Internet

• Allows tickets sold through an Internet website that meets the following criteria to resell tickets without price limits

o Website must be authorized by original seller and venue
o Must guarantee full refund if the event is cancelled, the purchaser is denied admission through no fault of his own, or the ticket is not delivered as promised and this results in an inability to attend the event

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http://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-R-0761.htm

SECRocks, Jun 4, 2008

#58
SECRocks Founding Member

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Here are some reasons to like these brokers. For one, they keep games from being blacked out. They also allow rich people not to have to stand in line for hours when they can be making much much more at their job such as doctors, etc. A doctor can perform a surgery in a couple of hours and make several thousand dollars as opposed to standing in a line. One reason these scalpers will always exist, they are a convenience for the upper class.

HOW TICKET RESELLERS BENEFIT BOX OFFICES
Zane Spindler (2003) adds one more theory to Krugman’s list. In response to Swofford’s article, Spindler argues that both scalpers and producers benefit from each other. In the title of his article, he likens the relationship to parasites serving their host. Spindler disagrees with Swofford’s claim that scalpers reduce consumer surplus without affecting the producing firm’s revenue: “The possibility of selling unwanted tickets would surely affect the initial demand for tickets per se when such a repurchase/resale feature is not officially provided” (Spindler, 2003, p. 695). According to Figure 2, box offices benefit from the additional demand for tickets that ticket scalpers provide.

The other ticket resellers are referred to as scalpers. The word “scalper” is commonly referred to an on-site reseller and there is a certain stigma associated with the word, particularly because of the nuisance effect they create on game-day, including blocking traffic, heckling ticket holders, and selling counterfeit tickets. Honest scalpers, however, perform a valuable service because they are on site in the hours leading up to the start of the event. They are the ones who close the market, a necessary function of any efficient market.

Many fans who are looking for tickets may not have the time to stand in line or call the box office during a ticket sale. Enter the resellers. Ticket brokers and scalpers get their share of tickets, sometimes in bulk, by paying people to stand in line or call the box office when tickets initially go on sale. Unfortunately, the aggressive ticket purchasing efforts by the resellers may take away the opportunities of some regular fans that may just want to purchase a ticket for the sake of consumption, rather than resale.

Besides having hired individuals clog the queues and phone lines, there likely also exists a fair amount of insider trading that occurs, i.e. ticket resellers who know someone at the box office could bypass the lines to obtain tickets. This practice, called “ice”

Another reason to desire a sell-out crowd occurs in the National Football League. As Andrew T. Williams (1994) points out, the NFL’s blackout rule prevents local television broadcast of a game that is not sold out. Failing to sell out a game, therefore, has negative effects on television revenue and the ability for a team to widen the fan base

Dan Seligman of Forbes wrote at the end of 1999 that having laws against ticket scalping was in the top ten dumbest ideas of the century.

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http://www.jimmyatkinson.com/papers/ticketscalping.html

SECRocks, Jun 4, 2008

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marcmc99 Founding Member

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They also allow rich people not to have to stand in line for hours when they can be making much much more at their job such as doctors, etc.
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Huh? This ain't 1980, standing in line to get REO Speedwagon tickets. It takes all of a grand total of maybe 5 minutes to give an donation to TAF online, register for the season ticket waitlist, and pay for your tickets online.

Other than that, Red has summed the whole thing up pretty well. You can get out of conference games for less than (often much less than) the season ticket holder pays. Why wouldn't you expect to pay more than the season ticket holder pays for single game tickets to premium events if you purchase that way?

marcmc99, Jun 4, 2008

#60

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