Tickets Go On Sale June 14

[SunMo]

just kidding

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Too bad you're not going to the Dallas game, bro.

I may not even get to watch it on TV.

[Rome]

There's always Tivo.

[Seabiscuit36]

I finally got ahold of my ticket guy, I was able to get 2 games, Jacksonville and Carolina   

[MURP]

TEAM INVOLVEMENT WITH SCALPING CONTINUES

Last month, there was a hue and cry in the city of steak and cheese regarding the circumstances surrounding the sale of single-game tickets.  Eagles' seats were available at 10:00 a.m. on June 15, and completely gone within seconds.

Meanwhile, the team's offical web site reminded fans that plenty of marked-up tickets were available through RazorGator.com, including plenty of seats for T.O.'s October return to Philly as a member of the Cowboys.

On Saturday, the Titans sold out most of their single-game seats.  But a quick series of clicks on the team's web site leads to Ticketmaster's "ticketexchange" program, which allows seats bought through Tickermaster to be re-sold at a markup.

Though the Ticketmaster program doesn't yet appear to be a vehicle for scalpers (indeed, an October visit to Tennessee from the Cowboys has no tickets available through the "ticketexchange" device), the potential is there -- and the connection to the Titans is obvious.

Also, the Baltimore Ravens recently announced a corporate sponsorship with TicketsNow, which will become the team's "exclusive online secondary ticket marketplace," a fancy term for "scalping shack."

The Washington taterskins arguably provide the most ironic example of organized scalping.  Last year, the team revoked the season tickets of certain folks who were selling their seats on the Internet.  But as a reader pointed out to us, there's a link on the taterskins' official site to StubHub.com, which leads directly to a page that currently allows fans to buy, among other things, someone else's season tickets for up to $10,000.

At the top of the page appears the following statement:  "StubHub is the Official Ticket Marketplace of the Washington taterskins."

Other teams allowing folks who can't get tickets through the box office to buy them from a secondary source via simple navigation of the team's official web site include the Seahawks (who partner with RazorGator.com), the Saints (Ticketmaster), the Falcons (StubHub.com), the Giants (Ticketmaster), the Bills (Ticketmaster), the Patriots (Ticketmaster), who as an inducement to scalp state that the seller won't be responsible for the conduct of the buyer, the Jets (Ticketmaster), the Bengals (StubHub), the Browns (Ticketmaster), the Texans (StubHub), the Colts (StubHub), the Chargers (StubHub).

Teams that sell seats through Ticketmaster, but whose web sites don't make direct or indirect reference to the "ticketexchange" feature, include the Rams, 49ers, Cardinals, Bucs, Lions,  Vikings, Panthers, Broncos, Chiefs.

None of the teams listed above are breaking the law or violating any apparent league policies by accepting sponsorship money from these companies.  (Whether the companies selling the tickets are violating local scalping laws is a different issue.)  But to the extent that RazorGator or TicketsNow or StubHub or Ticketmaster are paying NFL franchises for the privilege of being the "official secondary marketplace", the money received by the teams indirectly is coming from transactions in which fans are paying more than face value for seats.

It's really no different than the dude with the laminated "I Need Tickets" sign paying the home team for the right to be the official scalper for the south end of the east parking lot.  The team isn't directly involved in the scalping, but is profiting from the fact that the scalping is occurring.

Still, since no one has made a stink about these arguably unseemly relationships, they have blossomed and are by all appearances flourishing.

Our take?  On one hand, folks have a right to run their businesses any way they see fit, within the parameters of the law.  Also, scalping is a fact of life.  Whenever there are events with more interest than available seats, someone will pay more than the face value of the ticket.

But when the entity that makes the initial sale of the ticket at face value is paid to promote entities through which those same tickets can be purchased at an even higher price, the process risks taking on a "feel" that the image-obsessed NFL ordinarily would try to avoid.

We're not quite sure where the line is on this issue, but we think that several of the NFL's franchises are on the wrong side of it, and we hope that someone (perhaps the next Commissioner) will give strong consideration to creating guidelines aimed at keeping teams from getting too deep into the sack with these high-tech scalpers. 

[MDS]

Theyre all crooks.

[phattymatty]

my dallas tickets finally showed up.  for some reason they got sent back to the ticketmaster offices.  twice.

[sallad selgae]

You might want to make sure those are legit and not Ticketbastich counterfeits.

[Wingspan]

one of my favorite musicians and his upcoming tours is totally anti scapling.

this idea was brought up here...and other places. jeez. you'd think that the nfl tickets could go the same route?

[Rome]

That would be a super-swell idea.  68,000 people standing in line at the Linc to pick up their tickets on game day.

Woot!

[Wingspan]

That wouldnt be the case at all. this is for single game seat sales only. Which according to the eagles is a very limeted amount.

Season ticket holders are a different case, but this scenerio would certianly work in the case of single game seats.

with season ticket holders, it's easy enough to track the original owners of those.

[Rome]

I bought the ticket.  It's my property.  They have no right to tell me what I can and can't do with my property because once I purchase it, it's mine, not theirs.

It's like buying a house and then having to get the seller's permission to paint it after you've paid them.

PS: I dislike scalpers as much as the next guy but this shtein is retarded.

[Wingspan]

I bought the ticket.  It's my property.  They have no right to tell me what I can and can't do with my property because once I purchase it, it's mine, not theirs.

It's like buying a house and then having to get the seller's permission to paint it after you've paid them.

PS: I dislike scalpers as much as the next guy but this shtein is retarded.

they actually have every right to tell you what rights posessing a ticket entails. as long as you are told before you purchase a ticket, which you are made away of any restrictions, even though no one ever reads them.

[Susquehanna Birder]

Exactly. They retain the right to allow - or restrict - you from using the ticket.

[ice grillin you]

They have no right to tell me what I can and can't do with my property because once I purchase it, it's mine, not theirs.

sure they dont....the only right you have is the right to give them money or not for the ticket