Miike Tice being investigated for Super Bowl ticket scalping

[SD_Eagle5]

How crazy 

[MURP]

wow, very interesting stuff.  Especially since they say  it happens everywhere. 

[Diomedes]

If this turns out to be true, what a shame.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Late in the 2003 season, Tice berated one Vikings veteran for asking teammates if he could buy their tickets, which he had hoped to procure for family members. Tice, one source said, accused the player of trying to "backdoor the head coach." Tice then successfully pressured some players to renege on their commitment and sell their tickets through him, the player said, even though Tice was offering slightly less money per ticket.

Jeez. If that's true, what a fleshpopbag.

[QB Eagles]

The Vikings seem to be involved in shady activity at virtually all levels of their organization.

[MURP]

PFT is already trying to figure out who ratted on Tice.   Was it Moss, Hovan, Red McCombs, one of the other worthless UFA's?   Like a bad game of clue.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Randy Moss in the Training Room with the Candlestick.

[Wingspan]

Randy Moss in the Training Room with the Candlestick.

i was on the phone @ work when i read this...almost forgot who i was talking to

[4and26]

How stupid can someone be.   This is unbeleivable!

[rjs246]

How shocking! A figure in the world of professional sports doing something shady and possisbly illegal!

UNBELIEVABLE!

[PhillyGirl]

ESPN news has on the bottom corner that Tice admits to ticket scalping.

[Geowhizzer]

ESPN news has on the bottom corner that Tice admits to ticket scalping.

From what I heard, Tice admitted to scalping tickets while an assistant coach.  He denies coercing players and assistants to sell tickets through him, though he did tell assistants to sell tickets through a broker in California.

[QB Eagles]

Tice says he scalped Super Bowl tickets as assistant

Tice told Mortensen that he scalped Super Bowl tickets as an assistant coach, but that he did not as the head coach of the Vikings. Tice told Mortensen that he told assistants that it was OK to sell Super Bowl tickets to a ticket agency in California.

....

"If I'm guilty of anything," Tice said, "I am guilty of telling coaches that it's OK to sell their tickets." Tice said he gave the name of the person who purchases the tickets for the California ticket agency to his assistants.

He admitted he had been involved in Super Bowl ticket scalping as assistant coach -- "just as all the coaches in this league have done."

Tice told SI.com that he had nothing to do with re-selling players' tickets.

Yeah right. Does anyone think he was recommending ticket agencies without personally getting a piece of that pie? C'mon.

[mcnabbfan788]

Randy Moss in the Training Room with the Candlestick.

Prolly not a candlestick, prolly oh, never mind, i dfon't wanna say antyhing that could cause severe nightmares and fear....

[MURP]

from PFT:

TICE SAYS HE'LL BE CLEARED



Mike Tice is confident that an ongoing investigation regarding alleged scalping of Super Bowl tickets will result in a positive outcome for the fourth-year head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.



Tice apparently is banking on the fact that the NFL doesn't want to have one of its dirtiest little secrets to be exposed to extensive scrutiny.



"No way anybody wants this thing to blow up," an unnamed player told the Star Tribune.  "Everybody does it.  It's an easy way to make a buck, and it's not like people's lives are hanging in the balance.  The league would have trouble enforcing it, and then the IRS would get involved."



Our guess is that the IRS is already involved, or at least getting ready to be.  Cases like this are valuable to law-enforcement agencies for two reasons -- first, it gives the guys who chase around a string of no-names a rare shot at a big fish (with a head of meat) and, second, the high-profile nature of the matter will help to send a strong message to the public in general that failing to report income from any and every source is a no-no.



Meanwhile, folks who are chiming in on this debate might want to double-check the statute of limitations for willful violations of the tax code before admitting to accepting large sums of cash in exchange for Super Bowl tickets.



For example, ESPN analyst Sean Salisbury boasts that, during his playing days, he resold his Super Bowl tickets at a profit.  "Yes, absolutely," he told the Star Tribune.  "I don't know how many of us considered it to be wrong.  People are scalping tickets up and down the world.  Me and about 99 percent of the league [scalped tickets].



"[Players] aren't stupid, if somebody is going to hand you $25,000 or $100,000 in cash," he said.  "So it happened, absolutely."



Hey Sean -- keep your eyes open for that subpoena.