High Enough - New Law Will Increase Ticket Prices
Last week Friday, the North Carolina State Legislature passed a new bill which would allow the legal scalping of tickets in North Carolina, effective August 1st, 2008. The bill is expected to be signed into law by the Governor but will need to be renewed again next year in order to stay on the books.
The current law made it illegal to resell tickets for more than $3.00 over their face value. While that mandate was outdated and almost impossible to enforce online, it did help to keep a lid on the prices of tickets resold locally. That will soon change with the stroke of the Governor’s pen.
The Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Panthers, and the major colleges in the area supported the bill, claiming that it would somehow help curtail the sale of counterfeit tickets. But it seems to me that counterfeiters will still exist, they will just be more savvy and will be able to sell those fakes for higher prices now.
The way that I see it, if the ticket resellers are legally allowed to sell their tickets for higher prices, they will be wanting to buy even more tickets from the Hurricanes, (or other teams.) This is also a huge victory for Ticketmaster because when compared to most ticket brokers, their absurd handling and shipping fees suddenly don’t seem so unreasonable.
Ticketmaster was probably behind this whole thing. (I love a good conspiracy theory.)
Admittedly, out of state ticket brokers have been selling over-priced tickets online for quite some time now. One benefit of the new law would be to level the playing field for in-state brokers, who now can compete with their rivals. But what many fans fear is that these brokers and scalpers will stand in line or pay others to stand in line, so that they can hoard all the best seats for special events.
After they capture the bulk of the tickets, the brokers can dictate whatever prices they want to. The average fan who can’t stand in line at 10AM because they are working, or who doesn’t have 50 to 100 computers at their disposal to lock in tickets online when they go on sale, ends up getting priced out of the event.
I can see some good and some bad in this bill. Look at it this way, at least the resale value of season tickets just went up, especially for the playoffs.
Damn Yankees
About the Author: Bubba is a hockey fan/citizen journalist who has always wanted to be a sportswriter and is pursuing his dream. He also writes a Hurricanes blog for 
Paladin6 | Jul 22, 2008 | Reply
If the games don’t sell out, the scalpers go home with unused tickets. Supply and demand. If the games sell out and people “NEED” to get a ticket the prices will be nasty. If you can still grab a $25 seat at the door, scalping isn’t going to have an impact. Go to Detroit and try and get a seat. Then go to Phoenix, Coloumbus or the Islanders and see what is going on. I’ll bet there aren’t any scalpers at an Islanders game unless a good team comes to town.
My .02 and worth what ya paid for it.
A
fauxrumors | Jul 22, 2008 | Reply
1) Bad for the non-season ticket holders, but teams are probably fine with it. If it means more tickets are sold then the team wins. They ultimately don’t care who is the buyer, the money is the same.
2) Many teams limit the number of tix sold, but the ticket brokers if they really want them, will get as many as they want. As the previous poster wrote its supply and demand. The more demand the higher the price will be. It sux if your a casual fan, but that’s capitalism
repenttokyo | Jul 22, 2008 | Reply
It’s actually really easy to get a seat in Detroit, they had very poor attendance last year.
Montreal is a better example. Most tickets sell for twice face value.
Paladin6 | Jul 22, 2008 | Reply
My bad, I agree. The unemployment in D is horrible and many a good seat is available. Oct. 13th is the only Detroit game I will be at this year….
Mats could get tickets to any venue if he’d just make a choice….
I guess it’s good to be Mats and sucks being unemployed in Detroit.
I gotta quit coming home for lunch..
A
Bubba | Jul 22, 2008 | Reply
Paladin- I agree that the market will usually set the price and this probably won’t affect the local dudes out in the parking lot. I think the most concerning issue would be for special events. It will be interesting to see what the market will bear.
faux- agreed.
tokyo- You are correct about Detroit. As a matter of fact, they just recently LOWERED some of their season ticket prices. I’m presently working on a report comparing their prices to the Canes and the Sabres. Should be interesting.