Today's Most Popular Video
Oct 7, 2009 11:02 pm US/Central
Good Question: How Do Scalpers Get Great Seats?
(WCCO)
Less than 12 hours after the Minnesota Twins miracle, nearly every ticket for the playoff series against the New York Yankees was gone. But there were plenty of seats available through ticket brokers. So how do brokers always get the best seats?
"Just like anybody else," said Brian Obert, the co-owner of Minneapolis ticket broker TicketKing.
Well, he admits, it's not just like anybody else.
"We're more organized about it, we have a business," he said.
According to Obert, the main source of tickets for major sporting events is season ticket holders.
"They've got the best seats," he said. And TicketKing cultivates relationships with those season ticket holders all year long.
"When you buy a season ticket package, for the Twins, you get 81 games. Nobody can go to all 81 games," Obert said.
Those season ticket holders find it more convenient to have one place to sell tickets, rather than trying to retail the tickets themselves.
When season ticket holders try to sell "by owner," it can be risky. Misjudging the market by overpricing your tickets by 20 percent means that you get nothing. By selling to a broker, there's a guarantee of making money.
TicketKing employees buy some tickets on their own and have freelancers who will buy tickets and then resell them.
"Other people make it their business to stand in line. It's easier for them to stand in line rather than try to retail them themselves," said Obert.
St. Paul ticket broker Matt Mann said there's no mystery to the process.
"You got to be online right when they go on sale," he said.
The Twins allowed people to buy 12 tickets per order online and also allowed people to make two orders. Mann picked up two dozen tickets on Wednesday at $40 a ticket. He planned on selling them for $200 each.
"Fast on the mouse with the computer, that's it," said Mann.
Concert tickets are different, and more controversial. A run on Miley Cyrus tickets in 2008 led to a Minnesota law which
bans interfering with internet ticket sales. Some resellers were reportedly using automated computer software to buy huge blocks of tickets.
In Minnesota, that is now a misdemeanor. It punishes people "who intentionally uses or sells software to circumvent on a ticket seller's Web site a security measure, an access control system, or a control or measure that is used to ensure an equitable ticket buying process."
According to TicketKing's Obert, brokers get great concert seats from people with access: in the arena or with the performer's tour.
"The people who do have those connections seek us out as a place to unload those tickets," he said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Truckers Sue For Unauthorized Citations
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
