Melissa Isaacson’s excellent column on ticket scalping (Tribune, March 3) revealed a lot about how the scalpers consistently control the best seats at Chicago sports events. For all the talk from Cubs management on how they give the average fan an honest chance at good tickets at fair prices, in actual fact they fail badly.
For some strange reason, Cubs ticket sales open on Friday. Cubs fans who work will find it hard to get to the park unless they take a day off. Not a problem, though, for the college kids who are working for the scalpers. Across town, the Sox do it right by opening sales on a Saturday.
The wristband lottery system the Cubs started a few years back is a joke, too, except for keeping all-night campers away from the park. Several years ago I got a wristband and came up lucky, so I thought, when my number was within the first 50 to be admitted to the ticket-window line. Trouble was, it took almost two hours before I got to the window because the college kids ahead of me were buying dozens of tickets. What’s more, the telephone lines open up at the same time as the Wrigley ticket windows, all but eliminating the advantage of a lucky wristband number. By the time I got to the window many choice games were already sold out, unless I wanted to sit behind a post.
There is no way to prevent scalping, only ways to make it more difficult. And the scalpers do provide a service. But there are ways to level the playing field so the average fan has a chance at good tickets. The Cubs haven’t done it. If I were a scalper, I would love the Cubs’ system.
