Melissa Isaacson sheds light on a growing menace becoming all too familiar to Chicago sports fans: the predatory methods of state-sanctioned ticket scalpers, otherwise known as licensed ticket brokers.
I assume that ticket brokers are allowed to exist, while average fans generally are prohibited from reselling their tickets near a stadium, even at face value, because the firms are required to purchase a license and pay taxes on the proceeds of their ticket sales. But is this the reality?
On the day of any Cubs game, fans walking to the ballpark are bombarded with offers to buy and sell tickets by alleged employees of licensed ticket brokers holding wads of tickets in one hand and cash in the other (this often occurs under the watchful eye of plainclothes or off-duty Chicago police officers). Are we to believe these brokerage firms are keeping detailed records of all of their “cash-and-carry” transactions?
If sports teams and/or legislators are serious about their concern for “the average fan,” they should adopt a very simple policy whereby ticket-holders would be permitted to resell their tickets at face value at a designated area outside the event. The Baltimore Orioles instituted such a policy at their popular ballpark with great success. Why not give fans an alternative to the ticket brokers?
