Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 02, 2007
Unenforced Laws

Why have scalping laws if they are not going to be enforced?

The state's antiscalping law, which dates to 1924, doesn't prohibit ticket purchases above face value, but it requires anyone in the business of reselling tickets in Massachusetts to obtain a license from Public Safety and limits markups to $2 above face value plus certain service charges.

Nantel has said Public Safety has never disciplined or audited the books of any of the ticket resellers it licenses.

It seems to me it's time to take the scalping laws off the books.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:36 AM | Tickets | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Or maybe it's time to enforce them. I hate it that 'ticket resellers' end up snatching up tons of tickets to events and then charging an arm and a leg for them.

Posted by: sabernar at January 2, 2007 10:54 AM

In Boston, its a legal illegal organized crime unit. These agencies have foot soldiers at the park selling right in front of police. And the Red Sox are quiet. The rumor is there's nothing they can do so they try to limit the amounts the agencies get by enforcing ticket limits which do not work and only alienate fans,

Posted by: Dr Invisible at January 2, 2007 11:54 AM

What's even worse is Major League teams scalping THEIR OWN tickets!!!
The Tribune Company set up their own ticket broker outside of Wrigley Field. I think its called Premium Tickets or something.
So the Trib gives/sells their "vip" tickets they have or buys their own tickets at face value and "sells" them over to their private ticket broker, who then jacks up the prices to ridiculous amounts.

This practice already held up in court and I'd be shocked if other teams didn't pick it up.

Posted by: Boomer at January 2, 2007 12:33 PM

I agree, David. Having laws on the books that aren't enforced means in effect a penalty for law-abiding citizens, who will respect the law anyway, and a windfall for those who treat the law as something to be ignored unless it will cost them.

I believe scalping laws could probably be replaced by private arrangements, contracts. For example, the Patriots are pretty effective at curbing scalpers by means of the contracts with their season ticket holders. The libertarian in me suspects this is a lot better than trying to do it via the criminal code.

Posted by: Jamie at January 2, 2007 12:40 PM

I just wish they'd come down on the "service charges" that Ticketmaster imposes; for my annual trip to see the Yankees at Detroit it turns a $35 ticket into a $48+ ticket.
For the Mudhens, the surcharge is only $1.

Posted by: rbj at January 2, 2007 01:54 PM

A $35 ticket? What's that like?

I love Fenway Park, but I'd be willing to part with it and see the Sox move into a bigger (say 48,000 seats) stadium just for ticket availability alone.

The downside would be that even a park that's 20% larger in attendance capacity would probably be 50% larger in footprint because Fenway is so compact. God help anyone over six feet tall with a grandstand seat. Book a chiropractor appointment for the next day.

As for the scalping situation, the simple fact is that the Boston police are fans too, and they realize it's often the only way for most people to get a ticket. If the scalping law were to suddenly be enforced, it would just move over a few blocks or into the subway stations. It's an impossible situation.

Posted by: Josh at January 2, 2007 08:08 PM
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