BAMAPHIN 22
01-27-2007, 03:05 PM
Scalpers Take Super Bowl Tickets Off Streets and Online in New Era of Conducting Business
Jeff Block is pensive about cashing in his life insurance policy, wistful about putting off his wedding engagement, fearful about making the big purchase.
One thing the 31-year-old financial analyst is sure of: If he comes up with the cash to follow his beloved Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl, he won't be buying tickets from a traditional scalper. His attention is focused on one of the many online ticket resellers.
The secondhand ticket market has grown up a lot in the last decade, shifting from a business largely conducted by salesmen lurking outside stadiums to one chiefly online, both in simple Craigslist postings and more sophisticated Internet databases.
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The street business has really died," said Don Vaccaro, who has been selling tickets since 1979 and is the founder and chief executive of Vernon, Conn.-based TicketLiquidator.com. "The old-time brokers are saying, 'Look, you got a bunch of geeks selling tickets now.' It's really a lot more brains going in now."
There are about 70,000 seats at the Feb. 4 game, but ticket distribution is tightly controlled by the NFL: 25.2 percent to the league itself, largely for sponsors, licensees and the like; 17.5 percent each to the two competing teams, the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, with some raffled off to season ticket holders; 5 percent to the host Miami Dolphins; and 1.2 percent to each of the remaining 29 NFL teams.
Many of those lucky enough to get tickets when they're first sold won't part with them. Princeton University economist Alan Krueger studied the ticket market during the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa and found only about 20 percent of seats were resold.
"People were very reluctant to sell their ticket," he said. "If they won their ticket in the lottery they acted as if they were chosen by God to go to the game."
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Jeff Block is pensive about cashing in his life insurance policy, wistful about putting off his wedding engagement, fearful about making the big purchase.
One thing the 31-year-old financial analyst is sure of: If he comes up with the cash to follow his beloved Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl, he won't be buying tickets from a traditional scalper. His attention is focused on one of the many online ticket resellers.
The secondhand ticket market has grown up a lot in the last decade, shifting from a business largely conducted by salesmen lurking outside stadiums to one chiefly online, both in simple Craigslist postings and more sophisticated Internet databases.
"
The street business has really died," said Don Vaccaro, who has been selling tickets since 1979 and is the founder and chief executive of Vernon, Conn.-based TicketLiquidator.com. "The old-time brokers are saying, 'Look, you got a bunch of geeks selling tickets now.' It's really a lot more brains going in now."
There are about 70,000 seats at the Feb. 4 game, but ticket distribution is tightly controlled by the NFL: 25.2 percent to the league itself, largely for sponsors, licensees and the like; 17.5 percent each to the two competing teams, the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts, with some raffled off to season ticket holders; 5 percent to the host Miami Dolphins; and 1.2 percent to each of the remaining 29 NFL teams.
Many of those lucky enough to get tickets when they're first sold won't part with them. Princeton University economist Alan Krueger studied the ticket market during the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa and found only about 20 percent of seats were resold.
"People were very reluctant to sell their ticket," he said. "If they won their ticket in the lottery they acted as if they were chosen by God to go to the game."
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.