Scalping tickets...................

[farminclone]

To the OP, thanks for being open to hearing everyone's opinion, you manned up that everyone else was against you and admitted it, kudos.

Also, I would rather people try to sell them on here to other Cyclone fans than on the 3rd party open market. Too many times I have seen Hilton full of blue shirts in prime seats for a KU game, or Nebby fans finding their way between the 30s in the lower bowl. In the end, the owner of the ticket can do what they want, and if you can get a bunch more somewhere else, fine, but at least offer them here first.

[redrocket22]

I sold my 4 tickets and my parking pass for $0. My figures show I lost $400 after the donation, ticket cost and parking pass. That probably evens out for whatever isutoad recouped on his (notice I didn't say made).

I did make sure my tickets went to a cyclone fan. I have too much respect for my fellow section O members to ever let my tickets go to opposing team fans.

[VeloClone]

Almost all of those guys are at Twins/Vikes games as well. I talked to one of them last fall because I had seen him on the way to Target Field the day before.

Yeah, I kind of have my suspicions that these guys are actually from the Twin Cities as there are scalping services (and have been for years) up here. A few years ago they had to be across the border until the law changed.

Do you guys know for a fact that he's from LA or is it possible that he just says that as in 'originally from there and don't want to say I live anywhere else.' That would certainly make it easier to end up in the black if he is just driving down from the TC's for the weekend.

[longtimeclone]

These guys probably take in a pro game on Sunday also.

I was thinking this too. Ames would be a great Saturday spot because between the vikes, chiefs, and bears I am sure one of those would have a home game almost every weekend.

[dunar]

The out-of-town-guys (like the one with the Cal hat) ride bikes around the parking lots asking for extra tickets. I can't imagine giving my extra ones to them, but somebody must be doing it. They don't even seem to pretend like they care about the game and can't be offering much for the tickets.

we've done it before to unload 2 tix that would have otherwise gone unused. Offered to many friends/family for free and got no takers (who turns down free tickets, ever???), so getting $20/pop was not that bad of an option for me...

[Cycsk]

we've done it before to unload 2 tix that would have otherwise gone unused. Offered to many friends/family for free and got no takers (who turns down free tickets, ever???), so getting $20/pop was not that bad of an option for me...

So, what do you think they got for your $20 tickets?

[CTTB78]

So, what do you think they got for your $20 tickets?

From what I have seen, most likely $35-40.

[SyracuseCyclone]

Yeah I have seen lots of those professional guys at the games. How can they possibly make $$? Are people selling tickets to them at way below face value? We talked to one guy last year, he was from LA, and comes to Ames every friday just to broker tickets on gameday.

Below value... and sometimes it wouldnt surprise me if they have a deal worked out directly with the AD.

Nope promise they don't.

Almost all of those guys are at Twins/Vikes games as well. I talked to one of them last fall because I had seen him on the way to Target Field the day before.

What's your hypothesis? I just don't see the upside for the AD.

Interesting. He has to making some good money to fly out and probably stay in a hotel a couple nights. I wouldn't be surprised if he is clearing several thousand for working a couple days.

The out-of-town-guys (like the one with the Cal hat) ride bikes around the parking lots asking for extra tickets. I can't imagine giving my extra ones to them, but somebody must be doing it. They don't even seem to pretend like they care about the game and can't be offering much for the tickets.

That guy is a good guy. However I'll explain what he is doing and why he isn't getting some secret deal from ISU or even giving ISU much money.

Corey is a good guy and I am sure gets some secondary from the department.
All schools do it.

Sounds like we are taking seriously an idea that was just conjecture. Does anyone have any evidence to support the idea of the AD making a deal with scalpers to sell extra tickets?

The only way that I know of these guys getting tickets is from the ticket shops that buy season tickets and the guys who ride bikes around the parking lots trying to sweep up extras.

I can answer these questions.

The people who pound the pavement on gameday rely on fans with extras who don't want to spend 20 minutes standing on a corner hawking tickets. They are guaranteed to double/triple their money on any tickets they purchase from a fan.

There is no sweetheart deals with the AD. That is complete conjecture. The deals come from fans who are not professional brokers and don't want to spend 20 minutes selling their tickets.


Even games where there is no sellout and the scalpers can't get face they will still be out in force because they know there will be fans with extra tickets willing to sell them for peanuts. So you'll see them outside a half empty metrodome/target field.


Finally, many of the people in the parking lot support the school/AD FAR FAR FAR less than a season ticket holder who (intentionally) buys lots of seats resells because they show up to the game with literally NOTHING planning to profit on extras fans bring. They might bring 10 hillsides to the game and wait to get the rest of their inventory from fans (non professional sellers.) They take little/no risk. They also know they won't eat tickets because there will be someone late to the game without tickets in the middle of the first quarter who wants to buy their surplus for less than a box office ticket.



That said... the guys who do it at ISU are fine. A couple guys are crackheads and will show up with literally nothing but 20 bucks or 2 hillsides and try and make money but the ones there seriously are all OK people. Other cities the event scalpers can get more aggressive. These guys are nice enough. They are just there looking to find tickets for cheap and make quick money.


BUT... people should understand they do not buy in bulk/donate as much as many of you think. Almost none of them will show up with a huge stack of tickets to sell. WHY? Because they want to buy more and if they donated a lot to ISU and bought huge bulk of tickets they wouldn't want/need all the extras they can get for cheap from fans in the lots.

So basically they rely on fans in the parking lot for their inventory. I promise you they do not donate or have sweetheart deals with the AD by any means. A season ticket holder intentionally reselling takes much bigger risks and has to give a lot more money to the team in order to profit. (4 non-hillside seasons is costing a couple weeks wages for most...so imagine what 40 would cost.)

[isutoad]

There are three brothers who I would say are professional scalpers. They do all types of events. They are good people and have lots of tickets. The three live in Des Moines and are from Glidden Iowa. I have given them tickets and bought tickets from them and have been treated fairly.

[VeloClone]

There are three brothers who I would say are professional scalpers. They do all types of events. They are good people and have lots of tickets. The three live in Des Moines and are from Glidden Iowa. I have given them tickets and bought tickets from them and have been treated fairly.

I'm not sure how that is fair.

[Omaha Cy]

I sorta know the scalper lady in her 40's with blond hair at ISU games. If Iowa is playing at home on the same day she goes over to Iowa City instead. Probably more money, because of the larger crowd and more demand overall.

I doubt scalpers triple their money at the end of the day, but i can see that they would on a few select tickets here and there. Or in a situation where they can sell a large group opf tickets together like 4 or 5. Then you can ask for quite a lot since the group wants to all sit together. Those scalpers are more likely happy to get in the ball park of doubling their money by the end of the day. The bottom line is that as long as they turn over A LOT of tickets, they can make a nice profit..no mater if they are hitting double or not. Its just sheer number of sales really.

There's a couple guys I see work together at ISU games. The one guy has a big gut...kind of a younger guy, with goatee and typically in a Dan Mccarney cyclones era logo shirt. I've seen him and his co-worker both take off together close to kickoff back when it was a buyers market after they had sold all their tickets. They don't seem to care about the game, just a job to them.

At Mizzou was horrible, because they had a slew of crackheads combing the streets for tickets. literally they had the place blanketed for blocks and you couldn't buy from a fan who was willing to sell cheap. I just had to work a little harder that day to beat their racket.

[oskyclone]

I think it's purely math. If I buy 10 tickets for 30 dollars or less and sell them for at least 50, you are gonna make 200 bucks no problem. It's amazing how cheap some people will give tickets away or "sell" and it's also amazing what people will pay. But The large amount of purchases by these scalpers is how they make money. Lots of turnover makes a larger return and they probably make a lot on a few sets of tickets.

[kds]

My problem is when I'm looking for tickets on craigslist and some schmuck tries to tell me that a $25 ticket has $75 face value. I'm not talking about market value, I'm talking about some random dude trying to tell me and make me believe this his tickets that can be bought from ISU itself for $25 have a face value of $75. It's not cool to lie about it. Just say it's market value and don't lie about its face value.

[kds]

Thanks, SyracuseClone, for the awesome explanation. I've always been curious about how scalpers make money.

For the Tulsa game, I bought two tickets in the south field section (field level, not SEZ temporary bleachers) for $15, and the tickets said the face value was $20. It was a pretty good deal.

Somebody sold two Club tickets and a parking pass for $350. For a game like this, I think it is a reasonable price. And I'll bet if we do the math, we will find that the seller lost money on these tickets.

On Saturday, some of us might be willing to pay much more to be able to go inside the club area in a storm!

I got seats in that section once. Got to sit across the aisle from Jake Sullivan. They even have heat lamps over the seats.

For all that, I think $350 is a more than fair price for this weekend. I'd be inclined to buy those if I could.

[CyAggie]

Fair enough in some parts, but totals wrong in other are area.
1. The scalpers rely on more than fans,
2. Many schools use secondary sources (scalpers, stub-hub, etc) for inventory.
3. They do get extra unsold tickets from the AD.
4. How do I know this? Personal answer to direct questions and have you ever noticed the scalpers for MBB park in top donor seating and set in arena circle? Facts are such.
There are always exceptions, but facts are facts.