Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/23/AR2006072300721.html]washingtonpost.com[/url]

What do you guys think about this?

Last year the Redskins revoked some people's season tickets because they were being sold on Ebay, now this year they are teaming up with StubHub.

Hypocritical?

Or is this a case of "if you can't beat them, join them"?

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I think that's most definitely the case. With the scalpers they weren't getting their cut.

That being said, this type of shit totally sets me off. I mean how can that not be illegal for a group or entity to buy a HUGE number of tickets and then resell them for huge profit? It's one thing if someone buys a ticket and then can't go, but these people have a huge pool of money that allows them to buy groups of tickets with the only purpose of making cash on them. Find another job.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=TheMalcolmConnection]I think that's most definitely the case. With the scalpers they weren't getting their cut.

That being said, this type of shit totally sets me off. I mean how can that not be illegal for a group or entity to buy a HUGE number of tickets and then resell them for huge profit? It's one thing if someone buys a ticket and then can't go, but these people have a huge pool of money that allows them to buy groups of tickets with the only purpose of making cash on them. Find another job.[/quote]

I agree completely. You've said everything that needs to be said.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I'm not sure that it's either. From the start, they have said that they were revoking corporate tickets that ended up for sale. I haven't heard where they've gone after individuals.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=cpayne5]I'm not sure that it's either. From the start, they have said that they were revoking corporate tickets that ended up for sale. I haven't heard where they've gone after individuals.[/quote]

I agree but don't you think they're balancing a very fine line?

Almost as if they want to have their cake and eat it too.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I haven't heard that either. However, I think they really should. I think it should just flat-out be law that scalping is illegal. It's pricey enough buying FACE VALUE tickets.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[QUOTE=Mattyk72]I agree but don't you think they're balancing a very fine line?

Almost as if they want to have their cake and eat it too.[/QUOTE]
They're basically saying...

If you're a corporation and want tickets from us, you better not turn around and make money off of them.

If you're an individual, you can make money off of them, but we're gonna take a piece of it.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

"We have never been concerned with individual ticket holders selling individual tickets," Swanson said. "Our concern has been with blocks of tickets."

So they're selling BLOCKS of tickets to StubHub?

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[QUOTE=TheMalcolmConnection]"We have never been concerned with individual ticket holders selling individual tickets," Swanson said. "Our concern has been with blocks of tickets."

So they're selling BLOCKS of tickets to StubHub?[/QUOTE]
Stub Hub doesn't own the tickets. Season ticket holders use Stub Hub as an avenue to sell them. Stub Hub has an agreement with the Redskins to be the official season ticket holder reseller. $1million/ year for 5 years.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

Ahhh, but DAMN. Still.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

Hey, it is ALWAYS All about the money.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=scowan]Hey, it is ALWAYS All about the money.[/quote]

For sure.

They're not worried about the small time stuff, just the big time stuff where they stand to lose the biggest piece of the pie.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

From what a gather this is a way for the team to give permision for individuals to sell their tickets to games that they are not going to use. We see a form of that going on here when someone has an extra ticket or two. If your a scalper, corporation, individual ( selling large number of tickets) they are still going after you for scalping. The individual ticket sales is going on all the time but now the team can make a profitt from the sale. I don't realy see how anything has changed. Now if they let individuals sell there season tickets season after season and they allow this to go on then I have a problem with this because they are in it only for profitt, thus their a scalper.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

its going to happen anyways, why not make as much money as you can?

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

The redskins will squeeze every last cent they can out of whoever they think has cash. If the redskins were half as successful on the filed as they have been at making money there would be a whole lot more Lombardi trophies at redskin park.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=firstdown]From what a gather this is a way for the team to give permision for individuals to sell their tickets to games that they are not going to use. We see a form of that going on here when someone has an extra ticket or two. If your a scalper, corporation, individual ( selling large number of tickets) they are still going after you for scalping. The individual ticket sales is going on all the time but now the team can make a profitt from the sale. I don't realy see how anything has changed. Now if they let individuals sell there season tickets season after season and they allow this to go on then I have a problem with this because they are in it only for profitt, thus their a scalper.[/quote]

I don't have a problem with any of this. Tickets cost so damn much because there are tons of fans willing to pay that much. Simple supply and demand. If a season ticket holder wants to resell his tickets every year at a higher price, I say let him. As long as someone is willing to pay the price, it's a fair deal in my eyes.

If you want to attend games at face value, you can always:

1) Buy season tickets and go to the games.
2) Buy season tickets and sell the ones you don't want.
3) Try to rely on scrounging for the few tickets remaining and buy them at face value.

But if #3 doesn't work out for you, I have no sympathy. As far as I'm concerned, if you want seats, get your ass on the waiting list and get season tickets. Otherwise, pay the scalping premium and stop whining or watch the Skins on TV like I do.

I [B]HATE[/B] ticket price complaints.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I understand the simplicity of supply and demand.

Maybe it's just the hippie in me, but just because the Skins and sports teams in general can charge such high prices, does it make it right?

The common man has been left behind in all of this. There's no way a family of four can afford to go to a ball game on consistent basis anymore.

I guess that's just the corporatization of America at work. We can debate something like this into the ground if we want to. Sorry to get off topic it just ticks me off to see the rich getting even more rich.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

Yeah, I was going to post something about the haves and have-nots. I mean there are people who are just as deserving to go as the rich.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Mattyk72]There's no way a family of four can afford to go to a ball game on consistent basis anymore.[/quote]

You said it. Now to take a family to a professional sporting event cost nearly as much as going on a vacation. Family of four from out of town: at least $500 if you go cheap. Closer to $1,000 if you're trying to be comfortable.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Mattyk72]I understand the simplicity of supply and demand.

Maybe it's just the hippie in me, but just because the Skins and sports teams in general can charge such high prices, does it make it right?

The common man has been left behind in all of this. There's no way a family of four can afford to go to a ball game on consistent basis anymore.

I guess that's just the corporatization of America at work. We can debate something like this into the ground if we want to. Sorry to get off topic it just ticks me off to see the rich getting even more rich.[/quote]

Yeah I can see us going down a political road on this one, because there is no hippie side of the Schneed, and while I'm pretty politically moderate, I tend to lean very right wing when it comes to free markets. And that argument would just perpetuate itself and get dumb.

I will say that a part of me laments the fact that tickets are getting so expensive. The end result is that the fans who can afford to go are more often the corporate types who attend under their best behavior. If you want a good 12th man, you have to be willing to AT LEAST be loud and obnoxious, and AT BEST be downright venomous and evil. And with corporate types taking up all the seats, I think that's a pretty significant cause of the recent decline in the Skins' homefield advantage. At RFK, the average fan could afford to go, and the average fan was passionate. And the average fan made that place downright scary - it was the average fan that was shaking the bleachers. FedEx will have a hard time regaining that as long as ticket prices keep going up. Winning helps the homefield advantage, but some more average joes like us would help too.

But my concern over the situation is completely limited to the negative impact on the team's homefield advantage. I could care less if people are whining because they can't afford it or whatever. That's just life in my eyes. But I'll leave the political leanings out of it.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Mattyk72]
Maybe it's just the hippie in me, but just because the Skins and sports teams in general can charge such high prices, does it make it right?
[/quote]

i agree with you completley, I dont think professional sports should be treated like business because pro sports got started in the first place because people found this amazing thing that could be done on the weekends away from their business lives, something to get your mind off the workweek, and i understand that debts need to be paid and so do the players but i also think it comes down to the ridiculous amount of money we pay our professional athletes/actor/actress types

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

You could argue that this isn't even paying them, the ticket brokers are also regular Joes trying to get by in this world just like you and me.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Hail2theskins]i agree with you completley, I dont think professional sports should be treated like business because pro sports got started in the first place because people found this amazing thing that could be done on the weekends away from their business lives, something to get your mind off the workweek, and i understand that debts need to be paid and so do the players but i also think it comes down to the ridiculous amount of money we pay our professional athletes/actor/actress types[/quote]

Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

And keep in mind that these outrageous redskin ticket prices are for a team that has not won squat in a long time. Image what will happen to ticket prices if they get good.

Sports teams in general better watch because there will be an upper limit on what fans will pay. These season ticket packages have automatic escalation written into the contract and fans must sign up for multi year deals so the price just keeps going up. I heard in sportstalk 980 today fans calling in about redskin season tix and one guy said he has 7 club level seats, this is the last year of his contract, the redskins want him to sign a 10 year deal which at the end will have his seats costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 for the season. He told the redskins no thanks.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I think we can separate the team from the scalping prices though. I have no problem paying the face value of a ticket. It's just a pain-in-the-ass when I have to find one on eBay or a ticket broker and pay three to four times the price. But like I said above, they're the same "average joe" as we are, trying to make it by.

I still think they could find a more respectable way to make a living.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[QUOTE=Schneed10]Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.[/QUOTE]

TV networks pay the NFL to put it on so that does not cost the team anything. Same with concessions. As for stadiums they cost the taxpayer money, not the teams.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Schneed10]Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.[/quote]

That is life, unfortunate as it may be.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I do have a problem with scalpers. They get lucky and get season tickets even though they care nothing about the game. Then they turn around and sell them to the fans (who the tickets where originaly ment for) and sell them at a hugh markup. If a fan buys season tickets and wants to sell a few because of cost I'm fine with that. With the Redskins scalping is a bigger problem than most teams because all of our games are sold out.

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Just to play devil's advocate: Say you had access to a very popular sport's team's tickets and you could make five to six times the profit, would you do it then?

I honestly can't say that I would have the morals to resist.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I sell concert tickets a few times per year. My wife and I are in the fan club for Dave Matthews and we both order tickets, use the best ones, and sell the leftovers. We always sell them for face. Call me a sucker, but I just wouldn't feel right ripping off my fellow DMB fan. Plus if you get caught you'll get booted from the fan club and lose your shot at great seats. Even if that wasn't the case, I would still sell them for face value. That's just me though. Yeah I probably lose out one some good loot but I just wouldn't feel right charging a ridiculous price for a $50 ticket.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

<---Just playing devil's advocate.

I'd never sell Skins tickets for more than face value, but honestly, if I knew someone who had access to popular tickets, I probably would make some bank on them.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

Kind of on the subject, and then again kind of off the subject, I don't really get the fascination with going to the games anyway. I've been to three Skins games in my life (one was that Monday nighter against the Titans in 2000 when Rolle returned the INT at the half for the TD). As a fan I am glad I got to go because it is quite an experience in itself. But I enjoy watching the games on TV much better. The action is easier to follow, and as annoying as some commentators are, some really do help point things out that I otherwise wouldn't see. If the ticket prices become a problem for people, I feel like you can do a whole lot worse than sitting at home with a few beers in hand, cooking some chili or ordering some wings, and just camping out on the couch for the afternoon. Or if you like the party atmosphere of tailgate, you can do much worse than finding a Redskins sports bar with other fans to share the day with.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

I don't know. It's just the whole "experience" of being there. The crowd gets electric and sure sports bars are cool and all, but there's nothing that can replace that experience.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=TheMalcolmConnection]I don't know. It's just the whole "experience" of being there. The crowd gets electric and sure sports bars are cool and all, but there's nothing that can replace that experience.[/quote]

Seems like an awful lot of money to pay for just the added "experience." I personally don't get it, but hey, to each his own.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

Exactly. Which is why I don't go to EVERY game. ;)

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Schneed10]Kind of on the subject, and then again kind of off the subject, I don't really get the fascination with going to the games anyway. I've been to three Skins games in my life (one was that Monday nighter against the Titans in 2000 when Rolle returned the INT at the half for the TD). As a fan I am glad I got to go because it is quite an experience in itself. But I enjoy watching the games on TV much better. The action is easier to follow, and as annoying as some commentators are, some really do help point things out that I otherwise wouldn't see. If the ticket prices become a problem for people, I feel like you can do a whole lot worse than sitting at home with a few beers in hand, cooking some chili or ordering some wings, and just camping out on the couch for the afternoon. Or if you like the party atmosphere of tailgate, you can do much worse than finding a Redskins sports bar with other fans to share the day with.[/quote]

I agree. Football is the only sport that is actually better on TV. Sure the crowd is great, but just crank up the TV and you'll get a similar effect. :)

Since I got the dish, I just love sitting at home watching the Skins in the comfort of my own living room. The NFL Sunday Ticket rocks my face way the hell off.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

Damn, I normally reserve face rocking for EXTREMELY spectacular events. Sunday Ticket must indeed rock.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Mattyk72]I agree. Football is the only sport that is actually better on TV. Sure the crowd is great, but just crank up the TV and you'll get a similar effect. :)

Since I got the dish, I just love sitting at home watching the Skins in the comfort of my own living room. The NFL Sunday Ticket rocks my face way the hell off.[/quote]

Yeah I love it. And maybe I shouldn't post this comment in a public forum because I don't want to give DirecTV any ideas, but I'd honestly pay like $500 a season for the Sunday Ticket package, if they jacked the price up that high. It turns Sundays into an absolute event in my house. I love it to death, I'd pay a handsome sum to keep it.

I put together a real nice surround sound system in my living room, so my at-home experience is nicely jacked up right now. All I need is one of those fancy ass high def widescreen TVs and I'll be in heaven.

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Schneed10]Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.[/quote]

i realize all of this i was just saying i wish it was different which goes into where our values have gone to in this country, such as someone catching a football is paid more than the leader of the free worldbut im really not going to get into all that, i understand how business works in our economy, i was simply saying that i believe professional athletes are tremondously overpaid for what they do, and i dont buy the "they can only play for so long" crap so many of them dish out because everyone of them could have obtained a college degree virtually free of charge due to their athletic ability and still come out better off than a lot of people in the world...

Re: Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?
 

[quote=Hail2theskins]i realize all of this i was just saying i wish it was different which goes into where our values have gone to in this country, such as someone catching a football is paid more than the leader of the free worldbut im really not going to get into all that, i understand how business works in our economy, i was simply saying that i believe professional athletes are tremondously overpaid for what they do, and i dont buy the "they can only play for so long" crap so many of them dish out because everyone of them could have obtained a college degree virtually free of charge due to their athletic ability and still come out better off than a lot of people in the world...[/quote]

Well which would be the bigger injustice, Coach Gibbs getting $5 million a year and President Bush getting $400,000, or President Bush getting $5 million a year and Coach Gibbs getting $400,000?

I think everyone in this equation is paid pretty fairly, given what they contribute to our society.

LOL