Many of those seats are acquired from season ticket holders at the venue. You can't stop that as long as the venues are selling season tickets. As a practical matter, the venue can't (or maybe doesn't even want) to control the resale of the tickets.
In my view, the only practical way to get this under control is to require that all tickets be picked up at the venue on the day of the show. Tickets would only be issued to the original purchaser, showing ID.
I understand your point, CTPH, but how would you rather spend the day of the show, tailgating or waiting in line with 25,000 others?
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your concern. However, I think that many, like myself, get to the venue very early and tailgate for most of the day. I think we could take a few minutes out and go to the ticket window to pick up the tickets. If it's spread out, I don't believe the lines would be bad.
I've been to a couple of shows in the past (not Buffett) where this technique is used. There were no lines at the box office, even close to showtime.
I agree that this might be an issue for someone who can't go to the show and wants to sell their tickets for face.
Also, don't be fooled by the many listings... in most cases they are listing one real set on many sites so which site you go to just decides how many hands touch it between you and the current holder. Also many sites list tickets by area and they are on spec. The don't have the tickets but the know they can get something in the area for $XXX. Same thing happens with race tix.
"...And all I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer her by"
I've been to a couple of shows in the past (not Buffett) where this technique is used. There were no lines at the box office, even close to showtime.
I agree that this might be an issue for someone who can't go to the show and wants to sell their tickets for face.
What size venue was it? I saw Springsteen at MSG, and the first 17 rows on the floor had to get their tickets the day of the show at Will Call (I was in the nosebleeds). There was a huge line at Will Call an hour before the show, and that was just a couple of sections.
spucketts wrote:From a business standpoint, if a ticket sells for $126 but someone is willing to pay $300, you've lost an opportunity to make money. The problem becomes getting control of the tickets to get them to the $300 market. (That $300 market isn't the type of person that wants to stand in line with the lawn people down at the ticketmaster waiting for a lottery number, they want to pick up the phone and get a ticket. Look at some of the listings, a thousand, two thousand....one venue has tickets for 10 grand.) All of these venues are in the business of making money, not being fair, which makes us victims of our culture's popularity.
That's a great point. The ticket brokers are making money off of Jimmy's popularity. You could argue that Jimmy has the right to charge that, but if he does, many will call him greedy (and much worse). One recent trend is "Gold Club" seats (VH did it in 2004). Tickets are $300-$500, but you're guaranteed good seats, you get to see soundcheck, and have a meet/greet with the band. And they toss in a meal. Might have done it for VH, but my 'keets have expensive habits, like eating and wearing clothes.
spucketts wrote:From a business standpoint, if a ticket sells for $126 but someone is willing to pay $300, you've lost an opportunity to make money. The problem becomes getting control of the tickets to get them to the $300 market. (That $300 market isn't the type of person that wants to stand in line with the lawn people down at the ticketmaster waiting for a lottery number, they want to pick up the phone and get a ticket. Look at some of the listings, a thousand, two thousand....one venue has tickets for 10 grand.) All of these venues are in the business of making money, not being fair, which makes us victims of our culture's popularity.
That's a great point. The ticket brokers are making money off of Jimmy's popularity. You could argue that Jimmy has the right to charge that, but if he does, many will call him greedy (and much worse). One recent trend is "Gold Club" seats (VH did it in 2004). Tickets are $300-$500, but you're guaranteed good seats, you get to see soundcheck, and have a meet/greet with the band. And they toss in a meal. Might have done it for VH, but my 'keets have expensive habits, like eating and wearing clothes.
I would not want to see a band that thought they were so important that they could charge for soundcheck and to say hi. I've met everyone from Matchbox 20 to Jewel and I would not pay $1 for that experience. It's cool when it hapens but its cool because you don't know its going to happen.
The Google execs have really turned some heads with their company philosophy of "don't be evil". They've passed on hundreds of opportunities to make more money out of their venture and they've stood up to the government's invasive requests. Maybe Google could get into the ticket business.....
spucketts wrote:From a business standpoint, if a ticket sells for $126 but someone is willing to pay $300, you've lost an opportunity to make money. The problem becomes getting control of the tickets to get them to the $300 market. (That $300 market isn't the type of person that wants to stand in line with the lawn people down at the ticketmaster waiting for a lottery number, they want to pick up the phone and get a ticket. Look at some of the listings, a thousand, two thousand....one venue has tickets for 10 grand.) All of these venues are in the business of making money, not being fair, which makes us victims of our culture's popularity.
That's a great point. The ticket brokers are making money off of Jimmy's popularity. You could argue that Jimmy has the right to charge that, but if he does, many will call him greedy (and much worse). One recent trend is "Gold Club" seats (VH did it in 2004). Tickets are $300-$500, but you're guaranteed good seats, you get to see soundcheck, and have a meet/greet with the band. And they toss in a meal. Might have done it for VH, but my 'keets have expensive habits, like eating and wearing clothes.
I would not want to see a band that thought they were so important that they could charge for soundcheck and to say hi. I've met everyone from Matchbox 20 to Jewel and I would not pay $1 for that experience. It's cool when it hapens but its cool because you don't know its going to happen.
The Google execs have really turned some heads with their company philosophy of "don't be evil". They've passed on hundreds of opportunities to make more money out of their venture and they've stood up to the government's invasive requests. Maybe Google could get into the ticket business.....
Okay, seriously, let's not start a "Google is greatness" thread here. Google has some seriously questionable advertising techniques - some of which have resulted in litigation by trade name / mark owners.
"As the son of a son of a sailor I went out on the sea for adventure..."
dude it freakin sucked.... i was on there before 10 for my seats for Nissan Pavillion... and i missed it.. im gonna be so p*** if i can't get tickets... im not paying 250 for one ticket
BFA wrote:Here's a song Buffett should sing and put on his Fruitcakes album (I didn't write it and I think I found it on here somewhere).
"You know I was talking to my friend the ticket scalper the other day he
runs this gas station and ticket shop down in Beantown. He told
me that human beings are flawed individuals. The ticket makers
took us out of the printer a little too early. And that's the
reason we're as crazy as we are and I believe it."
"Take for example when you go to a concert these days, you know.
They try to sell you this jumbo drink, 2 extra ounces of watered
down Budweiser for an extra 3 bucks. I don't want it.
I don't want that much organziation in my life.
I don't want other people thinking for me.
I want my cheap tickets. Where did the cheap tickets go at the
Tweeter center. I don't want a 10 oz. glass of wine for 25 dollars. I
want my cheap tickets."
"We need more ticket outlets in this world and less ticketmasters!
We need people that care! I'm mad as hell! And I don't want to
pay that much anymore!"
Chorus:
Tickets in my wallet
Tickets on the street
He's Sellin' tickets on the crosswalk
In the middle of the week
Over-priced tickets in my pocket
Over-priced tickets on the bus
There's a little bit of ticketmaster annoying everyone of us
Paradise, lost and found
Paradise, take a look around
I was out in California where I hear they have it all
They got riots, fires, mud slides
They've got ticketmaster in the mall
Parrotheads with Coconut bra's, buy these tickets now
If you want to get in to see the show
Give me money I'll show you how
This is hysterical and kudos to the person that wrote it!
