Hype City

Tickets to The Game are maxing out at just under $5,000 for a good seat and averaging around $858 for a nosebleed special on StubHub. In the linked article above, the Detroit News is reporting that this ticket is a good $200 more than World Series tickets and rising toward the $1000 average set by last year's BCS Championship game between USC and Texas.

The fact that The Game is still over three weeks away makes you wonder what astronomical prices the tickets could hit and fuels the argument that Michigan - Ohio State is the greatest rivalry in sports.

It also makes me lament the current state of attending live events, whether sports or music or Wicked the Wizard of Oz Musical. Ticket resellers, thanks to the connective power of the Internet are ripping people off to untold profits above face value.

To some degree this is market-driven. By expanding the number of people who can get a chance to see an event beyond season-ticket holders or those who sleep outside the box office, Internet resellers have expanded the market and given some folks an opportunity to see something they would otherwise have missed. But they'll have to pay for it. And there's the sinister side. At prices like these, even dedicated fans must consider selling out for a quick buck, or five thousand. Hey, you'd probably see the action better at home anyway with your new flat panel plasma screen tv.

I try not to take the stump much, especially on a blog about a happy subject like football, but I want to call your attention to a new force that's threatening this already unfair situation. Simply said, something's got to be done about Ticketmaster, the original event ticket middle man. Currently Ticketmaster is lobbying state governements to make any ticket sold at $1 or more above face value in the secondary market illegal unless it was resold by an issuer with a contract with the event's organizer (like an NFL team or music venue). As a primary market vendor, Ticketmaster already maintains exclusive rights to many of these relationships, while Stubhub, Craigslist and others do not. With the simple signing of a bill, that Ticketmaster is promoting as in the interest of ticket buyers, Ticketmaster could wipe out the competition even before it enters the secondary ticket market.

Think monopoly, price fixing and rampant 'convenience' fees.

Read on for the details and to get enraged!

(Especially if you live in New York, Florida or Massachusetts. I'm sorry Connecticut and Louisiana, you've already been sold out by your Legislatures.)