MLB Endorses Scalping Of Post Season Tickets
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by Chuck T
Hi Baseball fans,
I received an email today from MLB that clearly promoted the re-sale (the 21st Century term for scalping) of Post Season tickets - some for as much as $5,500 PER TICKET! When did this all change, from when MLB used to go after scalpers and the US government had laws on the books that set a maximum, above the face value, of what a ticket could be legally re-sold for on the "secondary market". MLB says it's OK because it's "peer-to-peer", so it's not really scalping. Hey, I may not be a Harvard grad but when I see that tickets for an MLB post season game available on the Internet (you can make a guess as to which company is re-selling these outlandishly priced tickets. MLB says the company is owned by ebay, as if that makes it OK to sell tickets for a multiple above face value, that without a calculator and the aid of an accontant friend of mine I'm not able to accurately compute. My guess is that MLB is endorsing the resale (scalping) of Post Season Tickets at OVER FOUR TIMES the Face Value! So, when you watch the games that don't start much before 9:00 PM EST, you'll know that the people whose butts are in those seats paid up to FOUR TIMES the Face Value and Major League Baseball allowed it to happen. The logical question is, just how much does MLB or MLB Advanced Media (the highly profitable Internet division of MLB) make on each purchase. MLB is actually double dipping, getting money on the front and back ends. Sort of like George Costanza. Ladies and gentlemen this is a very bad precedent. If MLB gets away with endorsing the scalping of tickets, the cost to the average fan to attend a Post Season game will reach numbers associated with monthly mortgage payments on an Upper East Side Manhattan condo. As did Peter Benchley in the movie, Network (one of my all-time favorites), we as baseball fans must take a stand and not let MLB change their stance from when I was a kid when they actively went after ticket scalpers. Today, the MLB logo is proudly positioned in an email adjacent to Stub Hub's (sorry, I couldn't resist) offering tickets to Post Season games for $5,500 - and that does not include Stub Hub's commission and shipping charges. This has to stop, or the average baseball fan, like you and I will never see the inside of a ballpark come October, and that's just not right.
Regards,
Chuck
