COLUMN: Ticket scalping, part of the baseball experience

From Siona Listokin's, "Think Different," Fall '99 From Siona Listokin's, "Think Different," Fall '99Had I known I was going to be arrested, I would not have done it. A friend and I had three tickets to the second game of the American League Championship Series last year. We figured we'd sell the extra ticket quickly -- the demand for Yankees tickets is always high -- and have plenty of time to watch batting practice. If you have never had the opportunity, allow me to assure you that being handcuffed in the Bronx is no fun. New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco -- indirectly responsible for my arrest -- insists that allowing a secondary market for tickets simply offers the tickets to those with more money, not more desire or team loyalty. Vacco justified taking legal action against scalpers like me by explaining that his actions would "hopefully make more tickets available to fans who stand in line." As a baseball fan, this is an endearing argument. I would like to believe that the current ticket sale system allows everyone equal opportunity to get a seat. Unfortunately, it does not. Ticket scalping occurs in sanctioned form right inside the Yankees box office. Post-season tickets suspiciously sell out in three minutes -- a sign that official vendors are selling blocks of tickets to independent brokers before they go on sale to the general public. The abundance of Web sites devoted to selling seats to the games is testament to the fact that this takes place. Meanwhile, single sellers on the streets of the Bronx are vilified as destroyers of the sanctity of baseball. They are cited as the reason why the average fan cannot afford a post-season ticket. These street scalpers, however, are not the problem. The secondary ticket market that they create is both equitable and good for the game. At the most basic level, legalizing scalping simply gives the fan the option to sell his ticket. He can then choose what he prefers: the game or the money. A true American decision, the ultimate free market. So why does New York waste its scarce resources rounding up scalpers? The scene of my arrest was comical, but sad. In the middle of the one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city, police officers were spending their time arresting people for selling baseball tickets. Furthermore, legalizing scalping would benefit both buyers and sellers by creating a more structured and open market. The ticket buyer would be less prone to fraud; sellers would have a harder time selling counterfeit tickets because of readily available comparisons and competition. Sellers would not have to worry about undercover cops. Many stadiums, such as Baltimore's Camden Yards and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, have marked off areas where ticket resale is allowed. It is a very simple set up. Buyers can consider the options available to them; they can take the chance of paying too much for a bad game or for a bad seat. The beauty of the system is that there is a choice for both sellers and buyers. My sister and I visited Yankee Stadium again this summer. A man approached us with tickets "almost on the field, real cheap." I smiled at the man -- we shared the same philosophy on free markets and I was now a colleague. Once inside, I was not surprised and only marginally disappointed to find the seats were nowhere near the first base line. We had paid too much. Actually, the man should have charged us more for the tickets. David Cone pitched a perfect game that day.