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Magazine Editor:
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Editor in Chiet
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The Statement is The Michigan
Daily's news magazine, distributed
every Wednesday during the
academic year
new rules
rule 227:
Incense is only
relaxing for
people who like
the smell. Ask
your roommates
before you light
up your putrid
"lilac" sticks. rule
228: t's:OKto
ask sick people
to sanitize any
surface contami-
nated by their
used tissues. Just
be nice about it.
rule 229: "Get-
ting Ricksy" has
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- E-mail rule submissions to
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-- - .-
THEGOLDEN TICKET:
Michigan vs. Ohio State
How to play the scalping game to get the
a most for your OSU-Michigan football ticket
Roger Sauerhaft (Statement Writer
ff4e Michigan Daily
SENT
the ONLINE CLASSIFIED RENTAL MAP -
Arbor
8
FOLLOWK
THE DAILY
NFACEBOOK.
T herivalrybetween
MichiganandOhio
State is known
as "The Game,"
but in Ann Arbor
every other year, it's about
much more than just athlet-
ics. With masses of people
buying and selling tickets to
see the adversaries face off,
the phenomenon creates a
self-contained, informal
economy.
Right after season
tickets are mailed to
students during the
summer, tickets to
the latest installment
of college football's
greatest rivalry
begin appearing on
online marketplaces.
The Ohio State tickets
originally priced $25
and $65 at student and
standard rates, respec-
tively - are often
resold at higher
prices dictated by
both seat location
and by the antici-
pated magni-
tude of the game,
which hikes up
demand. Leading
sellers to strategically
place tickets on the block
at the time during the season
when the demand is greatest to
garner higher asking prices.
The routine runs rampant
across campus, Ann Arbor and
even the state of Michigan. The
practice of purchasing season tick-
ets from the University - either for
the student rate of $200 (not includ-
ing handling), or the standard rate
of $400 - then'selling single tickets
to turn massive profits is so wide-
spread that few have the slightest
inklingofUniversity and state regu-
lations prohibiting scalping.
"It's extremely common for stu-
dents to sell tickets for most games,"
LSA senior Gibran Baydoun said.
"Ohio State is a special market
where students can make a lot of
money.... I see students selling (tick-
ets) out in the open and online, all
pretty openly."
Under Michigan law, the suppli-
er of the tickets - in this case, the
University - is allowed to autho-
rize resale above the face value.
Although the University won't like-
ly do this in most cases, it does allow
profitable reselling by charities. As
the small print on the backside of
each ticket stipulates, tickets also
cannot be sold on University prem-
ises and are subject to Michigan's
scalping policy, which prohibits ille-
gal resale. According to the Univer-
sity's website, any violation of either
state law or University regulations
can result in becoming ineligible
for future season tickets even if no
criminal charges are filed.
One student, who declined to be
interviewed for this article for fear
of repercussions from the Athletic
Department, admitted that the Uni-
versity had once warned her when
she had tried to sell her tickets
online. The University issues many
such warnings each year, but there
have only been one or two-cases of
packages being revoked, said Marty
Bodnar, the associate athletic direc-
tor for ticketing services.
Bodnar said because of policing
difficulties, the ticket office only
looks at the most egregious cases
of scalping. However, he said, the
office does know the identity of
some major scalpers. In addition,
Big Ten schools share scalper infor-
mation with each other.
"Students have to be careful
about our scalping policy," Bodnar
said. "If it gets posted on the Inter-
net, we're watching eBay and other
sites to see who is posting for more
than face value."
eBay, StubHub, Craigslist and
Facebook Marketplace, among
other websites, are all home to ram-
pant scalping. However, due to the
fact that buyers and sellers rarely
reveal their state of residency, state
laws are more difficult to enforce
online, despite what the websites
might promise to do. The light mis-
demeanor penalty (a $100 fine or
a maximum of 90 days in jail) for
getting caught also doesn't strike
enough fear into prospective buy-
ers and sellers to drastically change
market behavior.
Something that does change mar-
ket behavior, on the other hand, is
how the two teams are performing
in the season, which signifies the
importanceof"TheGame"thatyear.
If both teams are doing very well
and the game could have Big Ten or
Bowl Championship Series impli-
cations, demand for the game runs
much higher than if both teams are
undergoing rebuilding years. In col-
lege football, this can change quick-
ly in only one game, so speculation is
conducted on a weekly basis.
The Big Ten champion has been
decided between Michigan and
Ohio State in this game 22 times.
This year, No. 11 Ohio State already
has wrapped up a share of the con-
ference title and a Rose Bowl bid.
Meanwhile, Michigan is unranked
and must upset Ohio State this Sat-
urday to keep from missing its sec-
ond straight bowl game. Mired in
a six-game Big Ten losing streak,
demand for tickets to the big game
has followed a similar plight.
The 38-34 Michigan upset of No.
18 Notre Dame on Sept. 12 brought
expectations for the 2009 Wolver-
ines to a fever pitch and even tempo-
rarily launched Tate Forcier's name
into some early Heisman discus-
sions. But then Michigan's fortunes
took a turn for the worse. Though
the loss to Penn State wasn't entirely
unexpected, the lopsided loss to Illi-
nois on Halloween and the close loss
to Purdue at home a week later had
major repercussions on the market
for Ohio State tickets.
On Craigslist, the simplest of the
major resale sites to track price fluc-
tuation based on time, asking prices
'for individual tickets for Ohio State
See SCALPING, Page 8B
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