0 0 0 9 * -" " " 00* Magazine Editor: Jessica Vosgerchian Editor in Chiet Gary Graca ManagingEditor: Courtney Ratkowiak Photo Editor- Sam Wolson The Junk Drawer: Brian Tengel Center spread design: Sarah Squire Cover photo: Jake Fromm 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 its time and place: Rick's, Saturday night. That's it. - E-mail rule submissions to TheStatement@umich.edu Do you want the Daily to put on another 'kind of cornpetition? E-mail suggestions to TheStatement@umich.edu -- - .- 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 SICK OF THE DORMS? CAN'T FIND A PLACE TO LIVE? 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