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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Pinstripe Politics June 10

State Ticket Resale Law Changes, Resellers Ignore Change

Governor David Patterson is holding off on signing a bill that would renew the current rules for ticket resellers. From the Daily News:

The governor's decision to wait on approving the extension to a 2007 law that deregulated ticket scalping left sellers in limbo on how much they can mark up ducats to concerts and sporting events.

Since the 2007 law expired Monday, technically, the rules revert to the 1984 legislation, which restricts resale brokers like StubHub from adding more than $2 to the face value of tickets. So far, brokers are still following the 2007 rules.
Tix-markup rules in limbo as Gov. Paterson balks at extension
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, who has been pushing for a 25% markup cap on resold tickets, says resellers should be following the 1984 rules until Patterson signs the extension (the Governor has ten days to do so).

My take on this issue (from "The Yankees, Unobstructed" May, 22):
Brodsky's legislation presents the casual fan with a quandary. On the one hand, the current system allows for a reliable and relatively consistent availability of inexpensive seats on certain days, while making it extraordinarily expensive to obtain tickets for more attractive games. On the other hand, with capped ticket values, the price of better games would drop considerably, but inevitably, less tickets for weeknights would be available third-party (if there's less value in weekend games, then swallowing losses on weekday games becomes less feasible).

As a 23 year old, my initial reaction to Brodsky's bill was revulsion. For $11, I can spare my weeknights for Yankee games. But I suspect that the 18-24 year old bracket is not the segment of the population that Brodsky is most concerned with. While capped ticket values might make the Wednesday night game more expensive for me, they may very well make it easier for a 25-50 year old to bring his family to a weekend ballgame.

The Ticket Dilemma
Bridge to the Legend's Suite

Get the rumor mill going - Palin/Giuliani 2012

Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin and their spouses, were in attendance for Sunday's Yankee game. The former Republican vice-presidential candidate was in town to receive an award from a non-profit, and Giuliani invited her to attend. The Yankees won 4-3, with their final three runs coming in the eighth inning, however the Palins missed the late theatrics. They departed after the sixth inning.

More Home Run Speculation

According to a wind study by Accuweather.com, the Yankee Stadium home run surge has little or nothing to do with breezes. Accuweather concluded that the source of the Yankees' home run woes is the dimensions of the new Stadium. In right field, the wall is between four and five feet closer to home plate on average (as much as nine feet in some places), and two feet shorter across the board.

Additionally, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon says that the visiting team quarters in the new Yankee Stadium doesn't have the same funky and intimidating smell as the old Stadium did. Says Maddon, "You could have bottled the stuff and you would have had Yankee Stadium."

NOTE: Make sure to check back every Wednesday for Pinstripe Politics, your source for that gray area where the Yankees and society converge. Also, check in with the BNN on Fridays for The Yankees, Unobstructed, our weekly Yankee opinion column.

For more of Graham Kates' sports writing, check out his True/Slant blog "Coaches in the Crosshairs" (www.trueslant.com/grahamkates).

3 comments:

  1. Laws like this always fail miserably.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Which law? The old one wasn't so much of a failure (unless you were a scalper, of course), but then again, neither has the new one been a failure.

    Despite the "immorality of scalping" argument of Brodsky, and the "purity of free markets" argument of StubHub, it comes down to, I think, what your preference is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Also, Dan, I just clicked on your name...do you work for a ticket reseller? If so, I'd like to know more about what you think of this issue. Email me or just post more of your thoughts here.

    ReplyDelete

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