Redskins in bed with ticket scalpers?

Maybe it's just the hippie in me, but just because the Skins and sports teams in general can charge such high prices, does it make it right?


i agree with you completley, I dont think professional sports should be treated like business because pro sports got started in the first place because people found this amazing thing that could be done on the weekends away from their business lives, something to get your mind off the workweek, and i understand that debts need to be paid and so do the players but i also think it comes down to the ridiculous amount of money we pay our professional athletes/actor/actress types

You could argue that this isn't even paying them, the ticket brokers are also regular Joes trying to get by in this world just like you and me.

i agree with you completley, I dont think professional sports should be treated like business because pro sports got started in the first place because people found this amazing thing that could be done on the weekends away from their business lives, something to get your mind off the workweek, and i understand that debts need to be paid and so do the players but i also think it comes down to the ridiculous amount of money we pay our professional athletes/actor/actress types

Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.

And keep in mind that these outrageous redskin ticket prices are for a team that has not won squat in a long time. Image what will happen to ticket prices if they get good.

Sports teams in general better watch because there will be an upper limit on what fans will pay. These season ticket packages have automatic escalation written into the contract and fans must sign up for multi year deals so the price just keeps going up. I heard in sportstalk 980 today fans calling in about redskin season tix and one guy said he has 7 club level seats, this is the last year of his contract, the redskins want him to sign a 10 year deal which at the end will have his seats costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 for the season. He told the redskins no thanks.

I think we can separate the team from the scalping prices though. I have no problem paying the face value of a ticket. It's just a pain-in-the-ass when I have to find one on eBay or a ticket broker and pay three to four times the price. But like I said above, they're the same "average joe" as we are, trying to make it by.

I still think they could find a more respectable way to make a living.

Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.

TV networks pay the NFL to put it on so that does not cost the team anything. Same with concessions. As for stadiums they cost the taxpayer money, not the teams.

Seems like a pleasant picture you have painted in your head about what professional sports should be like. Unfortunately it's not grounded in anything remotely resembling reality.

It's a business, like it or not. Players cost money, putting it on TV costs money, building nice stadiums costs money, serving concessions costs money, I could go on and on.

If you like football free of impact from big business, go check out some high school football games. But if you like the NFL, deal with reality. We pay our athletes/actor/actress types so much money because there are so many of us who are willing to pay dearly to see them. That's life.

That is life, unfortunate as it may be.

I do have a problem with scalpers. They get lucky and get season tickets even though they care nothing about the game. Then they turn around and sell them to the fans (who the tickets where originaly ment for) and sell them at a hugh markup. If a fan buys season tickets and wants to sell a few because of cost I'm fine with that. With the Redskins scalping is a bigger problem than most teams because all of our games are sold out.

Just to play devil's advocate: Say you had access to a very popular sport's team's tickets and you could make five to six times the profit, would you do it then?

I honestly can't say that I would have the morals to resist.

I sell concert tickets a few times per year. My wife and I are in the fan club for Dave Matthews and we both order tickets, use the best ones, and sell the leftovers. We always sell them for face. Call me a sucker, but I just wouldn't feel right ripping off my fellow DMB fan. Plus if you get caught you'll get booted from the fan club and lose your shot at great seats. Even if that wasn't the case, I would still sell them for face value. That's just me though. Yeah I probably lose out one some good loot but I just wouldn't feel right charging a ridiculous price for a $50 ticket.